It's hip to be square

BY MIKE BERRY

The Wichita Eagle

Vint says his eye-catching VW Type 3, with its satin-finished orange-and-pearl paint job, is truly a daily driver. In fact, when he bought the nearly 40-year-old car about six months ago, he drove it all the way home from near Kansas City without it missing a beat.
Mike Berry/The Wichita Eagle
Vint says his eye-catching VW Type 3, with its satin-finished orange-and-pearl paint job, is truly a daily driver. In fact, when he bought the nearly 40-year-old car about six months ago, he drove it all the way home from near Kansas City without it missing a beat.

Scott Vint was looking for a VW Beetle when he stumbled onto his much more distinctive 1969 Volkswagen Type 3 about six months ago.

"I was on eBay looking for a Bug and I found this Squareback about 60 miles from my sister's house in Kansas City. I thought what the heck," he said. "It's a really cool car. You don't see many of them around," he said.

Now that he's worked a little magic on the unusual little car, he can feel pretty safe in saying you won't see any other one just like his.

The 39-year-old Squareback was in good enough shape that he was able to drive the car home from Missouri. He wasted no time in setting to work fixing some hail damage and blocking down the existing white paint job.

Vint is an automotive painter by trade and he knew exactly the scheme he wanted on the car: Lamborghini Orange Pearl contrasted with Chrysler Cool Vanilla.

And just to keep it interesting, instead of clearcoating it in gloss, he went with a matte topcoat that gives the two-tone an understated satin glow. The gloss-coated orange wheels, baby moons, beauty rings and Coker 5.60x15 wide whitewalls are a perfect complement.

The car is powered by the standard VW air-cooled flat four cylinder, mated to a fully automatic three-speed transmission. Vint installed a new windshield and front seat covers.

He and his 13-year-old daughter, Lauren, painted an aftermarket top rack a soft gray and stained the wooden slats in it a bright orange color to match the paint.

Going for a late-'60s, early '70s beach car look, Vint ordered up an aluminum mesh sun visor handmade in Australia that truly gives the little car a one-of-a-kind look.

"My daughter loves this car. She can't believe the thumb's-up and the looks we get in it," Vint said. The VW attracts more attention than his full-custom Harley, he said.

Vint and his wife, Michelle, cruise to the Dairy Queen regularly and he uses the car as a daily driver, putting about 5,000 miles on it already.

"It's unbelievable how much stuff you can put in this car," he said, describing a recent trip to a home improvement center where it was filled with mulch and other gardening materials.

That would have been a problem if he had found that Beetle he was looking for.