1971 Volkswagen Type III Fastback
My senior year of high school my parents decided that I needed to have my own car. My mother had inherited a small amount of money and she used the money — $500 — to buy my first car, a 1971 VW Type III fastback.
The car was owned by my uncle, Cyril Nally who lived at the burg in Washington County. I don’t recall the mileage, but it was in good shape. it was light blue in color. The VW had a flat 4-cylinder engine — not unlike the engine in the VW Bug — but this engine was equipped with Bosch fuel injection, It was also somewhat larger than the Beetle engine — 1.6 liters. In fact, the Type III was the first production car with electronic fuel injection. It worked very well, though the injectors tended to development fuel leaks as they aged. I ended up replacing all four of the injectors while I owned the car.
I learned a lot about cars working on the VW and made my share of mistakes. For example, I had a front brake caliper lock up while making a panic stop on the Watterson Expressway. The car ended up pulling to the right so hard I could barely keep it in control; I ended up driving between the two lanes of traffic while trying to stop. The left caliper was frozen, leaving the right caliper working alone. I learned how to rebuild disc brake calipers in the process.
I added a Hurst shifter to the car, and bought aluminum slotted mags for the car. The wheels looked good, but they lacked the negative offset found on the original rims. The front tires rubbed on the fender lip, and when loaded, the rear tires rubbed on the fender lip. I had to add air shocks to the car and cut the stops off the suspension in order to raise the rear high enough to get it off the rear tires.
I had two fender benders with this car; while on the ramp exiting from the Watterson Expressway onto Dixie Highway, the guy in front of me stopped short, and i rear ended his Chevy Caprice. His car was jacked up with a big-ass trailer hitch, and his hitch hit my VW hood square in the VW logo. The other accident was when I backed out of my father’s driveway and cut the wheels without realizing how close I was to the rear bumper of my father’s car. His bumper crunched the left front part of my bumper right in front of the left wheel.
In 1978 I found a white 1955 Chevy Bel Air for sale in Clarksville and I HAD to have it. I told my parents I wanted to sell the VW for $1600 — the price the owner wanted for the 55 Chevy. They didn’t like the idea, but didn’t believe I could get that much for the car, which admittedly, was quite a stretch.
The day my for sale ad was to appear in the Bargain Mart, my car was stolen from in front of my parents house about 15 minutes before I got up to get ready for school. The thieves took the car thru several yards on their way around the block. They headed to a logging road in the Boston area where they took the wheels off the car, broke all the windows (except for one wing vent), and then beat the shit out of the body.
My mechanic, Augie Puckett, had a parts Type III at his house, but he wouldn’t part with the glass so I could repair my car. I ended up selling it to Kurt Hines for $75. He drove it home. He then went to Augie Puckett and Augie sold him all the glass he needed for the car. Kurt then fixed the dents and painted the car a light tan color. His family members drove the car for a long time before it was sold to someone else.
1976 Plymouth Volare
This four-door sedan was green and owned by my father. It had the dependable Slant 6 engine and auto transmission. He let me drive this from time to time, though he preferred me having my own car (see above).
1970 AMC Javelin
This was a car owned by my brother, Bennie. It was silver with some really nice pinstriping. It was very sporty looking, even though it was powered by the venerable 258-cubic-inch six cylinder. After I was licensed, Bennie let me drive the Javelin on occasion, threatening me with physical pain if I drove it too much. He told me he was keeping track of the mlieage. I really enjoyed driving the Javelin. Bennie almost traded it in on a 1974 Javelin, but opted not to.
1978 Dodge Aspen
This was another four-door sedan owned by my father. It was a cream/yellowish color with brown vinyl roof and brown trim. It was powered by the venerable Slant 6 engine with a 2 barrel carb.
1976 Plymouth Feather Duster
After the loss of my Type III, my father wanted me to buy a new Dodge sedan from the local dealer. There was a stripped down two-door Aspen on the lot … the car lacked carpeting and had a 3 speed manual on the floor and no radio. The car was dull and lacked pizzazz. While browsing local used car lots, I ran across a bright read 1976 Plymouth Duster, a much sportier looking car than the Aspen. I told my Dad I wanted that car, and he helped me make it happen.
The Duster had a slant six engine and a manual 4 speed transmission. The Feater Duster package gave the tranny an overdrive gearing; it also used aluminum in the hood and truck lid to reduce weight, therefore improving gas mileage. The aluminum parts, including intake manifold and tranny housing, saved 200 pounds of weight.
I owned the car from 1979 until about 2000. By that time I had rebuilt the engine myself, replaced the rear end, and repainted the car the same color red after I paid a guy too much money to apply a crappy-ass paint job. The paint job came as part of an insurance claim. I had parked the Duster in front of my duplex in Jasper, Ind., and the daughter across the street backed her car into my drivers side door, caving it in.
I had seen a body shop in Cox’s Creek at KY509 promoting “professional paint and body work.” I don’t know why, but I wanted to try them as a test for maybe getting my 1955 Chevy painted there. After I received the estimate for the door, I asked him to price an entire paint job, which he did.
The damage caved in the drivers door, but it also damaged the rocker panel. I left my car with them for a week; when I got back the following Friday, I found the owner painting my car. He promised it ready by Sunday afternoon.
My Duster had the typical white stripe down the side, and I had located the appropriate tape strike at a dealer. I had told Marvin, the owner, NOT to paint the stripe. His wife had called me during the previous week and suggested I allow Marvin to paint two black racing stripes from hood to trunk and a lower stripe on the bottom on the sides. I told them absolutely not.
When I picked up the car on Sunday, I found that Marvin had painted the side stripes — or tried his best to paint them. The stripes were wobbly and uneven from the front to the rear on both sides of the car. Simply put, the stripes were absolutely awful. On closer inspection, Marvin’s band of mental defects DID NOT remove the “Feather Duster” logo on the sides of each fender! The idiots painted OVER the logos!! You could see where they attempted to peel a corner of the logo off one fender, but they didn’t get far before they quit.
The paint job quality itself was horrid.
The paint was dry and rough around the rear window. The hood and trunk were fair. Each wheelwell had numerous paint runs. The worst parts were the crappy stripes and painting over the logos. Marvin also simply filled in the dented rocker panel with a massive gob of bondo. the problem was he didn’t even try to shape the bondo to the original contours. There was a factory seam slightly ahead of the back edge of the door opening, which was where the dent happened. When I got the car back, the seam that was supposed to be there was gone — just a smooth rocker panel that was obviously badly bondoed. Really awful work.
A few years later, I repainted the car myself. The tape stripe was no longer available, so I didn’t replace it, and I didn’t try to replicate it in paint.
The failed rear end was replaced, but it was replaced by an older rearend that had the old bolt pattern. The original driveshaft didn’t bolt up, either. But Samuels Motor Co. got it fied.
I sold the car to a man named Chad, a known drug user and dealer. A few months after I sold it, I got a call from the sheriff’s office at about 1 a.m. letting me know they found the car in the middle of the road and I was the registered owner. I told them I sold it to Chad, and he had failed to transfer it! I assume it was towed and eventually sold for scrap. I never saw the car again.
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