TheSamba.com :: View topic

Thu Sep 27, 2007 5:13 pm

I met last night someone who wants to sell her 1974 412. She said its a manual tranny, which I never see. Did vw equip many 412's this way? Does this tranny make it a bit of a rarity?

Thu Sep 27, 2007 10:57 pm

In my end of the world we hardly see anything BUT manual transmissions :wink:

Fri Sep 28, 2007 5:23 am

All 2 door sedan Type 4's sold in North America had 4 speed manual transaxles from the factory. They are different than any other VW/Porsche transaxle. Running and driving 411/412 2 dr. sedans seem to be extremely rare in North America- somebody was claiming maybe less than 50 running and registered in the U.S a few years ago? I bet there are a few more than that. I would imagine there are 150-300 total counting the cars sitting in fields, garages, etc...'74 seems to be easiest to find. Just a guess, though. Perhaps they are the rarest VW factory vehicle? The wagons and 4 doors are much more common. Here are import figures for all Type 4's from thesamba.com itself:

http://www.thesamba.com/vw/archives/info/salesfigurest4.php

Not sure of the accuracy of these, though.

Fri Sep 28, 2007 8:30 am

I have never been able to figure VW out. It seems that right when their sale were really taking off they dropped their whole line and went to a car that didn't sell well. I was quite irritated at the time as I had wanted to buy a new ACVW when I got out of college but all they had on their lots by then were a bunch of bunny Rabbits, the real VW's were gone. :cry:

However being forced to stay with used cars to have decent transport has been a positive factor in my life. :D

ubercrap wrote: All 2 door sedan Type 4's sold in North America had 4 speed manual transaxles from the factory. They are different than any other VW/Porsche transaxle. Running and driving 411/412 2 dr. sedans seem to be extremely rare in North America- somebody was claiming maybe less than 50 running and registered in the U.S a few years ago? I bet there are a few more than that. I would imagine there are 150-300 total counting the cars sitting in fields, garages, etc...'74 seems to be easiest to find. Just a guess, though. Perhaps they are the rarest VW factory vehicle? The wagons and 4 doors are much more common. Here are import figures for all Type 4's from thesamba.com itself:

http://www.thesamba.com/vw/archives/info/salesfigurest4.php

Not sure of the accuracy of these, though.

Fri Sep 28, 2007 4:41 pm

Maybe its a 1973 then...it is a wagon, Arctic Blue, and pretty darn clean. Not running right now...she says it needs fuel injectors, which I kinda doubt, but I'm sure that's what she was told by someone who had little idea what they were talking about. Such a cool model! So is it possible its a 4speed wagon? Like I said in the original post, so rare to see these cars around with manual transmissions.

Fri Sep 28, 2007 6:43 pm

It was probably converted, pretty easy to convert one I'm told- looks easy- I may do it my wagon one of these years.

Fri Sep 28, 2007 7:32 pm

I have heard that 4 speeds could be ordered special from VW. They weren't seen on the lots of American dealers but were easily assembled from parts available at the factory.

Do T4's have anything like the M-codes VW used on busses?

Sat Sep 29, 2007 3:31 pm

Wildthings wrote: I have heard that 4 speeds could be ordered special from VW. They weren't seen on the lots of American dealers but were easily assembled from parts available at the factory.

Do T4's have anything like the M-codes VW used on busses?

That makes sense, since a few 4 doors and wagons have turned up for sale with the 4 speed manual transaxles. This is a list of the M-codes for the Type 4 from type4.org:

http://www.type4.org/history/options

Manual transaxle is listed as 555.

Thu Oct 04, 2007 11:00 pm

Just posted here at theSamba:

http://www.thesamba.com/vw/classifieds/detail.php?id=512773

Yes, they do exist!!

Travis

Sat Oct 06, 2007 10:31 am

Yep, I think most of them have been in Canada now that I think of it.

Tue Nov 06, 2007 10:44 am

I was wondering the same thing about the transmissions. I just bought the entire inventory of VW's from a guy last weekend and one of them is a 412 wagon with manual transmission. The rear wheels are stuck so either the shoes rusted to the drums or the tranny is locked. I am hoping it is the shoes as whoever parked the car left the e-brake on. It is complete and the body is pretty good for a Canadian 412 that probably has seen salt. It is ugly as sin but is really growing on me, probably because I have always wanted a Squareback. I was going to sell it but now I am torn... :?

'73 Super Beetle
'75 Standard Beetle
'71 Doublecab
'71 Transporter
'74 2-door 412 wagon
'84 Vanagon

Tue Nov 06, 2007 1:14 pm

The rear brakes have a tendency to want to rust when sitting, so I would bet that's what it is.
Second, I would like to address the "ugly" issue. Yes, the Type 4 is departure from other air-cooled VW's. Really, though, comparing them to other cars from the same era, the looks don't really don't stand out as being particulary unusual or "bad" though they may not be in the top best looking cars. I don't remember reading about the motoring press really focusing on being critical of the looks at the time, they were busy hammering on price and performance. I always thought they were quite avante-garde, and bizarre (maybe a tiny bit of ugly :D ), but really strangely compelling. There were no air-cooled traditionalists around at the time I started to really get interested in them tell me otherwise, so I grew to love them. So, in conclusion, I believe the "ugly" Type 4 is, as others have suggested, really a myth.

19super73 wrote: It is ugly as sin but is really growing on me,

If it were really as ugly as many on here say, why does this happen to any number of people? :P

Tue Nov 06, 2007 4:12 pm

Point well taken. People said the same thing about the Thing and I always disagreed with them. My brother, who is notorious in his utter dislike of anything VW made the statement that he really liked the car and that maybe I should keep it. I just about fell over. Of course, my sister in law took one look at it and pronouced it "An ugly piece of s*&t." I admit that being parked nose in to a caragana hedge row for 20 years does leave the appearance much to be desired, even I thought she was being harsh. I was just impressed that it is complete and relatievely rust free for a car that had to endure Canadian winters with salt. The last 411/412 I saw running around was nearly swiss cheese. I am going to try to free the rear wheels. I tried to see if it was in gear but even though the shift pattern is like the Beetle, it felt funny so I will have to investigate.

Wed Nov 07, 2007 6:11 am

A few gentle bonks with a sledgehammer have freed up rusty drums for me. I don't know if it really hurts anything?