Their is a pretty healthy T3 Syncro following over here in the UK and they all tend to hang out in the Syncro sections on the Club8090 forum or the Brickwerks forum. Is there a special section for Syncros on aussieveedubbers or do they just hang with the commoners (no offence intended)?

Hey Slobbo,no special section for Syncros on AVD.
Try http://autos.groups.yahoo.com/group/Syncro_T3_Australia/ 
Thats a dedicated Aussie Syncro group,been running for about seven years.
See you there!

There are a few links at Phill Lander's Aussie Syncro page: http://members.ozemail.com.au/~pjlander/volkswagen_syncro.htm 

In Australia the 1980s were dark times for Volkswagen, as no passenger cars at all were imported from 1981 to 1990. From 1982 to 1990 the T3 Transporter was the only new Volkswagen available, and they were priced around 30% more than the equivalent Japanese competition. As a result, annual sales in those years - for the entire country - were only a few hundred a year. Only in 1989, when a new VW importer (Ateco) took over, were more than 1,000 Transporters sold in one year. Telecom helped with a fleet buy of Syncro Kombis that year. So basically there just aren't many T3 Kombis in Australia, let alone Syncros.

By way of comparison, in 1975 when the Australian assembly plant was still operating, VW made and sold over 8,000 T2 Kombis ! Nowadays they sell around 1,600 T5 Transporters each year here, some with 4Motion.

BTW, great to see you Scots know the right way, but why do the English refer to the T3 Transporter as the 'T25'? I know that the van/kombi/microbus bodies are a 'model' 25, according to digits 7 and 8 of their VIN, but the T3 pickups are model 24! Why don't they call the pickups 'T24' then, by their logic? Likewise the T4 Transporter is a model 70 and the current T5 is a model 7H according to their VINs, so when are the English going to start callling them 'T70' ot T7H' ?? Was that 'T25' thing started by someone who didn't know the difference between Transporter and Type ??

Hi

The motor designation for the water cooled T3s is 025, I guess that's where T25 comes from. In the US the WBX motor is refereed to as a Type V or Type 5.

Steve

the english dont confuse type3's with t3's, so as you noted the Vin is 25 therefore the logical way to distinguish between the two totally different vehicles is to give them totally different model codes.
its abit odd cos ozzy's describe cars by vin more often than the brits (VN, VT VU 6N 9P ETC), yet they run scared when you say T25!

I always assumed T25 referred to the air cooled one's ('80-'82)


So Slobbo, tll usa bit about your Syncro? Looks like a camper?

They are called a T25 because they are a Type 25. Just like a Golf is a Type 17, Type 19 etc.

They were never called a T3 until the T4 went on sale and VAG changed its designations. (Golf A1, A2, Passat B1, B2)

So the correct nomenclature is T25.

Only the T3 VANS are a Type 25. The T3 single and double cab pickups are a Type 24.

True, VW didn't use the 'T' designation until the fourth generation Transporter (T4). However they now use it retrospectively and commonly refer to T1, T2 and T3 generations in their publications and press releases. The reason they changed naming convention when the T4 came along was that the T4 was no longer a 'Type 2' - its VIN code was 70. Likewise the T5 is a 7H. So using the 'T25' logic they should be T70 and T7H - but they aren't.

The first generation of the LT is a Type 28 - but no one calls them the T28. The Amarok is a Type 2H according to its VIN - but no one calls it the T2H.

As for earlier (T2) Transporters, you can have basic vans (model 21); Microbus (22); Kombi (23); Pickups (26); or Ambulance (27). These are the first two digits of the chassis numbers. No one calls them T21, T22, T23, T26 or T27.

As for the 'T25' - They are the third generation of Transporter so the correct nomenclature is T3. Or 'Vanagon' if you are in America. But 'T25' is wrong.

But what did you call them in the '80s Phil?

Phill and Phil,
Were they not just called Kombi in the early days.

Germans called them T25 and T25A for the later ones.

ok lets move on, theres nothing to dsiscuss here, its like saying why are oranges called oranges but lemons arn't called yellows. it jist is!!!

I remember LNC's ads when the new Kombis were finally on sale in 1982, advertising them as VW 'Transporters'. We hadn't used that name in Australia before - the earlier models were called 'VW Commercials' officially (look at the Australian VW brochures of the time). We knew them all as 'Kombis', but that's an Australian thing. The Americans called them VW Buses, the Germans called them Bullys. Officially, only the window van with removeable seats was the Kombi (short for Kombination); the rest were delivery vans, microbuses etc.

When the water-cooled engines appeared in 1984, LNC still advertised them as 'VW Transporters', or VW Caravelles (CL or GL in Australia). We called them Wasserboxer Transporters. Either way, by calling them 'Transporters' you were automatically saying that they weren't the earlier models.

We became aware of the 'T4' name for the new front-drive Transporter when we saw them in Safer Motoring magazine in the early 1990s. But no, they weren't advertised as the 'T4' here', usually just as the 'new Volkswagen Transporter'. T4, meaning fourth generation of Transporter, was immediately understood and extremely logical, and was quickly applied restrospectively, especially with articles in their 'in-house' Volkswagen Magazine.

I am not aware of Volkswagen - Germany or otherwise - ever referring to the T3 as the 'T25' or 'T25A'. I thought that convention came from English writers such as Lawrence Meredith, the man who also coined the nickname 'Bay Window' for the T2 that unfortunately seems to have stuck. Luckily his other nicknames - 'loaf' or 'wedge' for the T3 - haven't stuck. I don't know if there are UK nicknames for the T4 or T5?

I would be interested in seeing a VW brochure, press release, advertisement or ETKA page that refers to a 'T25' - but I bet no one can find one. As I said, only the VAN is a VIN model 25 - the pickups (such as yours Jon) are a VIN model 24. Look for yourself - 7th and 8th digits of the VIN.

Phil, you are assuming it's from the VIN.

....and you know what happens when you assume.

Umm - where else would '25' for a T3 Kombi come from?? Maybe it's the wheelbase in decimetres, rounded up? In which case a T1 or T2 would be a T24?

What else does a T3 have 25 of?

Have you seen anything VAG where it is called a T3?

I am not talking about 3rd world countries, just what they were known as in Germany. Understand.

Same as Golfs were known as typ17 and typ19. Big bumper Golfs were typ19A.

Who cares? None of these names were official, they were just nicknames like lowlight, bay etc.

Although I think that the T4 was marketed as the T4.

Not at the time, as you say VW didn't use that convention until the T4 came along. But VW AG does use it retrespectively.

For example, the press releases for the 10 millionth Transporter in 2007 referred to the T1, T2, T3, T4 and T5 generations. Likewise press releases for the 60th birthday in March 2010. I seen similar references in VW Group Australia's glossy 'Volkswagen Australia' magazine.

I suppose for the last word in the matter, see the Volkswagen Commercial Vehicles website:

http://www.volkswagen-commercial-vehicles.com/en/company/history/1979-1982.html