History
Bought in 1995 when I was 19, the car had 38,000 original miles, it now has 40,000 in 2020. This vehicle I knew of before owning it, and is an ultra rare "M265" option code Panelvan, the commercial version of the VW 1500 Type 3 squareback. The car was bought from a deceased estate auction in Hartley, SA , that of the original private owner by a VW enthusiast, who at the time got it running after a previous 25 year slumber in a farm shed. At that time, the car had 27,000 miles on it. In 1994, the car was sold on, then in 1995, I bought it from that owner, so myself being the 4th owner.
The vehicle is a completely unrestored and complete example of the 480 car production run of VW Australia for M265 panelvans and is the only low-mile, clean unrestored Aussie built car of a handful(approx. 1-ish dozen) of Australian Panelvans known to still exist.
The paint is original, it has just been cleaned and polished.
VW however, also had a small production run in Wolfsburg/Emden where they were built from 1962-1973 in mythically small numbers and are equally rare worldwide.
Being a commercial, the bulk of them were driven into the ground.
Modifications
None. Only genuine period and rare New old stock accessories added, such as the ultra rare Bosch VW Type 3 driving lights, Blaupunkt Frankfurt AM/FM 6V radio, Full Circle VW Accessory Horn ring (with VW 000 accessory part number), Accessory bumper irons, genuine VW accessory exhaust chrome tip, Ruby red backed VW slotted wheel trims..
The panelvan panels were removed from the vehicle with windows installed by the original owner as looking at the state of his other panelvan(he had x2), he had trouble reversing without hitting anything. They are, however still with the car.
Over it's life, it had a couple of aftermarket parts added when it was rescued from Hartley (header/exhaust, distributor, fuel pump changed out), now long rectified with correct restored and new old stock parts to return to original state.
