So how does everyone use their cars? Drive wise?

[ubercrap]

What does everyone think the number are? America-40/50. Europe 50/60?? Bill,jr.

Two doors maybe... Wagons and 4 doors are more common. In one area of Atlanta I have seen the same 4 door 412 driving/parked a couple of times. I was looking for pictures of modern architecture in Atlanta and a 411 was parked in front of a house in one picture. I think a lot of the 4 speed cars got parked pre-internet because of the difficulty of finding clutch parts?

[albert]

UBERT,, i thing soon, i find the file for to buy ,,the cluth slave parts,, and master cluth cylinder,kit ,albert

[kps70]

We have a new government policy here of freedom of information. I requested from the government, a few months back, the numbers of 411s and 412s still in existence in the UK. They sent back a message saying it would cost too much to find out as they have not yet transferred all the paper files to the computer, but to ask them again soon and they would be able to tell me. I'll keep nagging as I really want to find out. It's difficult to tell how many are still on the road in the UK but my feeling is around 20 of each (411 and 412) tops and maybe four or five times that many still registered but not in use. One comes up on ebay in the uk about every month. There are a small number that get round the shows (mostly 412s) and the variant is the most popular. Last year at the shows I only saw 2 sedans (both 411s).
There seem to be quite a few still on the road in the Netherlands (Holland) although I spend quite a bit of time there and have yet to see one on the road, but there is a good club there who have supplied me with window rubbers.
German ebay usually has one for sale so I reckon in Germany there are still a few hundred knocking about in garages etc. In Germany they have very strict tests so it is difficult to keep a scruffy car on the road (but it is easier in the UK!)

[wshawn]

BILL,i have a reeport ,,from europe ,, and they got .appx, in last décember 2008, ,400,, type4 in the total,,mix,,411-412--the most popular was the wagon for sure,, appx. 65% ,,albert

Is it really as low as only 400 in Europe??

I knew they were scarce but

[albert]

shaw,, my reeport was from the vw régist,, i d,t know if they are exact,, but wend i got a time for to find this report in my 300-400 pages for the 412 i send you that,,for to put on the forum,, i know one report only for the ,,france,, with her location ,,they have appx, 25-30,,i look for that too,,,albert

[Lars S]

Wow, you have to be impressed that you love your car so much and trust it to be a daily driver and most our cars are 35 years oldish!! That is the coolest thing to hear! After seeing how many posted it gets me to wondering again on how many running and non-running 411/412's are still out there! In America I think there are more 412's then 411's but it seems more 411's in europe to me??? What does everyone think the number are? America-40/50. Europe 50/60?? Bill,jr.

Bill,
the 411/412 production figures were roughly by production (not model) year:
'68 23.000
'69 49.000
'70 43.000
'71 79.000
'72 70.000
'73 73.000
'74 31.000
, it should mean that far less than 50% of the total were 412:

The import to US was increasing at the end, guess thats why the 412 seems much more common in th US (about 70% of the imported cars were 412's):
'71 6044
'72 4625
'73 3598
'74 23307
'75 6552 ('74 model year)


/Lars S

[raygreenwood]

Back in the late 90's I was travelling 50 weeks of the year. About half of those weeks I was driving my 411 wagon or 412 two door through 13 states. Over a period of about 2 years I befiended a few people who could check registration data in more than a handful or states.
Some of this was statistical prospecting after we got a few numbers...but my best guess of cars registered....and this does not mean driving.....was about 200-250 of all models in the USA. I'm betting about half that many all told...still driving. There are more now than there was then (driving)...but I'm betting the total number has not changed much. Ray

[albert]

RAY,, i can send you ,,my europe statistic for the 411-412 in 2008,,if you want ,, canada ,,appx. 15,,france 20,,albert

[412s2]

I am 33 years old, other than my own 412, I don’t ever remember ever seeing another 411 or 412 on the roads in Scotland, even when I was growing up in the 1980s! I was car daft when I was little too and was always on the lookout for anything unusual or VW!! I’ve actually seen more VW K70s and NSU Ro80s on the road in Scotland than 411/412s!! I got my 412 when I was 19, a year later I spent 9 months traveling around New Zealand, Australia and South Africa. I saw 2 Type 4s on the South Island of New Zealand, (the first time I had ever seen Type 4 outside of a VW show!) none in Australia (I don’t think they were imported) and 5 in South Africa (fully manufactured in Uitenhage)! That was really surprising, they weren’t pristine show pieces either, just everyday vehicles still earning their keep, a white one like mine in Cape Town was getting used as a painter/decorators wagon with a load of paint tins in the back and ladders strapped to a roof rack, brilliant!!

