Milos Ruzicka/Getty Images
By Joe Capraro/Updated: March 17, 2024 5:41 pm EST
Volkswagen started constructing the Type I Beetle in 1945 and initially brought it to the United States 4 years later on, offering more than 15 million Type I automobiles before the last one rolled off the line in Mexico in 2003. The Type II van appeared in 1950 and endured up until 2021 through 6 generations and a number of authorities and informal rebadgings, at numerous times passing Transporter, Microbus, Vanagon, Westfalia, and Kombi. While the Type II was still in its very first model in 1961, VW presented the Type III, at first as a two-door ‘notchback’ sedan however not long after as a ‘squareback’ station wagon and under the Karmann Ghia label as the Type 34.
Like the Type I, Type III Volkswagen designs had their engines installed in the back to optimize freight and guest area, however the Type III engines varied from their Beetle equivalents in numerous essential aspects, mostly the various cooling systems and the method which air was transported to the engines in the lorries they powered.
The Type III engine was larger and more powerful than the Type I engine
Steve Mann/Shutterstock
The very first Type I Beetles were powered by a 1,131 cc flat-four that produced simply 25 horse power, however by the time the Type III was presented at the 1961 Frankfurt International Motor Show, the Type I engine had actually grown to 1,200 cc and might make 40 horse power. Type IIIs got a recently developed 1,493 cc, 53 horse power motor with a cast aluminum and magnesium alloy block. The Type III engine had actually a created steel crankshaft, at the end of which was connected to the engine’s cooling fan. This setup implied the fan sat lower on the block than on Type I engines and the generator was installed lower on the engine too.
The external oil cooler was turned sideways, and a 2nd carburetor was contributed to the Type III engine in 1966. The extra fuel the 2nd carbohydrate supplied improved power output to 65 horse power. The engine was still simply 18 inches from leading to bottom, enabling it to fit under the trunk flooring of the Type III fastback that was presented that year. At 249 pounds, the 1966 Type III engine exceeded its 1,300 cc Type I equivalent by simply 5 pounds however produced 15 more horse power.
Type IIIs got fuel injection faster than Type Is
Gaschwald/Getty Images
A Bosch Jetronic fuel injection system changed the twin carburetors on the Type III engines starting in 1968, although fuel injection didn’t make it to the Type I Beetle till 1975. Volkswagen had actually stopped production of the Type III 2 years previously to concentrate on the 1974 Golf, which had a front-mounted, water-cooled engine however no place near the design of either of its ageless predecessors. According to Hemmings, VW made more than 2 and a half million Type IIIs before dropping the design.
