1971 Volkswagen 411 Estate.

April 23, 2016

9 comments

9 comments:

Thomas said...

Whoa, a 411 wagon. Looks like a non-running condition and I don't wonder, there basically isn't anything available for these (or 412) except engine parts.

I should know, I've had a -74 412 4-door sedan for few years now, currently inspected and moving but who knows how long.

Very nice car to drive if in good shape, but a kind of thirsty for a middle sized car it is (in US, in Europe it's still a full sized car). Front end geometry had problems and it was changed several times during the 6 year production.

Almost all of these have serious rust problems because factory used PU-foam extensively, even in subframes and such unconventional places. Reduced the noise, so that part was a success, but created a lot of rust holes to places you'd never expect to see one.

Like in the middle of the hood. WTF?

Anonymous said...

"...but created a lot of rust holes to places you'd never expect to see one.

Like in the middle of the hood. WTF?"



More likely a fir needle collection.

Tony Piff said...

^^^hahaha indeed. fantastic comment, thomas.

Anonymous said...

"those are speed holes. they make the car go faster."

Anonymous said...

Nickname in Germany: 4 doors 11 years to late...
With all the air cooled hype people easily forget that these cars almost killed VW. Nobody wanted a rear engine middle class car in '71. The Golf/Rabbit came to the rescue.

Anonymous said...

Most of these had cranky fuel injection systems that got replaced by carburetors.

If you have one with FI watch out for fuel leaks and fires.

Unknown said...

DO WANT.

Thomas said...

To Edward: These are still for sale from time to time but beware: Basically not a single spare part is available outside engine, and for that only generic type 4 engine parts, nothing 411/412 specific.

It's a nice car to drive when everything works, competes easily with other German luxury sedans from that era.

Getting everything to work is another matter as VW doesn't support it at all, unlike BMW/MB. Same situation as with Opel: No parts from factory anymore.

I got a big pile of parts with the car and I've been buying those as needed from thesamba and other type4 -forums around the world. I also know some of the local type4 hobbyists and that's almost a must: Only those people have spare parts. I've something and then we swap, sometimes money is involved too.

See also:
http://shoptalkforums.com/viewforum.php?f=12&sid=21b03235892782602c55d6721330b6e4
http://www.vwtype3and4club.org.uk/forum/viewforum.php?f=27
http://www.thesamba.com/vw/forum/viewforum.php?f=33

And of course wiki:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/VW_412

411/412 is a difficult hobby car because it's complex, it's totally different than the earlier models and there weren't many made so aftermarket parts are almost non-existent.

On the other hand, almost every meeting or happening or whatever, even VW spesific, has only one or just few 4-series, it's almost as rare as Porsche 914.


Unknown said...

Shove a vanagon 2l. In it or a 1.9 tdi
And slam it on Fuch's and leave the paint as is..