As the Type 4 was built in South Africa, I would be interested to know how many still exist down there, I have heard they were more popular there than in other markets.

I used mine almost daily to get to work/college/university until 2000 when I had to leave home when I got a job in England, it lay in my parents garage for 7 years, while I did a little welding to it anytime I got home. Eventually my parents decided to move house and the 412 had to move, so we charged the battery, put some fresh fuel in it. It started first time and flew through its safety inspection! My brother then ran around in it for a few months, back and forward to his work everyday, before I took it off him and stripped it down again!

Umm...., I need a good kick up the backside to get this car back on the road!

Neil

[MGVWfan]

It's my daily driver unless it's nice enough for the '67 MGB (and the wire wheels aren't too loose and worn out, like right now ). Approaching 30K miles on the engine/AT rebuild. No major problems.

[ubercrap]

Welcome back stranger...How far do you drive per day MGVWfan?

[MGVWfan]

Thanks Herr Doktor Krapf! I've been working late and travelling for the new spacecraft we're developing, Orion, so no time for fun stuff. Finally on Christmas break.

I'm driving around town, maybe 40 mi a week, plus the occasional trip, once to Shreveport, LA and twice to Carthage, TX from here, about 400 mi round trip each. One trip was in the summer, with A/C running and a full load, no problems. The most recent was in temps near freezing one way, and around 50 the other, no problems (other than the Eber getting vapor-locked and shutting down multiple times, doggone gassy Houston fuel blend!). Gets around 18-20 MPG in town , 25 on the road w/o A/C , about 20 MPG with A/C.

[raygreenwood]

Qustion on teh vapor locking issue:
(1) does your return fuel line have the small three-legged plastic resovoir? If not the pump can run dry at times
(2) I "think" if memory serves there is also a small internal filter inside one end of the pump. Have you cleaned the pump itself?
(3) When you were observing no heat....was the pump actually heard to be working? This can be a function of dirty points, a bad ground or the thermo switch in the body ductwork being bad or poorly connected.
(4) What type of fuel line/hose are you using? Another common problem is a small amount of fuel sweating from a crack a fuel line. During points of time where the car is warm and more than af ew minutes is stretched between pumpinmg sessions.....the hose can leak down.
I replaced mine with 3/16" steel using a brass union up top and a hose stub on the pump. Ray

[MGVWfan]

It's bubbles and foam like a fine English ale (not the truly gassy foaminess you find in a US beer), trust me on this...I saw it in the little "deareator" tee-bulb thing as the fuel went rushing past from the regulator back to the tank with the pump running continuously at rest (jumpered the relay terminals) after the engine heated up a bit. Enough to eventually overwhelm the poor little nylon tee-bulb thing, and make it pass gas to the Eber fuel pump. Not present in the pressure side of the system, normal pressure, and I added a section of clear fuel line temporarily just to see what was up...no bubbles, no foam in the pressure side. I suspect the throttling action in the reg caused some lighter ends of our witches-brew-with-corn-squeezins gas to come out of solution after being pressurized and heated in the engine bay. I'd bet if I ran avgas in it I'd have no problems, either. It's that horrid emission-controlled blend they have us on down here...and it changes with the seasons, too!

After an Eber pump bleeding, if I just ran it stationary, no problem, but after about 5 miles on the road, vapor locked Eber pump. Fabbed a better "deaereator" tee from 1/8" brass fittings, added a bigger volume chamber than the OE version, and lo and behold, no more Eber problems, and I do the happy dance!!!

[raygreenwood]

Cool!