23K-Mile Pearl White 1965 Notchback

[Lee Hedges]

My good buddy added this 23K-mile Pearl White 1965 Notchback Sedan to his collection in San Diego. He's owned low-mileage original survivor VWs & Porsches over the years, but this one is the nicest in my opinion.

I was able to get in-touch with the first two owners in Connecticut to learn its history. This beautifully preserved Notchback was originally purchased in Frankfurt Germany by an airline nurse that made frequent international flights from New York to Europe. She bought the Notch at the VW dealership & had it shipped home to Connecticut. It was for her 69 year old mother to drive, as her old Mercury was dying. The mother drove it sparingly until her passing in 1992, always storing it in the garage. In 1993 it was sold to a heating oil service guy that was there to service their heater. He owned it for four years and said he drove it only four times. It was sold to Gordi Davis in New Hampshire in 1997 and he quickly flipped it three months later to a guy in Florida. He had the exterior repainted its original Pearl White and then put it away for 17 years. My buddy bought it from him in early 2015 with only 23,073 miles on the odometer.

I drove it down to Jack Fisher's place today with Jason Weigel as my co-pilot and Pedro Sainz met us there. I'd asked these three T3 experts to give the Notch a serious inspection so I could make a list of improvements.

Here are some photos so you can see what I'm talking about.
EXTERIOR:

INTERIOR:

COMPARTMENTS:

ENGINE:

[Lee Hedges]

Here are the team of T3 guys that gave it a good inspection today: Lee Hedges, Jason Weigel, Jack Fisher, & Pedro Sainz.

More about their inspection & work soon.

[Aaron M265]

What a car!
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Aaron

http://1500notchback.blogspot.com/

Need to contact me? Email is faster than a PM - [email protected]

For T3 Panel Van information:
http://www.thesamba.com/vw/forum/viewtopic.php?t=389465

[Donnie strickland]

[Lee Hedges]

Since the Notch had an aftermarket fuel pump, that was the first item to get replaced. I had a Feb 1965 fuel pump with an original two-piece cap, so I gave it to Pedro. He's done several for my T34s in the past so I knew it would be done right. He rebuilt the pump and had it ready when I drove down today. When he opened the trapdoor to install it he noticed the fuel hose wasn't right. So, being Pedro, he drove down to Vee Parts and bought the correct 5mm fuel hose. Then he spent an hour cutting all the pieces & relocating the fuel filter underneath the car. Then he installed the rebuilt fuel pump.

This early-1965 (#315 080 062) has the new fuel backflow valve in-between the dual carbs. He decided to do without the aftermarket clamps, as it was originally.

[Lee Hedges]

The brake lights were strangely intermittent. So Jack checked the ceramic fuses while Jason disassembled the left tail light to check the bulbs & wires. Yes, that's an original Hazet stubby Phillips screwdriver in his hands from the T3 round tool kit. Everything else looked good so Jack knew it might be the brake switch. Mounted to the end of the master cylinder he discovered one of the spades was loose. He pulled it & grabbed an original ATE bakelite from his spares. Problem instantly solved!

[Lee Hedges]

I noticed the headlights had mismatched bulbs so I've always been impressed with the 6V Halogen sealed beams that produce twice the lumens of the standard bulbs. So I removed the left SB12 headlight parts & installed the new bulb. Check out the comparison of standard 6V (right headlight) vs the Halogen 6V (left headlight).

And here's the matching bulbs fitted. Makes a nice stock safe improvement.

[t3kg]

NICE
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5/62 343
I WAS THERE! The 2017 Type 3 Rally / September 29–October 1 / Cayucos, CA
2014: The 2014 Type 3 Rally / October 3–5 / Cayucos, CA
2011: 50 Years of the VW Type 3 / September 29–October 1 / California Central Coast

[JeeJeeJason]

Suhweet
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1968 FI Squareback

[Tram]

All that and none of youse guys has an NOS tail light seal?
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Немає виправдання для війни! Я з Україною.

[HenrikL]

Very nice find. Can we get some pictures of the tool roll and tools if it is original?

[Max Welton]

Amazing.

Max
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1967 Type-3 Fastback
Under the Knife https://shoptalkforums.com/viewtopic.php?f=24&t=151582
Home Stretch https://www.thesamba.com/vw/forum/viewtopic.php?t=767836

[Rome]

Incredible!

Do you know what town in CT where the first owner lived? I have strong roots in CT, in the NW part of the state.

[Lee Hedges]

Here are two pics of the original tool kit that came inside the Notchback. I do not know if it was included with the car when new or if one of the owners added it over the past 50 years. You can see the original seat upholstery was used to make the tool roll, inside out. The small yellow screwdriver is not original to the kit.

[Lee Hedges]

Have driven 115 miles over the past couple days, when the Notchback has not been driven much over the past 20 years. With the newly rebuilt fuel pump, new fuel hoses, and improved front suspension it cruises so nicely at 70-75mph, just like the 1500 S engine was built to do.

[Tram]

That's an extremely outstanding car.

Every time something truly original like this is unearthed, we need extensive photographic documentation of every nut, bolt, nook, cranny so that serious restorers can reference them to get all of the little details exactly right.

They say these cars are only original once- and while that may be true, that doesn't and shouldn't mean that they can never be correct again.

Here is the sort of thing I am talking about:

http://www.motoringinvestments.com/280SL_BuyersGuide.htm

These guys have done a terrific job of documenting "the little things" off of as many original M-B W113 Pagode cars as they could and compiled them into a neat site. I'd like for us to do something like that for Type 3 and 34 cars here so that we can be just as anal about these things as we want to be... anal is good! I'm to the point where I have even studied and replicated factory chassis paint marks on German cars.
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Немає виправдання для війни! Я з Україною.

[Lee Hedges]

[Tram]

I was making a general statement, not expecting you personally to drop and run to get this done all by yourself...
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Немає виправдання для війни! Я з Україною.

[Lee Hedges]

So in anticipation of requests for detailed interior photos, here are ten pics of the often unseen areas of these cars. You'll notice the rubber floor mat has higher lips at the front edges and there are lines for the foot areas, not pebble-grain throughout. Check out the ebrake boot, with its O-ring to keep the front edge closed.

[vwfye]

Outstanding!
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64 No'back Speedster "Pearl"
LME "Little Giant Killer 3"
1974 Ghia "PUK"