Even Better Than The Real Thing

The T3 Caravelle Carat was never built for the North American Market, but a devout Volkswagen dealer quietly ordered just six examples. And this was one of them.

- Dave Richards

This particular vehicle arrived to find its buyer expecting it to be white. The colour name was an ivory and because of this mix up, the buyer pulled out and the bus sat, for sale on the dealer’s lot with no takers. In ‘89 don’t forget, this was a $40,000 vehicle. Eventually it was returned to VW and became the company vehicle of the manager there for a short while. It was on a trip to California with close friends, that one of them loved it so much, he had to own it.

It was this same friend, who later sold me the bus in 1997”.

David Hayward first saw this vehicle when it was brand new and still at the VW Canada facility. He had recently acquired an ‘88 Westfalia syncro and was smitten. Looking around, he was handed the keys to this very bus, thought it was quite stunning and took a series of some photos (slides). And then, almost a decade later whilst visiting the Vancouver area, he spotted the bus parked outside Starbucks. Pulling over, he left a speculative note in the bus’ window and a few days later, the owner called to reply. Within just a few weeks in early ‘97, David became the proud owner.

“The T3 was very straight, almost rust free and generally good when I bought it, but it had covered some serious miles and was kind of tired looking. I gave it a good clean up and a service, repaired the tattered bumpers and replaced the broken windshield. It then became my daily driver allowing the syncro to be treated to the garage and just used for camping getaways.