My 69 Fasty

Over the years I have owned several VW type 3’s. A couple of fastbacks and a few squarebacks as well. My favorite of them all was the 69 fastback that I purchased in 2004. It was a project, but in extremely solid condition when I purchased it.

As with many projects, once I got it home, it went into the garage where it sat for several years before I got around to focusing on it. This was going to be the first project that I took from the beginning to finishing stages by myself. It was  to be my introduction to bodywork and painting. I had the fenders, doors, food and rear hatch all sandblasted, while I sanded the body itself down to bare metal. I wanted to remove the metal trim, so I filled the trim holes.

After completing all of the body work, applying primer and reassembling the body panels, it was time to get the stance just right. I lowered the front a couple of splines and I was real happy with the look.

One thing I really liked, and the look that I was going for, was an earlier look than 69. To accomplish this, I replaced the front passenger fender with an early fender with no gas door. An early gas tank with the filler under the front hood completed this look. Another change I made was to modify the front seats and make them into low back seats. Once I found a good match to the original interior color, it was time to paint

I was also able to find some mix and match interior seats, carpets and panels on clearance from an online VW store that when brought together, you would not know that they were not purchased as a set. This gave the car a real clean look. To finish of the interior, I added a nice wood steering wheel.

Finally, to finish it off, I added a few personal touches that I liked, a roof rack and a front visor to give the car a vintage look. With a rebuilt automatic transmission, this car not only looked nice, but it was a very nice driver. In the end, I was very pleased with my first restoration project.

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