Good morning! We’re going to start out the week with a couple rough old vehicles from the ’60s. The good news is that they both run and drive. The bad news is, well, pretty much everything else.
Neither of Friday’s weird vehicles was exactly a cream puff either, admittedly. The little ZAZ may run and drive, but bare minimum functionality is about all you can expect from it. The Traction Avant will take a lot longer to get on the road, but it will be a whole lot nicer ride once it’s done.
It’s also half the price, so it’s not surprising you said “Nyet” to the old Soviet-era econobox. And I agree. I’d love to drive the ZAZ, once, just to see what it’s like, but I have no desire to actually own it, or fix it. The Citroën, on the other hand, would make a fascinating fixer-upper, even if it took years to finish.
Before I sat down to write this, I took my own fixer-upper, a 1971 MGB GT, out for a drive to give it some exercise and pick up a carton of ice cream. The whole drive was about ten miles round trip, but in that time, I had three people ask me questions about it, got half a dozen smiles and waves, and had a guy in a 4Runner take a picture. People just love seeing old cars out and about, even if they’re scruffy around the edges and badly need a wash like my MG. Having a running and driving old classic to take out for a spin on a Sunday afternoon is pretty much gearhead heaven, as far as I’m concerned.
In that spirit, I’ve found two scruffy old projects that both run and drive already, so you don’t have to mess around with waking them up. Of course, they both need some work, but it’s work you can do a little at a time. Besides, it’s fall now, so it’s almost time to park the classics for the winter anyway. Bring them back out again in the spring, and show off your progress. Let’s check them out.
1964 Chevrolet C10 – $2,600
Engine/drivetrain: 283 cubic inch overhead valve V8, four-speed manual, RWD
Location: Petaluma, CA
Odometer reading: 135,000 miles
Operational status: Runs and drives, current registration
Old trucks are popular classics for a simple reason: they’re still trucks. You can still use them for their intended purpose, no matter what else you do to them – within reason, of course. A sports car or a convertible can take you on a Sunday cruise just fine, but a classic truck can do that and pick up stuff at the hardware store, or bring home that antique hutch you found at an estate sale.
Well, at least most of them can. This old Chevy is a little challenged in the stuff-hauling department, owing to the fact that its bed floor, still made of wood in 1964, is completely absent. The steel part of the bed isn’t in great shape, either; this was a ranch truck from day one, and it worked hard. Another bed is included, and it’s less rusty, but still needs new wood.
The oily bits, however, are still functional. Not even sixty years of ranch work can kill a Chevy small-block and a Saginaw-Muncie four-speed. I’m sure it’s not perfect, but the fact that it carries current registration and was driven to its current home says a lot. And anything it may need is available from literally anywhere that sells car parts.
Surprisingly, the cab isn’t bad at all; I don’t know if someone re-did the seat once upon a time, or if they just took care of it, but it looks pretty good. The rest of it is decent, too. There’s some rust in the floor, but it doesn’t look like it’s rusted through. And see that big metal thing just behind the seat? That’s the gas tank, and it looks new. Bonus.
1968 Volkswagen Type 3 Squareback – $4,000
Engine/drivetrain: 1.6-liter overhead valve air-cooled flat 4, four-speed manual, RWD
Location: San Jose, CA
Odometer reading: 157,000 miles
Operational status: Runs and drives well
Air-cooled Volkswagens have been popular classics for years as well, but what if you don’t want a Beetle or a Bus? We’ve got you covered. Presenting the Type 3, VW’s first attempt at a post-Beetle design. Still air-cooled, still rear-engined, the Type 3 was available in three reasonably self-explanatory body styles: Notchback, Fastback, and Squareback.
This Squareback is a 1968 model, the first year that the engine was equipped with fuel injection. As with other early fuel injection systems, these were often converted back to carburetors by mechanics unwilling to learn the ins and outs of the system. There are no engine photos in the listing, so I don’t know whether this one has been so converted. But the seller says it runs and drives well, and has covered 18,000 miles under their ownership, so whatever fuel-delivery system it has, it works fine.
It does need just a little bit of interior work, as you see. And yes, that is the ground you’re seeing behind the driver’s seat. This car needs floor pans, bad. Fortunately, the floors on a Type 3 bolt in, and replacements are available in either steel or fiberglass. All the interior bits are available as well, or you can just wing it and install whatever seats you want, and make some door cards.
The rest of the body looks pretty solid, though obviously the paint is shot. But patina is a thing, right? Personally, I’d ditch the roof racks; I’m not a fan of modern-style racks on older cars. Find one of those period-correct chrome jobbies, and then maybe it could stay.
Yes, they both need some work. But the bones are there, and they can both make it home under their own power, and that’s not nothing. They’re both easy to find parts for, too. So what’ll it be – a good old truck, or an uncommon air-cooled VW?
(Image credits: Craigslist sellers)
Always wanted an air cooled VW. Besides, it’s a wagon and I can’t say no to a wagon.
I really like those Type 3’s. However, in my neck of the woods a truck like that would be a relatively easy fix-and-flip, especially with that wallet-friendly starting price. With that money in my pocket I could then go shopping for much nicer Type 3.
Both, if that truck was on my side of the country I would buy it and I have always loved Type 3’s
Truck ad has been deleted, but I only clicked on it because I wanted to see the bed or lack thereof, I still went squareback because I want one. I don’t want a truck.
Finally an affordable pickup truck. I guess plus the cost of some wood for the bed.
Put me down for that dark and handsome Chevrolet.
