Oxford Auto Sales
Quality Used Cars & Trucks Since 1990
3641 Wolfedale Road, Mississauga, Ontario
(905) 566-0000 Fax: (905) 566-1441
"Ol' Yeller" - 1967 VW Type 3 - 1600 Squareback
SOLD! - Click here for values in other currencies: Xenon Labs Currency Converter
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This is my latest restoration project on the day that I got it back to the lot. Someone had spent a great deal of money on a colour-change paint job, and as you can see it was done at the time when it was cool to paint everything one colour including the chrome. |
| The interior was in pretty good condition except for a worn armrest and a badly cracked dash pad, but was covered in dust. Most of the glass had been removed for the paint job seven years ago and had never been put back in. The windshield was missing. |
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Here is it with a new aftermarket dash pad and a windshield installed. |
| The runners for the seats are perfect! No sign of rust at all, I couldn't believe my eyes. The odometer shows about 55,000 miles, I am beginning to think it is correct. |
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The rail on the floor is also perfect, as is the floor under the carpet. |
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I have stripped some of the chrome pieces and bought some new ones. A little scrubbing makes a big difference. |
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The paint quality is excellent. While I will change it back to it's original "Grenada Red" some day, the car is going to stay banana yellow for the time being. I want to get a "Variant" sign to replace the bar in the picture. The squareback was called a Variant in Europe. |
| We pulled the engine to do a complete tear-down. It runs very well, with lots of power, but it looks like it has never been touched since new. At the very least we will do a valve job with SS exhaust valves and a re-seal with new push rod tubes etc. |  |
| Here is a better shot of the wasted heater boxes and rotten cooling tin. When we tore down the engine there was a rat's nest inside the cooling tin, and much of the cooling fins on the two of the cylinders was caked with grease. If I had continued to drive it that way it would have overheated and perhaps even caught fire. |
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| You can see the grease caked in the cooling fins. This is why you shouldn't take a car that has been stored for years and start driving it without a thorough check over. It had gotten hot enough in the past to crack one of the heads, we had to replace it. |
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| I had a complete set of cooling tin sent from California which I sandblasted and had powder coated. The engine should look pretty good when it goes back in. |  |
| The block has been align bored and has had a set of case savers installed. The work was done by John's Bug Shop in Niagara Falls, Ontario. Here it is ready to begin reassembly. |  |
| The original crankshaft is going to be reused... it had no appreciable wear at all. We bought a new set of Mahle pistons and cylinders to freshen up the horsepower and a new set of cylinder head studs. |  |
| Here reassembly has started with all new bearings and a complete hardware kit.. |  |
| The engine work is being done by an old friend of mine, Terry Cleland, who I worked with at Horst Kroll's shop in the 70's in Scarborough, Ontario. |  |
| Actually the work is being done by Terry's niece, Sarah, under his watchful eye. My mechanic is prettier than your mechanic! Sarah's regular gig is working as a plant mechanic. She spends a lot of time at hydro electric generating plants working on turbines and the like. |
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| Now watch closely... this piece goes here, and this piece... It has been about 30 years since either Terry or I have laid a hand on a type 3 engine. |
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| We are gettin there... I sprung for some nice anodized push rod tubes.
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| Here is the other side... we got this far and were hung up for the exhaust. |  |
| And here is the exhaust, fresh from the ceramic platers, Fireball Performance Coatings in Erin, Ontario. |  |
| After a couple of hours of muttering, cussing and a good dose of brute strength and ignorance.... Ta Daa! |  |
| We are gettin close. Another half day should do it. |  |
| Bingo! Ready to install. |  |
| With a nice new high quality clutch and pressure plate. |  |
| 22 1/2 minutes later we are ready to go! (If you believe that come and see me.... I have a couple of used cars I want to show you) |
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| Zoom! Roared home with lots of power! (and no smoke)
Now we are going to hibernate underground until spring, when the next job will be to change the bumpers.... |
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| Well I broke my own rule about buying used parts and it bit me in the butt. I bought used heat exchangers from some fool in the southern US. On the phone he said they were in excellent shape. When they arrived they were pretty rough and I had to get a friend to patch them up. I should have thrown them away and bought new ones, but my Scottish blood prevailed again, so I had them ceramic coated thinking they would last for years. Well, one broke internally which pumps exhaust fumes into the car, so off they came. |  |
| I bought a new set from California Import Parts and had them powder coated to match the rest of the engine tin. they are good quality, made in Denmark. |  |
| Here they are on the car... this is what I should have done the first time. |  |
| Here is the car with the chrome bumper installed at the Thornhill Cruise night. |  |
| Here is another shot the same day, a few months before I sold her to a good home in Brampton, Ontario. |  |
| Terry no longer makes his living fixing cars (he used to make it building race cars), but he has set up a really good shop in his airplane hanger and consents to do work for me on my VW engines. He uses Hazet hand tools... the best in the world. He is currently starting a new manufacturing operation, Cleland Instruments, to build new lightweight composite drums for pipe bands. He has a long history of involvement in pipe bands and is one of the leading bagpipe players in Canada. |
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| I wish I had a shop like this.. it is 3000 square feet and as you can see has all the toys you need. Milling machine, lathe, welding equipment, sandblaster, belt sanders, hoist... you name it. |  |
| Speaking of toys, this is his airplane, a Skybolt. It is a stunt plane and I won't repeat what I said to him when he tried to get me to go for a ride in it. |  |
| Here he is yelling at me to get in! I yelled back "#$%*^*$#@" |
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| Here he is a few minutes later about 2500 feet in the air, upside down going about 180 MPH! Need I say more? |  |
| More pictures to come.
A link to the "2008 Type 3 Invasion" in Ypsilanti Michigan. |
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For more information, or to arrange to see a car contact Don Robertson at Oxford Auto Sales We would be pleased to fax you a list of our current stock. (905) 566-0000 Fax: (905) 566-1441 Return to Oxford Auto Sales, current stock page Return to Oxford Auto Sales, main page |