Richard Crego's 1965 VW Notchback isn't your typical street cruiser. In fact, Volkswagen never imported this model, despite its clean good looks. He removed most of the identifying emblems on the car and painted it black with a red pearl overlay to add to its mystique.
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Mike Berry / The Wichita Eagle
This is not a garden variety Type 3 VW powerplant, but a custom-built 914 Porsche engine equipped with dual Weber carburetors. Crego cut down the intake runners to fit the carbs and built the shiny copper air tubes to connect the low-profile air cleaners.
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Mike Berry / The Wichita Eagle
A closer look at the paintwork reveals that the irridescent purple color is actually red pearl misted over jet black by All Angles Body Shop & Restorations.
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Mike Berry / The Wichita Eagle
The stock instrument cluster was freshened up with the addition to a rally-style pair of guages, with the tachometer on the right and a combination engine temperature/oil pressure gauge on the left. A small diameter Grant GT steering wheel replaces the stock unit.
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Mike Berry / The Wichita Eagle
Crego traded for a set of freshly smoothed and rechromed bumpers for the Notchback. With most chrome trim removed, they enhance the sparkle of the unique paint job, which shifts from purple to brown to black in different lighting conditions.
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Mike Berry / The Wichita Eagle
Fresh factory-style upholstery was fitted by Downey's Upholstery, including seat covers and a new headliner. The owner crafted the door panels himself.
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Mike Berry / The Wichita Eagle
The stock 4-inch wide wheels were ditched in favor of chromed 5-1/2-inch wide chrome units fitted with baby moon hubcaps. Filling the rear wheel wells nicely are 205/75R/15 Tiger Paws, while 165's are used up front.
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Mike Berry / The Wichita Eagle
Crego achieved an agressive stance on the car by lowering the front suspension two inches and installing a set of tall Tiger Paw tires on the rear.
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Mike Berry / The Wichita Eagle
Two-tone vinyl upholstery, complete with fold-down center armrest, is featured in the rear of the little sedan.
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Mike Berry / The Wichita Eagle
The door panel upholstery was done by the car owner and maintains the clean, simple theme of the Type 3's original design.
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Mike Berry / The Wichita Eagle
There wasn't enough room inside the fenders to mount an electric radio antenna, so Crego slipped the works inside the engine compartment. When he switches on the radio, hidden in the glove box, the antenna rises through the cowl vent below the rear windshield.
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Mike Berry / The Wichita Eagle
The dual Empi exhaust system exiting below the rear bumper hints at the performance potential of this Notchback. Crego is thinking about building his own exhaust with glasspack mufflers to improve the Porsche power plant's breathing.
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About the only non-VW/Porsche piece on the car is the unusual third brake light, a 1937 Dodge tail light set into a plastic shade hand-crafted by the owner.
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Mike Berry / The Wichita Eagle
Richard Crego knows that when he rolls into a car show with his Type 3 VW Notchback, he's not likely to see another one on display. He crafted this beauty out of a pair of hulks, working on it off and on since the mid 1990s. The car has earned the nickname of `Dahlia,' a reference to the movie `The Black Dahlia.'
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Mike Berry / The Wichita Eagle
Up front is the typical VW trunk space, with the gas filler and spare tucked in behind the front bulkhead. Note that the brake master cylinder has been moved from the firewall to that bulkhead in an effort to protect the paint.
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Mike Berry / The Wichita Eagle
With the engine cover lowered into place, the rear trunk is big enough for a couple of flat suitcases. You might not guess that a Porsche engine hides beneath the carpeted cover.
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Mike Berry / The Wichita Eagle
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