We had a ’65 C20 in the old world: it was a workaholic.
Here’s an interesting one for me, as my last two project vehicles were a ’65 Chevy K10 and a ’68 VW Fastback. The floors on the Square do require welding to install them properly. At the end of the day, I regret selling my Fastback, which was mechanically done but I was between jobs, moving, and didn’t have a place to store it, but I was done with the pickup, which was a 4×4 and way too tall to be of much use for me.
I’ll take the Square and redemption.
I’d like both, but the truck is the better choice for me imo.
Dang, I would buy both if funds and storage space were available.. My first car was a 72 squareback. But rules of the game dictate a selection of one.. the truck is a better value. I’ve purchased and fixed up several over past 3 years. This one could be fixed up and sold for double without too much effort.
I went with Sweede’s brother, the Chevy pickup. It’s just so handy.
Definitely a “why not both?” day.
Yes, please!
Truck, easy choice
$4000 for a 55 yo mass produced, plebian car with no floor, barely an interior, barely any paint, missing trim, rust and tires that presumably need changing so often they had to take the ad’s pictures during the process.
What is this 2022?
Floors in an old VW are pretty easy to replace, and the rest of the car appears solid. $4,000 isn’t bad considering Type 3s are the third most popular aircooled VW platform and aren’t all that common.
Is demand really so high for a sketchy, rusted out 50 yo quadbox?
Oof. If that truck were closer, I’d be aaaaallll over it! I’m going to be in the market for a pickup soon, so I’ll keep an eye on it. I’m sure it will be gone long before I’m ready to pull the trigger.
Let us know what you get.
A Squareback has been on my Grail Car list…
Go for it man!
As tempting as the truck is, I think I’m going with the Squareback. I’ve already got a Beetle, true. But this is different enough that I wouldn’t feel like I owned two of the same car. And similar enough that I would already know my around the car, and the aftermarket parts game.
The square back is a neat little car (my grandfather had two), but that old Chevy is calling to me, so it’s C10 for bingo, today.
My heart says VW wagon, but my brain (and pocket book) say truck. It’s not always the case, but today my brain won.
The C10 looks so cheerful while modern Chevy trucks look like they just got told the manager isn’t available to speak with them. Were people happier 60 years ago?
The people who were sprayed with fire hoses while they ran from attack dogs certainly weren’t.
Do you go to Radwood and remind everyone that the 80’s were when the AIDS epidemic broke out and the Challenger exploded?
It’s kind of hard to talk about people’s happiness in the 60’s without mentioning that their happiness was largely dependent on the color of their skin. I guess you could gloss over that fact if you just want to pretend none of that ever happened though.
I was going to do a deep dive into how unnecessary and pointless your comment was, but I don’t want to further drive a blog post about two hunks of metal and glass that happened to come from a troubled era further off topic.
Your reply was nothing more than you patting yourself on the back at the thought of how smart and righteous you are. It’s beyond silly in the context of Shitbox Showdown. You can appreciate an object for what it is without endorsing the terrible shit that was happening at the time of its creation. You have trivialized the very issue of racist oppression by using it to score some cheap internet points.
Simply acknowledging that I had a point in the first place would have been a lot easier than all of this bitter hyperbolic ranting.
“Bitter hyperbolic ranting” Indeed,Sir, Indeed.
Feel virtuous now? Need to shame us for anything else? Perhaps you could shame homo sapiens for how they wiped out the Neanderthals and broaden your audience.
Too long didn’t read version – Get over yourself.
Are you one of those get the woke out of the schools people or something?
If you take a long view of history it’s very likely that “happiness” overall is a shifting target with contextual boundaries
But with regards to industrial design and consumer trends, I would say that the previous decades were more optimistic about future happiness and this was visible in the designs that we have chosen to remember and cherish – of course this is not all designers, not all products, not all people
I think people were more optimistic even in the face of what Rust S Trusty noted, which is saying a lot.
Of course, some negative elements improved/dissipated and maybe this is how designers felt when they picked up their drafting pencils.
But yeah, the zeitgeist was of optimism. I lived thru 1964 as a seven-year old, but my parents exposed me to lot of social activity in NYC: folkies playing all over Washington Square Park, hippies groovin’ around St. Marks Place, and always talk of peace. What’s more optimistic?
Most of us are hoping machines, probably not a bad thing.
I’d like to buy that truck and add another foot to the stick shift.
This one is tough, because both are desirable to me. However, I voted for the C10 for the simple fact that if it was in my area I’d already be there with cash in hand, whereas the VW is priced where I’d be getting authorization from the wife first.
I’m not a truck guy so I don’t know if truck people go for this particular Chevy but if they do it looks like it might make for a good flip, especially for someone handy with wood.
Sorry, I spent my Internet money on a MGB last week. I don’t have space for another project. If I did, I’d take the square back VW
Type 3 pans are not bolt in. They are different from a Bug, slightly. Where the Bug/Ghia/Thing have pans halves that weld to the central tunnel, the Type 3s have a fully stamped piece that encompasses both sides and the bottom of the tunnel, and the top of the tunnel is welded to that. They are harder to fix than Beetles.
I’ve done a couple T3s and many Beetles and Ghias. The T3s pans are definitely not easy.
That T3 is too high a price for one in that condition. I bought a running (still EFI) ’69 Square for $2k last year and the pan is still good, but body is beat to hell. The C10 is the better buy here.
I’ve recently been missing the ’70 Squareback I had last year, even if it was a bit of a pain. Even if this one seems overpriced a bit, I’m voting Squareback.