My newly aquired 412 sedan....

Po' Riggity · Post by **Po' Riggity** » Tue Oct 21, 2003 1:04 pm

Well, its been in my family since new in 1973.. But I figured you guys might get a kick out of this.. I don't know how rare they are, but Ive got a 4 door, 1973 VW 412 sedan, automatic, (not an auto stick) with fuel injection.. Very cool car.. has one small dent, and is in need of paint... as well as the drivers seat needs to be repaired, but I got it for free... It was my grandma's which she bought new in 1973, and then gave to my dad when she couldn't use it anymore.. now Im driving it, and its a candidate for a restore Its got the stock original motor... not too bad on the flat ground, but the automatic doesnt help the motor on the hills.. Can anyone tell me how rare these cars are? I heard they are fairly rare.

Thanks,
Scott

raygreenwood · Post by **raygreenwood** » Wed Oct 22, 2003 4:41 pm

I had one identical...same color and everything. The front door is going to be tough...but I'm preety sure I know where one is. Four doors had unique doors...while 2 doors and wagons had same doors. Though all doors from 411-412 were slightly different in interior trim and trim mounting from 411-412...the hinges, locks and exterior lines were the same. Nice one. Ray

Guest · Post by **Guest** » Wed Oct 22, 2003 8:38 pm

raygreenwood wrote:I had one identical...same color and everything. The front door is going to be tough...but I'm preety sure I know where one is. Four doors had unique doors...while 2 doors and wagons had same doors. Though all doors from 411-412 were slightly different in interior trim and trim mounting from 411-412...the hinges, locks and exterior lines were the same. Nice one. Ray

Ray,
The ding in the door isn't that bad, and I know my fair share of GOOD body guys that can fix the dent without the use of bondo, so Im not too worried about it. The cost of painting it is gonna be the tough one, and having the seats repadded and reupholstered aint gonna be cheap either, but I think it might be worth it

Ive got a squareback Im eyeballing now, as well as a 68 baja bug... Man.. I might have to sell my jeep and get out of 4 wheeling to afford this hobby LOL..

Scott

raygreenwood · Post by **raygreenwood** » Wed Oct 22, 2003 10:15 pm

These are very worthwhile cars. They drive and handle much better than the type 3. When properly tuned ...both engine and transmission...they should not be sluggish at all. I drove my 412 over mountains at 60 mph. It was identical to yours. Look at the post on seats. If we get a group buy going, they can be as cheap as seats for a super beetle. Carpet by the yard and headliner material can be had from the same company. We can point you to a lot of things. You will find that a lot has worn out just from sitting still. In the next month or two when the job situation stabilizes...I plan to offer rebuild kits for the front end...and possibly the rear. To many have asked...for me not to. Ray

Po' Riggity · Post by **Po' Riggity** » Wed Oct 22, 2003 11:01 pm

Ray, I saw about the seats, and posted about wanting to get something together. As far as the car.. its tuned fine, and runs awesome... Its got fuel injection, which Im not sure is a good thing... but its cool... When I say sluggish.. we have some SERIOUS hills out this way... It will do 80 mph all day long on the freeways though... and its an automatic.. which doesn't help the speed situation at all...
Scott

raygreenwood · Post by **raygreenwood** » Thu Oct 23, 2003 10:23 pm

The fuel injection is a plus. It blows the carbs away. It should be putting out 80-82 HP if its a 1.7. The transmission does need tuning...if you havn't tuned it. To see what I mean...look in the brown Bentley type 3 book. It is the identical gearbox except for the bell housing. The section about pressure checkng and adjusting the differential pressure valve on the modulater can help shift points. The final drive ratio with the automatic is excellent. It should get up and zip...especially if the shift points are not artificialy too low from regular wear. Ray

vwbill · Post by **vwbill** » Fri Oct 24, 2003 11:46 pm

Hey sweet four door cruiser! She's still looking like a runner! Those autos were nice to have for the city driving. Loved the ones with the ac add on and cruise control! I use to get 28 on the hwy with my 1.8fi!
Good luck with her! Bill

Po' Riggity · Post by **Po' Riggity** » Sat Oct 25, 2003 2:23 pm

vwbill wrote:Hey sweet four door cruiser! She's still looking like a runner! Those autos were nice to have for the city driving. Loved the ones with the ac add on and cruise control! I use to get 28 on the hwy with my 1.8fi!
Good luck with her! Bill

Bill,
Its definetly a runner.. Im using her as my daily driver right now, and I drove from Lake Arrowhead to San diego, about 120 miles.. on about 5 gallons of gas... so I got about 24 mpg on the way down here, but I was also doing about 85 mph the whole way

Scott

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My newly aquired 412 sedan....

My newly aquired 412 sedan....

Sweet cruiser!

Re: Sweet cruiser!