VW early FWD WC prototype 211

[Rome]

I've known about many of VW's prototypes either from visiting the Stiftung museum in Wolfsburg as well as the VW Welt, or from various books. But I did not know about this one! https://cars.bonhams.com/auction/31286/lot/11/volkswagen-211l-prototype/

Might've been an alternative to the entry-level VW Polo which was a close cousin to the Audi 50.

The "inboard" headlamp positioning reminds me of early Golf (EA337) versions before they were moved to the outer edges of the grill, and the turn signals relocated into the bumper.

[TDCTDI]

That rear 3/4 looks a lot like a Chevette
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[vwjunkie3]

Very cool!!

[Rome]

I can see the (unfortunate) resemblance to a Chevette... This 211 would likely have been the entry-level model for VW, below the Golf and possibly at the same price level as the Beetle. You can see similarities to early '70's parts such as a variation of the '72 style "flat" steering wheel, the ignition switch, inner door pulls. Engine appears to be the Audi-derived EA827 but noteworthy that it is not transverse mounted such as the Golf or Polo, but instead longitudinal as per the Passat/Dasher/Audi 80. I wonder if VW took the Passat platform and shortened it for this one? The full-length hatchback would've been very practical for a small car.

The front seats look like they'd be very supportive and comfortable.

[ps2375]

Sure looks like the radiator was an after-thought.

[oprn]

I see a lot of Audi Fox/VW Dasher in that! That exposed timing belt is very vulnerable! A rock through the grill or hit a snow drift and off it comes. Ask me how I know...
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[TeamSpatula]

I was really hoping for a year on that, but it definitely has Dasher-y engine vibes with the longitudinal drive train and weird offset radiator. I wonder if the timing cover just got left off at some point, as is the case with many of the mk1s I see? I wonder where in the family timeline that fits, but definitely lots of recognizable parts on it.
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[Backtotheeightiesagain]

Prototypes rarely escape the factory.
Either in storage or crushed.
Some were reported to be crushed by tanks.
A rarity indeed.

[Rome]

^ I agree. When I was working at VW's tech center at Wolfsburg (Forschung & Entwicklung; the "F-E") in the early '80's, I was in the Safety Development department doing bodyshell static rigidity tests (i.e., Golf 2 being prepared for production). One of the other department sections was for accident recreation, usually for US-based lawsuits against a VW. The team used a portion of the large flat area within the original banked test track on the FE premises to set up pulleys, cables, etc to recreate an accident scenario outdoors. The cables were hooked up to the cars per the lawsuit, and pulled along in the original documented direction and speed from the accident research. The other non-VW cars were usually obtained by VW of America's corresponding team that was based in Englewood Cliffs, New Jersey. Sometimes I'd accompany the safety engineer to view the accident recreation when there was a complicated accident move.

So- also within this center flat area of the track* was a large warehouse which was usually closed and locked. One day I saw the door open and walked over. It was filled with prototypes! VW created so many different vehicles to test a concept, but were ultimately not put into production for different reasons. Although the warehouse was dimly lit, I do remember a "high-roof" stretched wheelbase version of the original Golf (Rabbit Mk 1) which looked awkward...

*Area 7 in this 1972 brochure...

I'm sure some of those stored prototypes would be cleaned up and displayed at the Stiftung Museum in Wolfsburg over in the industrial area.

As to prototypes destroyed by being run over by tanks, that sounds like what happened to most of the EA266 vehicles in the mid '70's... There is a surviving EA266 on display at one of the VW museums, which I saw during a visit to the museum after I left VW. Here's an article with some very interesting photos- https://www.jalopnik.com/these-new-old-images-of-the-most-amazing-stillborn-vw-p-1843418853/