I have been between two minds as to whether to keep it or not so I suppose the final decider will be if anyone wants it more than me.
I picked this up a month ago from Armagh and trailered it to Laois where I've been working on it on-and-off since.
The good points first:
Engine:
It has a strong 1600 engine fitted, press the pedal twice and it starts on the button every time. No arguments.
I've had the engine out and it has received new fuel lines (can't be too careful), a new fuel filter, new sparkplugs (no easy job), new points and a new flywheel/flexplate oil seal since the old one was leaking.
This is a major job on a manual car, and even harder on an automatic. I have adjusted the valves, changed the oil and the sump plate gaskets and fitted a good used fuel pump. The old one was fecked and had leaked a load of fuel into the crankcase. The engine is working perfectly. There is a new genuine VW exhaust fitted to the engine too, the sticker hasn't even burned off it yet.
Brakes:
The brakes have had a minor rebuild. When I got the car, all four wheels were locked up, it took us a while to free them enough to get the car up on the trailer. Upon investigation, all four of the flexible brake hoses were blocked so all have been renewed. This fixed the problem for the rears but the fronts were still sticking so I disassembled the calipers and rebuilt them. I ended up putting the old piston seals and dust seals back in as the rebuild kits were on back order from VWHeritage but they're here now and will be installed before the car is sold. New rebuild kits or not, the calipers are now working perfectly with the old ones. I also bought and fitted new brake pads to the calipers. The disks were inspected and are fine. The rear drums were removed, the star adjusters un-seized, everything inspected and reassembled. It now brakes nicely, which is even more crucial than ever in an Automatic car.
Transmission:
The Automatic transmission is working well, it shifts up and down nicely and without delay. The kickdown (when you press the throttle pedal beyond a certain point) works beautifully. The shift lever selects all the gears including reverse nicely. Having never owned or driven an Automatic car before, I was surprised at how civilised the experience was.
Suspension:
The suspension is typical of the type3 range. It has been unmolested, it's at the stock height and feels much more refined than the equivalent beetle suspension. I suppose another 25 years of R&D went into the type3 after the beetle was designed.
Electrics:
Electrically, everything is working nicely, all the lights, gauges, warning lamps etc all operate well. It also has a heated rear screen. I don't know if these are standard on Notchbacks or if it was an optional extra but it's there and is a nice feature.
Interior:
Interior-wise, all the door panels, carpets, seats and headliner are present and all but the drivers (left side) seat are in good shape, if a bit grubby. The usual bolster wear is present on the drivers seat. The interior is a nice beige cloth fabric, most of the other Notches I've seen have a basketweave vinyl interior. Again, I don't know if the cloth interior is standard or an optional extra but it's nice to have. The rear seat has a fold-out centre armrest, which is nice
The windows wind up and down nicely and the quarterlights are both opening fine. (the left quartelight needs new glass though). Both doors and ignition all still work off the original key.
Bodywork:
In terms of bodywork, the bonnet, boot and driver's door are solid. An added bonus with this car is the factory "Golde" steel sliding sunroof. This operates smoothly via the crank handle and makes sunny day driving a much fresher experience compared to a tin top car.
As for storage space, the Notchback gives you two boots, one under the bonnet and one over the engine, great for confusing people not in the know. There's acres of room in there.
Now the bad news, there is some rust in the body. The inner rear corners under the back seat are shot and will need closing up with fresh metal.The front inner corners (from the bottom of the door pillar forward) are the same and will need closing up. The sills under the doors are rusty too. There are holes in the floor but these would only need patches. If you were really motivated you could replace the floors but it's not 100% neccessary. The front bumper mounts need some attention too. The wing bottoms would need a small bit of massaging but that's minor work. The good thing about the type3 is that once the bad areas are welded up, it's all hidden by the external bolt-on panels, unlike the rear quarter bottoms of a bug or the sides of a bus, for example. If I keep this, it'll get the holes closed up and the external panels will be left as-is. The interior is currently removed so anyone coming to view will get the full picture, this car is hiding nothing, it's all there to be seen.
John Crazylegs has a contact in the US who has all the required panels ready to go, which will make this project much easier. Talk to him about that
So there you have it, this car has received quite a bit of work since I bought it, it would make a really nice winter "fixer-upper" for some Summer '09 Rat-Look fun or put a bit more time in and make this a beautiful (and rare) car with some nice rare factory options.
I have spent quite a bit of cash on it and put quite a bit of work into it so I am asking €1200 euro for this mechanically excellent, rare car but I'm preared to deal with the right person The car is located just outside Stradbally, Co. Laois and is currently dry-stored in my garage as it has been for the last 17 years.
You are welcome to take it for a test-drive if needs be.
