The Volkswagen Type four is a mid-sized car manufactured and marketed by Volkswagen of Germany from nineteen sixty eight to nineteen seventy-four in two-door and four-door sedan as well as to door station wagon body styles the type for evolved through two generations the 411 and 412 series designed under the direction of Heinrich North often introduced at the paris motor show in october 1968 the 411 was Volkswagens largest passenger vehicle with the company’s largest engine a euro with styling credited to kuro surya 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 55th percent and a forward cargo storage euro while also introducing design and engineering departures for the company a euro including a completely flat passenger area floor and suspension using control arms and macpherson struts Volkswagen had prototyped a notch back sedan version of the 411 without introducing it to production over its six-year production run Volkswagen manufactured 367,000 728 type four models compared with 210,000 82 of the subsequent Volkswagen k70 with its four-year model life in the United States VW sold 117,000 110 type fours from 1971 to July 1974 as Volkswagens last air-cooled sedans and wagons the type for models were succeeded by the first generation Passat marketed as the dasher in the USA features as Volkswagens first four-door saloon the type for also introduced ona body construction coil springs trailing wishbone rear suspension hydraulic clutch manual transmission a euro as well as McPherson strut front suspension subsequently adapted to the VW type 1 and 1302 1300 thirds the type 4s battery was located under the driver’s seat all models featured ventless driver and front passenger windows notched on their leading edge to provide draft-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 be a four by a bespoke currency share fired by a glow plug accessible from a hidden rear window deck plate when the type for was discontinued in 1974 its engine carried on as the power plant for the larger engined volkswagen type twos produced from 1972 to 1979 and for the later VW t25 nineteen eighty
nineteen eighty-three 411 at launch the 411 featured a 1679 cc engine with twin carburetors subsequently modified in 1969 with bosch DJ tronic electronic fuel injection and claimed power output increased from 68 to 80 bhp euro 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 ii 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 Brooke Stephens halogen lights were fitted the headlights around was reshaped in the nose panels were redesigned in 1974 the engine capacity was raised to 1795 CCS and fuel management reverted to a twin carburetor system before twelve le now being renamed 412 LS 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 two in February 1974 on the german market the four-door for 12 l was priced at DM 10,000 995 data sources and further reading
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