My '65 1500S notch

[azza]

Hi all.
I've just taken ownership of a single year Australian built 1965 1500s notch and I can't wait to start work on it.

This will be a big learning curve for me as I've never had a project car before (have had motorbike projects in the past though). I've had the car for about a month now and have done everything I need to get it back on the road, just waiting on road registration to come through (a two week delay due to them having to look through archives to confirm the existence of the car's VIN).

The car is in good condition besides rough panels and scratched paint. There is very little rust at all, one of the advantages of living in a relatively dry state/country. The panels and floor pan are free from rust and/or filler, with two rust holes only present in the rear wheel arches. I'm really happy about this as I bought the car sight unseen. The car has been sitting for several years, but besides putting on some new tires and upgrading it to 12v, I've had to do nothing to it to get it back on the road. The brakes and suspension are surprisingly terrific, although I do think I'll be getting new brake lines for it soon.
Also, the interior is also in pretty good condition, original and well used, but with no real rips or tears. The dash is cracked unfortunately, and it does need new carpet though as it's been cut and patched up over the years it seems. But I'm pretty happy with things over all.
Oh, the previous owner put the short chrome "mustache" on it. It's not period correct for my car.

Anyway, this was just a brief introduction. This is my first VW, and I essentially have no idea about restoring old cars so this is all a learning experience. This site had quite a lot of information on it, so I look forward to learning more.
Below are some crappy mobile phone pics of when i first received the car. I'll update with better shots as things continue to preogress.

Cheers

*That yellow notch in the background is my brothers old car.

[paulbugman]

looking good

[Danny Lord]

Very odd that it has th 'S' badge on the back I didnt think they had them fitted to CKD cars? but I may be wrong.

[Editor]

The painted non-wrap round reflectors suggest it isn't an 'S', but who knows what was done on Aussie cars, or what's original any more.

[ARCANE]

Looks very nice

[volkswalker]

g'day mate nice lookin ride!

[azza]

Thanks for the welcome guys.
It is 100% an S model. But you're right, they seemed to do things a little different in Australia at the time, including the interior, trim (didn't have the chrome strip "mustache" at the front), no over-riders, and the engine which is the M249 option.
I'm just happy at this stage that it's dry and straight. Had a look at it on car a hoist and the car has never been in a crash, the pan is also completely free from rust, as are all the panels besides a couple bits in the rear wheel arches. The back right quarter panel isn't original and is actually blue underneath.

I've now got the car back on the road and it's running lovely. This is it's more "ratty" side with the peeling paint etc.



Had one "hiccup" the other day when I had a not so small fuel leak. When getting a safety certificate done on my car for road registration I asked the mechanic to check the fuel lines and relocate the fuel filter. He said he did it all, but clearly missed one (I don't know how that's possible) :



Bit frustrating really. Things could of ended up really bad.



The stock exhaust had rust, holes and putty throughout the entire thing, so I'm replacing it with a system that tucks up. I know it won't give me as much clearance as the stock exhaust, but I'm on a budget and this should still do the job.



Long term plans for it will be a full respray etc. But I don't have to worry about rust or anything mechanical yet, so I'm just going to enjoy driving it around for the time being

[Editor]

That looks like the front one from tank to the line that goes through the tunnel. We had a full tank on my father's 1500S, just put it in the garage overnight ready to go off on holiday next morning, and it had done the same to us overnight. Not handy! It would have been a lot less than 10 years old at the time - not very good. I've a feeling the garage sent someone over to do the job!

[azza]

That looks like the front one from tank to the line that goes through the tunnel. We had a full tank on my father's 1500S, just put it in the garage overnight ready to go off on holiday next morning, and it had done the same to us overnight. Not handy! It would have been a lot less than 10 years old at the time - not very good. I've a feeling the garage sent someone over to do the job!

Yep, it was from the front. Completely solid, when you bent it it cracked. Quite annoyed with the mechanic that apparently checked it. Next time I do it myself.

Haha, your story definitely does sound fishy, I bet they did send someone to sabotage you

[Editor]

No - I meant our garage, not the dealer's. I think they sent the mechanic to us - couldn't have got the car to them unless we mended it ourselves, then there wouldn't be much point. I'm sure we got a bill for it!

[foxy]

Australian cars were neither S or N models, they were sort of a mix of both. I'm pretty sure someone has added the S badge on the rear as well as the moustache on the bonnet.
Cool looking notch though. Its funny how 90% of the cars you see from OZ are white. I guess its because they stay cool.

[Editor]

I can't understand why the black interiors seem common - my kids couldn't sit on them in shorts if the car had been parked in the sun. Also, the back seat in a Fastback suffer from rotting out on the top if it's black and left ungaraged. The white interior stays cool.

[azza]

No - I meant our garage, not the dealer's. I think they sent the mechanic to us - couldn't have got the car to them unless we mended it ourselves, then there wouldn't be much point. I'm sure we got a bill for it!

Haha yeah, that's what I meant

Australian cars were neither S or N models, they were sort of a mix of both. I'm pretty sure someone has added the S badge on the rear as well as the moustache on the bonnet.
Cool looking notch though. Its funny how 90% of the cars you see from OZ are white. I guess its because they stay cool.

That's the first I've heard of that. So far everyone I have spoken and everything I have read disagrees with what you say (I'm just trying to piece together info from any source I can find so I do appreciate your input). Apparently though the only thing that set aside the Australian "S" model was the dual carb engine and seat trim. It was specced different to the German built S model, but still an S model in Australia as there was a non S model available also. Yep as mentioned that mustache definitely isn't original, it belongs to the 64-65 German produced 1500S.
It is weird though how so many Australian cars are white. I got excited for a minute when seeing blue paint under the rear left panel only to be disappointed when I discovered it wasn't original haha

[foxy]

Thats interesting because I've not heard that before. All the Australian cars ( pre 67 ) I've seen have the same body spec ( i.e no side repeaters, small reflectors, no moustache, bullet indicators etc... ). I've never seen another one badged up as an S.
Your interior trim is the same as all the other ones I've seen, which is more of an N style. I've never seen one with Z armrests etc.

[miketyp3]

Found these, they may help.

http://www.thesamba.com/vw/archives/lit/64aus1500s.php

http://www.thesamba.com/vw/archives/lit ... ralian.php

As I understand it the reason the interiors are different (and a lot of the electrics too - spot the ignition switch) is that a certain percentage of parts had to be of Austrailian origin to avoid VW having to pay import tax.

Mike

[foxy]

Thanks for that Mike, I hadn't seen that before. Looking at that info it looks like the squareback wasn't available as an S then, only the notch.
Love this pic. Its like my square and azza's notch together when they left the factory.

[azza]

Thanks for all that info guys. Always appreciated.
I also found some production figures for the specific models somewhere. Interestingly the "S" was far more common than the standard model.

That pic is awesome. it kind of freaked me out a little also, as I have the exact same numberplate as the cars in the promo ad. Same colour, same model, same numberplate. Don't know what the chances are of that.
Cheers

[Editor]

Bear in mind that at first the Australian cars were built from German kits (CKD they called them - completely knocked down). Then the Ozzies started building a fair bit of them - don't know what parts they didn't make though - then at some point they began making them from the kits again, as production numbers started to drop again.

[azza]

Yep that's true. There was a time when they were pressing their own panels but I can't figure out which model/s and year/s that was. The research continues.