PM me if you're interested and we can arrange a viewing.
I picked this up a month ago from Armagh and trailered it to Laois where I've been working on it on-and-off since.
The good points first:
Engine:
It has a strong 1600 engine fitted, press the pedal twice and it starts on the button every time. No arguments.
I've had the engine out and it has received new fuel lines (can't be too careful), a new fuel filter, new sparkplugs (no easy job), new points and a new flywheel/flexplate oil seal since the old one was leaking.
This is a major job on a manual car, and even harder on an automatic. I have adjusted the valves, changed the oil and the sump plate gaskets and fitted a good used fuel pump. The old one was fecked and had leaked a load of fuel into the crankcase. The engine is working perfectly. There is a new genuine VW exhaust fitted to the engine too, the sticker hasn't even burned off it yet.
Brakes:
The brakes have had a minor rebuild. When I got the car, all four wheels were locked up, it took us a while to free them enough to get the car up on the trailer. Upon investigation, all four of the flexible brake hoses were blocked so all have been renewed. This fixed the problem for the rears but the fronts were still sticking so I disassembled the calipers and rebuilt them. I ended up putting the old piston seals and dust seals back in as the rebuild kits were on back order from VWHeritage but they're here now and will be installed before the car is sold. New rebuild kits or not, the calipers are now working perfectly with the old ones. I also bought and fitted new brake pads to the calipers. The disks were inspected and are fine. The rear drums were removed, the star adjusters un-seized, everything inspected and reassembled. It now brakes nicely, which is even more crucial than ever in an Automatic car.
Transmission:
The Automatic transmission is working well, it shifts up and down nicely and without delay. The kickdown (when you press the throttle pedal beyond a certain point) works beautifully. The shift lever selects all the gears including reverse nicely. Having never owned or driven an Automatic car before, I was surprised at how civilised the experience was.
Suspension:
The suspension is typical of the type3 range. It has been unmolested, it's at the stock height and feels much more refined than the equivalent beetle suspension. I suppose another 25 years of R&D went into the type3 after the beetle was designed.
Electrics:
Electrically, everything is working nicely, all the lights, gauges, warning lamps etc all operate well. It also has a heated rear screen. I don't know if these are standard on Notchbacks or if it was an optional extra but it's there and is a nice feature.
Interior:
Interior-wise, all the door panels, carpets, seats and headliner are present and all but the drivers (left side) seat are in good shape, if a bit grubby. The usual bolster wear is present on the drivers seat. The interior is a nice beige cloth fabric, most of the other Notches I've seen have a basketweave vinyl interior. Again, I don't know if the cloth interior is standard or an optional extra but it's nice to have. The rear seat has a fold-out centre armrest, which is nice
The windows wind up and down nicely and the quarterlights are both opening fine. (the left quartelight needs new glass though). Both doors and ignition all still work off the original key.
Bodywork:
In terms of bodywork, the bonnet, boot and driver's door are solid. An added bonus with this car is the factory "Golde" steel sliding sunroof. This operates smoothly via the crank handle and makes sunny day driving a much fresher experience compared to a tin top car.
As for storage space, the Notchback gives you two boots, one under the bonnet and one over the engine, great for confusing people not in the know. There's acres of room in there.
Now the bad news, there is some rust in the body. The inner rear corners under the back seat are shot and will need closing up with fresh metal.The front inner corners (from the bottom of the door pillar forward) are the same and will need closing up. The sills under the doors are rusty too. There are holes in the floor but these would only need patches. If you were really motivated you could replace the floors but it's not 100% neccessary. The front bumper mounts need some attention too. The wing bottoms would need a small bit of massaging but that's minor work. The good thing about the type3 is that once the bad areas are welded up, it's all hidden by the external bolt-on panels, unlike the rear quarter bottoms of a bug or the sides of a bus, for example. If I keep this, it'll get the holes closed up and the external panels will be left as-is. The interior is currently removed so anyone coming to view will get the full picture, this car is hiding nothing, it's all there to be seen.
John Crazylegs has a contact in the US who has all the required panels ready to go, which will make this project much easier. Talk to him about that
So there you have it, this car has received quite a bit of work since I bought it, it would make a really nice winter "fixer-upper" for some Summer '09 Rat-Look fun or put a bit more time in and make this a beautiful (and rare) car with some nice rare factory options.
I have spent quite a bit of cash on it and put quite a bit of work into it so I am asking €1200 euro for this mechanically excellent, rare car but I'm preared to deal with the right person
The car is located just outside Stradbally, Co. Laois and is currently dry-stored in my garage as it has been for the last 17 years. You are welcome to take it for a test-drive if needs be.
PM me if you're interested and we can arrange a viewing.
