I contacted Jason Wiegel of the 1500 club with this info......
I've got a nice 1500 that you might like. It's a 1500 'N' RHD '63 squareback that was originally ordered by the U.S.Embassy for Sierra Leone!! (Hence the RHD)
It was ordered on 21st December 1963 from Brewo Motors Ltd, Freetown with Uprated Rear Suspension. I'll attach a picture of the V.I.N. plate showing the rear weight of 975 instead of the standard 780.
I do have the full history of the car going right from the order form, all the U.S.Embassy paperwork for the original owner (Mr Spittle) who then sold it onto another worker of the embassy called Mrs Hunt on 1st September 1965. It was Mrs Hunt who then shipped it over to the UK on 14th Feb 1967 on s.s. "Ebani". I have all shipping docs and receipts for seatbelts and number plates when it arrived in UK. It was issued with the exact same plates it has on today TTW 508E (which indicates 1967 in the UK). The original plate in Sierra Leone was USA 43!!
Mrs Hunt owned the vehicle to what I can assume was approx 1993 when it was sold to someone unknown to me. From 30th August 1994 Miss Gillian Iles owned the car but never kept it long as on 3rd December 1994 Mr Mark Todd purchased the car. He ran it for a while before taking it off the road in approx 1996 until I purchased it on 11th Oct 2009.
When I purchased the car it had suffered a terrible exterior paint job at some point in it's past, unfortunately it was as if it had been done during a sand storm as the almost every part of the car was as rough as sandpaper but the roof and bonnet had suffered the most.
Luckily a lot of the rest of the car had not suffered the same indignity but it had been painted in one way or another. The mats and carpet have been removed, the rear left window removed, engine cover lost, the original matching numbers engine had been removed and stripped but luckily was still there albeit with a couple of the cooling tins and such like missing. It is in need of a damn good clean up and putting back together but trying to find original exhaust systems for a 1500 single port single carb is a bit tricky as I'm sure you'll know! I'll get it together one day, in the meantime I bought a VW powered Trike that had been made from a Type 34 Karmann Ghia (you what I hear you cry!!!) which just so happened to have a complete 1600cc pancake motor which I have pulled off to use in case I have problems sorting the original 1500 motor.
Since owning the squareback I've not done too much, however I couldn't leave that terrible paintjob on it. I started to remove the 'new' paint with 600 wet'n'dry but that didn't go anywhere near it. I ended up starting again with 240 grit before going back down through the grades, 400, 600, 1000, 1200 before getting the cutting paste out and mopping the car all over. I've not gone over the top but managed to at least get it back down to the original paint on most of the car but didn't want to risk going any further.
I know i could have just painted it but that would have just looked like any other restored squareback instead of one that's all original.
Forgot to mention, this car has 59,656 original miles on the clock and has only been welded once with 1 small patch (approx 3" x 2") of welding under the rear seat and is amazingly solid everywhere you look. It even has the original sticker on the spare tyre and has never been fitted as the paint has not been scratched around the bolt holes, the valve is all white too. All the chrome was a bit grubby so I've tackled that with some metal polish and elbowgrease, none of it has been replaced so all original.
Chassis number is 02667599 and engine number 324017. Got the paperwork showing the freight charges of £62.16.1d from Hamburg to Freetown.
It also has an original Westfalia towbar fitted, I do have one original mudflap but the other is missing.
Anyway, hope you've enjoyed the story so far and what I've done with it. Also hope you like some of the pictures.
http://s427.photobucket.com/albums/pp35 ... quareback/
and I got this response from Jason.....
Wait for it...............................
Christ mate-youve got a very rare car there!
Now a days if we run across a rhd its usualy of Australian or South African origins-mostly from Oz. Still fairly rare. But in Oz the most prized rhd T3 were fully built in Germany. You see most of the rhd ones in Oz were called CKD-compleetly knocked down. Totaly disasembled and ready to assemble in Oz using some of their local manufactured stuff like -interior-paint-some elec components. So they are a mixed bag of things and not exactly to the standard of the German ones.
Ok what you have-regardless of where it was sent (but thats why we know its rhd) is a totaly German built 64. 64 squarebacks are not to common, rhd ones are pretty rare but you have whats called an N model and that makes this particular squareback very rare! Notice the lack of belt line chrome, no over riders on the bumpers, the vent windows painted-not chrome, the prop rod that holds the front hood up, the front trunk liner looks like the back of its cut away (its not thats the was its suposed to be). All N unique N model features. Someone added a clock-it didnt have that originaly. An N is whats to be a basic model-no fancy frills like a S-the next step up. Oh and your door cards are one piece with that black stip on top like the dash grain and your dash is a non-wrap around type.
This is very exciting! Not only do you have the history but its a very rare bird to boot! Of everything Ive blathered on about up above what dont you understand if any? It will help me with the next rant of history I have for you ; ) Any questions then?
Jason then sent me these links.....
http://www.thesamba.com/vw/forum/album_ ... c_id=67480
http://www.thesamba.com/vw/forum/album_ ... c_id=67479
http://www.thesamba.com/vw/forum/album_ ... c_id=67478
http://www.thesamba.com/vw/forum/album_ ... c_id=67477
WOW am I a happy bunny!!
Oh, and Hi to everyone on the forum!!