Presenting the Volkswagen Squareback, or as it was Germany, the Variant.

 

It was a station wagon, but VW called its bus a station wagon to avoid paying higher export tariffs in counties such as the United States.

 

The VW Type 3 (The Beetle was the Type 1, and the Bus the Type 2) was built in early 1960's as a possible successor to the Beetle.  The head of VW at the time was a bit leery of a getting rid of the Beetle because even with it's 1930's design, it was continuing to sell like hotcakes, especially in the U.S. market.

 

The Type 3 was sold in notchback (with a trunk), fastback, and squareback designs.  The car has the same wheelbase as a Beetle so VW dealerships could put the car on the same rack as the Beetle, but it was wider and longer.  While it had the typical  VW air-cooled rear engine, the cooling system was made flatter so it didn't get in the way of the rear deck and you could check and add oil without without opening the panel to access the engine.  So, you had storage in the front hood and rear area, plus the back seats folded down for even more storage.

 

I owned a 1967 Squareback and it was fun to drive, with a pretty peppy 1.6 liter engine that gave an honest 30 mpg plus it had that neat engine sound that only a Volkswagen engine had.

 

Obviously, the car wouldn't pass muster in today's world as is.  However, one would think a water cooled flat 4 engine (Subaru makes them), air bag protection and a few amenities would make this just as economical and fun today.