411 Coupe, why no rear boot?

[Wally]

Thanks!

[412s2]

Thanks Lahti411, what a great find!! I hope they post some more footage of the Nordstadt-Express

Listen to them laughing as they pass all those Porsches!!! Brilliant!

[412s2]

I should be out in the garage working on the Variant, but I’ve been surfing the net looking for Type 4 stuff instead... (I’m waiting on parts, my excuse and I’m sticking to it!)

Anyway, I found this here: http://www.museodelcoche.com/nggallery/ ... mage/4641/


Click on the image to see a bigger version!!

I think this is the car Judith Rastall mentions on her EA240 page: http://rastall.com/412/vw-ea240.html

Most recently, the German car magazine Auto Zeitung (nr 3 – 23 Jan 2008, Baur Media KG, Cologne, FGR) published a rather intriguing photo of a four-door VW 412 Hatchback Saloon. It is not clear if this is an official VW prototype or a privately executed conversion. The vehicle appears to be based on a standard Fastback saloon and has an enlarged rear screen which also functions as a glass tailgate, much like the rear window of a Toyota Tercel Mk1 amongst others. The air intakes have been integrated into the rear wings, the engine lid has been downsized and is probably fixed to the body. This implies that the rear seat and luggage floor have been converted to the likes of a Type 4 Variant. Fokko has written to the Auto Zeitung editorial staff to enquire after some more background information on the car but has not yet received an answer from them. If they do reply, you can read about it here too!

What do you think? Genuine or a photoshop special? The sceptic in me is not convinced. Why relocate the fresh air outlet vents? Why the bespoke vents on the wings when they could’ve used the Variant’s wings?

Neil

[Lars S]

Thanks Neil, wery interesting! We want more of this kind!

Im not convinced either but if its a Photoshop thing it is damn good made! Im leaning to that it may be a real concept car.
The move of the fresh air outlets could be a result of that if not moving them there should have been two different air grilles (fresh air and engine air intake) wery close, maybe not so nice design wise.
The bespoke vents could just be a way to try to have a more modern look.
When zooming one can see that there are some strange chromed supports for the rear screen on each side about half way up, and also a black area with white frame on the inside of the right pillar...maybe the air "inlet" for the air outlet...?


Lars S

[vwbill]

Funny how it has a rear fold down seat like a wagen. You can see the grip area.. The black side areas do look like they are vented but you would think the engine fan schroud cone that draws from the rear engine lid must be gone and must still be a flat four and not a upright fan like a brazila if the rear seat is a deck area... The rear glass hatch latch seems odd for movement to release?? The little chrome nobes look like lift points. Maybe the engine was a bus type cooling fan cover..
Funny how the little side corner vents are gone that are in the corner back triangles...Cool pic still! Makes me think of a fold down rear seat option for my 2door??? Also, don't see head rests... Bill,jr.
p.s. The wheels look like the late beetle Karma types?? Nice too!

[raygreenwood]

This cannot be done simply with cutting welding and grafting without serious thought to the car structure. If you dont know it....411 and 412's were some of the first generation of the "crumple" zone cars. You cannot just start removing pieces of the A and C pillars for cosmetic work and not eventually have rear crossmember support issues and sagging. It is cool looking though. I also see no reason to move the engine inlet vents. That would actually make it more complex.....unless they actually had to make the rear hood narrower which is possible. Ray

[Lars S]

The wheels are the same as we had as standard on the superbeetle "Big" model in '74 and '75, think they were VW's own design.
From what I can see the rear hood is fixed (black trim strips around it) - the engine is served through the rear window and the rear of the coupe. Not wery convinient but after all the idea never came into production...


/Lars S

[vwbill]

Oh yeah, the rear engine lid would be fixed and the interior trimmed out to create a interior space after the engine bay became like a T3 or vanagon engine lid platform! That is why they would need to move the vents to the sides and that is why they would eliminate the side corner triangle vents because of the trim out and engine bay change! It would have made a nice storage space and the stucture of the platform deck would have been good too. Better use of the overall space back there! Also, they could have used the same bus engine setup and eliminated the 411/412 fan schroud and boot setup. Wonder where they would have put a dip stick?? Maybe a pull down door like the vanagon has behind the rear license plate? I like the beetle type wheels on the car, they look sporty! Need to try to Photo show that picture into a 2door version! That would be cool or is that a Brazila?? Bill,jr.

[412s2]

I wrote to my Dutch Type 4 friend Ton with reference to the above picture of the hatchback 412. He told me that Fokko Haanstra sent him this very same photo a little while ago, so this is the same photo that was published in the German Motoring Magazine Auto Zeitung! In fact I found it there! http://www.autozeitung.de/node/383553/28

Now I am confused as my German isn’t that good, I think it says the editor once had a Fastback 412 and crashed it into a snowbank? Was it the particular car in the photo or was some young intern just given the task of searching through the Auto Zeitung photo archives to find the picture of ‘any VW412’ and came up with this not realizing just how unique this particular 412 was? I don’t know.

According to Ton, Fokko wrote to Volkswagen to enquire about this photo over a year ago, but didn’t get a reply. I’m also assuming he didn’t get a reply from Auto Zeitung either! So really, this car remains a mystery. It looks like it was photographed in a studio.

vwbill, why do you mention the engine packaging of the T3/Vanagon? Have you ever had a close look at the neat packaging of the 411/412 Variant? It's brilliant! The engine room is much more compact than the T3 and the load floor is lower, you check the oil via a dipstick in the tailgate slam panel, sort of like the Type 3.

Have a look at this picture

This is a factory prototype 411 Variant, pictured in the Factory studio as far as I can ascertain; same studio as the Hatchback 412?

Those sporty wheels are pictured in my Factory Illustrated Parts Catalogue for the 411/412, I think they were an optional extra & I vaguely remember reading somewhere they were 5½Jx5 for the Type 4.

Neil

[type4ever]

Here you have a picture of the sporty wheels you can orded back than during the production-days.


Ton