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I've already shared this find with other club members in the UK but thought I would share my good fortune with you guys on the other side of the water.

I replied to a for sale add on the Type 3 & 4 Club forum that captured my interest a couple of weeks ago now. A 411 LE project for sale, cheap, complete with loads of spares and I mean loads including uncracked dashboards, glass, injection parts, seats, subframes, brake cylinders to name a few amongst other treasures that would come in handy keeping my 412 on the road as well as completing this 411. Having spoke to the vendor I arranged to go and have a look at it last weekend.

It needs some minor welding to the N/S cill and to the gutter area again on the N/S but it appears that all the other major work has been done at some point. The front end was rebuilt using NOS panels and the scuttle was replaced with one from a 412 so the wipers sweep the correct way.

Unfortunately I have no where to store the car near to home at the moment so I have arranged for it to be trailered to Volksfarmers in a couple of weeks where I can strip it out and work out what needs to be done to get it MoTed and back on the road again with assistance from the owners there. Once on the road I will then be able to get it home and finish many of the other bits needed to make it pretty again.

Looking at the registration paperwork it was first registered in early Jan 1970 so would have probably been made in 1969 (the year my wife and I were born ) and it was originally green, I'm assuming that would have been either java or fern green but I think the original colour plate may have been lost when the front end was rebuilt.

At some point in the 80's it was painted a luminous lime green, to match the decade I think, and was around the scene quite a bit over here before the owner took it off the road to repair the rot in the front arches. One thing led to another and he never got around to finishing the work despite having spent a small fortune sourcing NoS panels and amassing the spares that come with the car.


This is where I pick up the storey

Cool- it looks like a lot of work, though! Does it have the aero headlights?

Congratulations to your new project! It has the extra air intakes at the front (behind the bumpers) did not know these vents could be found on so early cars mostly seen them on -71/72's...

/Lars S

As I understood the post, the body from the windshield forward has been replaced.

Thanks, OK that explains it!


/Lars S

Nice find Shawn! With your welding skills and passion, it should be no problem!

Lars S wrote:It has the extra air intakes at the front (behind the bumpers) did not know these vents could be found on so early cars mostly seen them on -71/72's...

What are the extra air intakes for? How do they work?

The extra air intakes, I believe, was for cooling of the front brakes, I do not see any other logical reason for them. They seem to have been quite common on -71/-72 models especially in certain countrys. Have never seen them on 412's however they had servo brakes as an option (standard in my country), and with servo brakes there is less need for them(?).

/Lars S

I would think they would need them even more with servo brakes. There are no differences in rotor from servo to not servo and the power brakes create more pressuer and heat faster.

But....it could be a difference in early to late brakes. Late brakes...412.... had a thicker rotor and pad assembly with the strengthening ring in the center. Ray

hy,,shawn,, if you look on the ,,gya,, you can see the same air vent,, some guy put the horn in the back of this air vent ,, i am not shure this is for the brake ventilation,,albert

Time for an update on this as I have been over to have agood look at the car now.

But first the vents on the front, could they be a reflection of the early beetles that had vents in this location that are often described as horn grills?

The first job yesterday was to unload the car as it was full of bits and bobs, some useful for the resto and some not that will be sold on soon to help fund the project. Anyway, back to the project, once the car was free of clutter I had a good look over it with the help of Brian Terry (the owner of Volksfarmers and one of the few Type 4 experts in the UK).

The most obvious area of work is the near side roof area along the gutter line



and the rear quarter



Brian seemed to think that although this looks scary it is repairable as he has a good donor vehicle amongst the 'graveyard' that will provide the needed sections to save this one.

The off side roof just needs minor attention





Once the inside was clear of seats etc we checked the floor to find it will need a couple of small patches to the front passenger footwell and the drivers side as well. These are easy repairs just like the rear N/S bumper fixing point that is looking a tad tired.

Checking under the car revealed that there are no front brake calipers although the disc are new, these therefore will need to be sourced (late Type 3s use the same calipers so these should be relativly easy to find, apparently). We also noticed that the front has been dropped considerably resulting in the anti roll bar being removed and retaining straps being fitted between the strut bottom and the body of the car to prevent the spring unseating. Not sure what to do about this one yet but I am seriously thinking of returning it to stock and adapting another set of Audi shocks to fit...if funds permit as the first priority is to get it on the road ASAP.

We were hoping to get the engine fired up but the fact that non of the wiring was connected and there were no fuel lines or fuel pump fitted prevented this as we ran out of time. A quick question to the vendor reveals that the engine was a rebuilt unit he acquired and fitted but never ran when he took it off the road so is an unknown quantity at the moment. Fingers crossed next time it will make some noise from the aftermarket exhaust it has



Talking of aftermarket parts it has had a hole chopped in the roof for an aftermarket sunroof that we need to find a sealing rubber for, but this is low on the priorities at the moment.

Amongst some of the treasures that came with it is this cluster of guages in a cracking little pod that you can see in this box( a rev counter, oil pressure guage and a voltmeter)



Amongst the other stuff is a box full of rubbers, some are nothing to do with this car and could well be cal-look beetle rubbers but positive ID will have to wait for now. There was also a speedo from an early beetle that will be sold on and a complete set of Beetle seats that are also surplus to requirements.

And even better this very rare UNCRACKED Type 4 dash that is destined for my 412 as the 411 already has another uncracked one fitted!!



There is also a box full of injectors and manifolds, throttle bodies, ECUs, assorted wiring, pressure sensors, NOS rear drums, rear brake cylinders and all manor of other useful bits.

All in all a good day at the farm...the only downer is having to leave someone else to do the welding as I haven't a clue how too!!

Intresting vwshawn! You have some work to do but also a fun time to come!

Wonder if the rust on the rear pillar has something with stressed material to do, it often seems to occur in about the same place?





/Lars S

Wait, that car looks familiar. If that's the one I had, the floors were gone. Anyway, most of the rust problems in the pillars (and in a lot of other places) is because of that stupid foam. If you look in the picture of the 411, you can see the top of the foam through the hole.

Ubercrap, I found this picture on the Internet several years ago, dont remember where. Yes you can find foam in a lot of places in the 411 and, from what I have seen, even more in the 412.


/Lars S

That foam gets everywhere!

Before any repairs are attempted it will all be dug out to prevent any accidental fires

Lars S wrote:Ubercrap, I found this picture on the Internet several years ago, dont remember where. Yes you can find foam in a lot of places in the 411 and, from what I have seen, even more in the 412.


/Lars S

Pretty sure that is a picture I took of a 412 coupe I parted out, have to look back on my backup external drive. Anyway, I have been thinking about the stress idea, maybe you are on to something, that would likely be a highly stressed area on the C pillar, at least to my untrained eye.