The Volkswagen Type 4 is a mid-sized car manufactured and marketed by Volkswagen
of Germany from 1968 to 1974 in two-door and four-door sedan as well as two-door
station wagon body styles. The Type 4 evolved through two generations, the 411
and 412 series. Designed under the direction of Heinrich
Nordhoff and introduced at the Paris Motor Show in October 1968, the 411 was
Volkswagen's largest passenger vehicle with the company's largest engine – with
styling credited to Carozzeria Pininfarina, who at the time had an
advisory contract with Volkswagen. The cars retained VW's trademark air-cooled,
rear placement, rear-wheel drive, boxer engine with a front/rear weight
distribution of 45/55% and a forward cargo storage — while also introducing
design and engineering departures for the company – including a completely
flat passenger area floor and suspension using control arms and MacPherson
struts. Volkswagen had prototyped a notchback sedan version of the 411,
without introducing it to production. Over its six year production run,
Volkswagen manufactured 367,728 Type 4 models, compared with 210,082 of the
subsequent Volkswagen K70 with its four year model life. In the United States,
VW sold 117,110 Type 4s from 1971 to July 1974. As Volkswagen's last
air-cooled sedans and wagons, the Type 4 models were succeeded by the first
generation Passat, marketed as the Dasher in the USA.
Features As Volkswagen's first 4-door saloon, the
Type 4 also introduced unibody construction, coil springs, trailing
wishbone rear suspension, hydraulic clutch manual transmission – as well as
MacPherson strut front suspension, subsequently adapted to the VW Type 1
1302/1303. The Type 4's battery was located under
the driver's seat. All models featured ventless driver and front passenger
windows, notched on their leading edge to provide draught-free ventilation, no
cost metallic paint, radial ply tires, full carpeting, clock, electric rear
window demister, flow-through ventilation, undercoating, and a
thermostatically controlled auxiliary heating system, specifically, a
gasoline-operated heater model BA4 by Eberspächer, fired by a glow plug
accessible from a hidden rear window deck plate.
When the Type 4 was discontinued in 1974, its engine carried on as the power
plant for the larger-engined Volkswagen Type 2s, produced from 1972 to 1979, and
for the later VW T25 1980–1983. 411
At launch, the 411 featured a 1679 cc engine with twin carburetors,
subsequently modified in 1969 with Bosch D-Jetronic electronic fuel injection and
claimed power output increased from 68 to 80 bhp — this fuel-injected engine
shared with the mid-engined Porsche 914 also launched in 1969. European 411
nomenclature highlighted the fuel injection with the suffix 'E'. Revisions
in 1969 also included replacement of the single oval headlights with twin round
headlights. 412
The 412 replaced the 411 in August 1972 in Germany, having been restyled by
designer Brooks Stevens. Halogen lights were fitted, the headlight surround was
reshaped and the nose panels were redesigned. In 1974 the engine capacity
was raised to 1795cc and fuel management reverted to a twin carburettor system,
the 412LE now being renamed 412LS. The visual design of the Volkswagen 412
Variant was followed when the Type 1 based Volkswagen Brasilia was produced
in Brazil, primarily for the Latin American markets, and the Brazilian Type
3 models TL, Variant and Variant II. In February 1974 on the German market
the 4-door 412L was priced at DM 10,995. Data
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