When Martin Wright contacted us with pix of his 1967 Type 3 Volkswagen 1500, *we just had to drop everything, make for Bristol and check it out. (*By ‘we’, we mean Gez, because someone only had to amble down the road and around the corner…)

“WHAT VOLKSWAGEN IS it?” After Martin Wright answers the interested on-looker’s question – which clearly is a familiar line of inquiry – he admits: “I never know what to say, because you don’t want to sound too anoraky….”

Of course that’s something we’re never afraid of at Dep-O. Especially since we’ve really fallen for Martin’s 1967 Type 3 VW 1500N notchback, and not just because the notch is a VW which is right up there in the retro chic desirability stakes. It’s because, yes, it looks great, but it also has a hefty helping of originality – whilst at the same time – Martin loves to use it as much as possible.

“It’s something that I’ve always wanted and fancied. In the past I’ve had four Beetles – some crap ones and some good ones – I had a ’55 oval and a ’59 which were the best of the bunch. That was a long time ago though, about six or seven years ago, and this is my first Volkswagen since,” says Martin.

Always wanted? How long has this been going on? “You’re talking to someone who used to buy ‘What Car?’ when he was six… Do you know what I mean…!?! I don’t know when it first started. I used to buy ‘VolksWorld’ when I was 12 or 13 and they’d have a centrefold and my room was covered in pastel coloured split-screen vans and pink de-seamed Beetles – because that’s what was on the scene at the time. I couldn’t tell you why though.

“I think I went through phases because I used to buy ‘Land Rover Owner’ for a long time too, and for some reason Volkswagens stuck. I thought I’d kicked it, until this came up. When I was looking on Ebay, what I really wanted was either an early Audi 100 or a BMW E12 5-series – then this came up and it was in Bath…

“It was way more than I was going to spend but it was just going to be… I’m not one of those people who is just in to Volkswagens, I have always been into cars – and I’m into new cars too. To a certain extent. I’ve also got a BMW 120D – it’s a lovely car, really quick, but it’s just got no soul.

“I had a Type-916 GTV before hand, and I absolutely loved it. I was working freelance at the time, so it was my company car – doing something like 25,000 miles a year in a V-reg GTV. It was awesome, it never let me down. To me, that’s what it’s about – having a car with soul, what the car looks like and I love all the history of it. I’ll read all the anoraky books about Volkswagen through the years. I’ve been to Wolfsburg, I’ve been around the factory, I’ve been to Ingolstadt, Munich… I’ve been to all the museums and all the tours. I am a sad bastard, basically!” laughs Martin.

So the treacherous-to-navigate bay of E is to blame…? “I saw it on Ebay one Saturday, when I was quite hung over. I went on my favourite search and it was at the top with 31 seconds left to go – which doesn’t really give you much time to make a decision. I decided that in that state, I couldn’t actually make that decision! By luck – it didn’t sell.

“I rung the bloke up and arranged to go and look it the next day. It was completely heart over head. I pulled up outside, there it was sat on the driveway and I said to myself, ‘I am actually going to buy that car’. Especially after the first time I stuck my head in the interior – this one smells like a Volkswagen… I took it out for a little drive and had to buy it.”

Oh yes, as Gez is busy taking pix of the interior, I notice a wistful look from Mr Huge followed by, “this really is a great interior – look at the dash”.

Being a 1967 model, it’s one of the later early model cars and because it’s an ‘N’ model, it’s the low-spec version. Unlike the twin-carb’d S, it does without certain features such as the chrome side-trims on the body and the front wing-mounted indicator repeaters. Other ‘eye spy’ details include: bullet front indicator lenses instead of the wraparound type, only one sun-visor instead of two, different door cards with smaller door-pulls, and less poke from the boxer engine (53bhp @ 4000rpm versus the S’s 66bhp @ 4800rpm).

“It’s still got its original engine – all the numbers match – and it’s one of those cars which comes across as being very genuine. It’s clearly had work done, I think the front wings are a slightly different colour, but by and large, it’s been pretty well looked after and spent a lot of its life in a garage. It might have been blown over once or twice, but I certainly don’t think it’s been restored,” says Martin.

“It even has its original Austrian logbook – it was either imported or sold by Porsche. I did a bit of online research and it seems that Porsche may have been the Austrian importers for VW at that time – which might explain the logo. According to the book, its first owner had the car from 1967 right through to 1986.”

Detailing names and addresses, Martin has – with a little help from Anja at work – written and sent letters to the addresses in the logbook asking for any further information on the notch. “If they are still there and they’re interested in sending me some photos or information, I reckon I’d have some pretty cool stuff.”

Martin’s wheel of choice for the notch came down to a short-list of two, either a set of five-lug Empi Sprint Stars or some Porsche Mahle Gas Burners. It was clearly a purchase that was meant to be, when this Type-3 – lowered, booted and suited with Gas Burners – found its way into Martin’s life.

“It is pretty stock, obviously it’s been lowered, it’s got those wheels on it, and it is running front discs, but it’s pretty unusual as an ‘N’ to be so unmolested. It’s Granada Rot – or Granada Red – it’s a Type 3 only colour from around 1966 to 1968, so it’s quite a rare colour. I’m 100% sure the wheels are replicas, because if they were originals, they wouldn’t have been included in the sale because they’d be worth 12-1500 quid. The rear blind was also in there when I got it – I like it and girls love it – they’re often disappointed when they find it doesn’t have a chord!”

A sweet, honest and ever so slightly modded notch then – so how often do you use it? Martin says, “I don’t use it every day and that was almost the reason I got it, because I always said that I wouldn’t get another air-cooled car for everyday use…

“I’ve driven six-volt Beetles with no heating right through the winter and it’s not funny anymore. So now I’ve got a company car and the luxury of having this – and not having to use it everyday. I use it at least every week, if not twice every week. I’ve only had it a few months but over the summer I use it whenever I’m not working.”

As for the question of fettling, Martin’s very forthright about his spannering skills. “I’m not really technical, it’s all about the look and scene – that’s my bag… I’ll quite happily tinker around, but I don’t claim to be any mechanical genius – or even have a huge amount of interest in that area. I’m quite happy to get somebody else to do it…

“In the past we’ve taken an engine out of a Beetle before, people say it’s only four bolts, but we couldn’t get it back in! This was years ago but I jacked up my Beetle outside my parents’ house on a Sunday, and come Monday morning, no-one could get out to get to work and my mum was playing merry hell… So you’ve got to learn the limits of your capability really, haven’t you…?” laughs Martin.

Instead Martin invests his energy into the side of the scene which doesn’t entail leaving grimy fingerprints all over the place – such as plotting for the 2011 Bad Camburg show and contributing to his recently established blog gnarlyvw.blogspot.com. As well as politely answering the same question over and over again.

On cue, and just as we finish talking, I glimpse another bystander – and he looks like he’s got a certain question which needs an answer…