CrapWagen Outtake: 1989 VW T3 DoKa Diesel
What remarkable times these are. A week ago, a Volkswagen diesel was a sensible choice for a reliable, fuel efficient family vehicle. Now, those same cars make their owners pariahs in the green car community.
The devils’ advocate in me tells me to embrace the newfound hatred for VW — and diesels in general. After all, I live in an area without emissions regulations. Sadly, there are plenty of brodozers around here, rolling coal between suburban roundabouts. Let’s combine the two. Here’s a Braudozer!
Of course, a bed-mounted, ash-spewing exhaust stack would look a bit silly in a rear-engined vehicle, but you get the idea.
This privately-imported VW T3 DoKa (double-cab) looks to be in excellent condition and — save the Porsche-aping, too large alloy wheels — looks absolutely perfect. The diamond-plate door panels are a bit too much on the interior, however. Surely replacement door cards wouldn’t be too difficult to source from the Fatherland?
Bidding has cracked $10,000 on this truck, surprisingly. The ones that seem to sell for the most money are either Syncro all-wheel-drive models, have powerful Subaru or Porsche engine swaps, or both. This would be cool for a local Porsche/Audi/VW tuner shop truck.
Once they swap out the oil-burning bits, of course.
Some enthusiasts say they were born with gasoline in their veins. Chris Tonn, on the other hand, had rust flakes in his eyes nearly since birth. Living in salty Ohio and being hopelessly addicted to vintage British and Japanese steel will do that to you. His work has appeared in eBay Motors, Hagerty, The Truth About Cars, Reader's Digest, AutoGuide, Family Handyman, and Jalopnik. He is a member of the Midwest Automotive Media Association, and he's currently looking for the safety glasses he just set down somewhere.
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Isn't Bruder German for brother? Shouldn't it be der Brudozer?
Why does the entire rest of the world understand this but not the US? THAT is how to do a light truck bed when the bed is actually going to be used for work. Some keis even have that with dump capability.
One of the most useful truck beds of all time, the Corvair Rampside, is no longer with us, a great shame!
Also no longer with us is the earlier double cab VW pickup, rear engine, RWD, drop sides. Mine blew a recently rebuilt engine (just out of warranty) on a vacation trip a thousand miles from home. The only option I could afford was to part with it at fire sale prices. The vehicle had panache...everyone, or at least every VW aficionado who saw it, wanted one. The only small workhorse truck-like vehicle that got more style points in its day was a Pinzgauer pickup with dropsides. Mine looked it like it belonged to a German tradesman. The Pinzgauer looked like it belonged to the Army of the German Democratic Republic, in spite of its being parked in a local Dunkin Donuts in the Cherry Hill NJ area at the time. Its owner said its home was down in the DC area. As to why we don't get any small German or other foreign pickups, I will whisper "chicken tax" so as not to arouse the economics-challenged lurking among us. Still, I guess I expect they will arise at the mention of the two words juxtaposed. Oh well...it's still true, whether everyone gets it or not.