Squareback

Squareback, originally uploaded by William 74.

The Volkswagen Type 3 was introduced in the early 60's to expand the company's range beyond the traditional Beetle, the Karmann-Ghia, and the iconic Bus and it's variants. Although it shared traits with the other cars-most notably the flat four engine mounted at the back- the Type 3 had some significant differences-suspension improvements and more interior and storage space among them. These changes were intended to give the cars a more upmarket feel compared to the more basic Beetle, as was the styling, which was similar to more traditional front engined cars. The Type 3 was available as the Notchback sedan, a new Karmann coupe, a fastback coupe, and the Variant station wagon, also known as the Squareback.

This Squareback has been sitting here for years, and is a bit of a landmark along the Lincoln Highway on the way to DeKalb. It's in front of a greenhouse and is clearly used as a planter. It looks like it was in pretty bad shape to begin with, so it's no great loss to see it full of dirt. The Squareback's rear engine location is an advantage here-the front compartment is empty to provide an excellent planter! The license plate, by the way, is a seventies Oklahoma item, and I imagine it's original to the car.

I took this on a warm summer evening in July, and you can see that the flowers were in full bloom. I passed by today (in mid October) and it's been emptied out. The old Squareback looks kind of strange that way.