I ran across this future title, June 2020, while searching for a book on the Veloce Publishing website. Thought it might be of interest to 914 Type 4 owners.

Below is the Amazon listing.

https://www.amazon.com/Volkswagen-Type-Fina...ooks&sr=1-1

I think its interesting that the 914 and 912 get a sideways mention (not by name) in the Amazon listing, but there is no mention of the bus. Only the cars that did not sell all that well.

Zach

Good cars but got poor reviews. They pushed the autostick transmission and they just were not up to the task. Now if you can find one of the 4 speeds, that is a different story. Sleeper wagon would be a Porsche 5 speed and 2056.

HA! My first two cars were 412's. The first was the wagon with auto. The second was the fastback with a 4sp. Truly VW's last gasp with an air cooled motor.

The 4sp had a hydraulic clutch setup. Parts guys didn't believe me when I wanted a slave cylinder.. they said VW never made a hydraulic clutch (at the time).

Apparently they suffered from overheating ,they used a air duct system direct into the fan like the T3 used,but it was less efficient with the T4 motor.
Yes they did have a hydraulic clutch and a dedicated gearbox only used on that model,the box had a removable metal oil pan and shared only a few parts with the swingaxle and IRS trans.
They were a sales flop but people said they drove well due to a modern chassis ,the styling wasn't really well received by most,IMO the wagon looked alright.

Fond memories...my first car was a 1971 VW 411 station wagon. It was a great car with the exception of that hydraulic clutch linkage (cold winters in Canada didn't help). I had the factory installed gas heater in mine...you literally had to roll the windows down in winter it was so hot...not complaining. Ran my all season Michelins year round and never had an issue taking my car up to the ski hills...never got stuck...except for that one time during the summer running the sand dunes!
Great car!

Yeah, the synopsis mentions a "sports car connection" which made me think 914, but no mention of the bus. I didn't think of the 912E though. I always thought the VW 411/412 just missed the mark. And then along came the 914.

Thanks for bringing this book to our collective attention. My Dad was a VW squareback guy who got his new cars via European delivery. We'd travel around Europe for the summer and then he'd ship the cars out of Bremen for pickup in Vancouver BC. I got to help him clean off the cosmoline, or whatever the hell it was they coated the car with to protect it while at sea, when it finally got home to Seattle. I didn't realize until later that I was a lucky kid to spend my summer every couple of years like that.

In June 1970, we picked up the newly introduced VW Type 4. It was a 4-speed European model with US-spec seatbelts and glass so it could be imported. The only available car was originally destined for France. Being a WW-II vet, my Dad wasn't too thrilled at first to be driving French-plated car with yellow headlights through Germany, but we never had any problems

That's the car I learned to drive in and I've favored manual transmissions ever since. I thought it handled like a bus, but I wasn't all that picky being I didn't have my own car at the time. I won several bets with skeptical friends when I told them it didn't have a carburetor.

- MR

now available to order
I ordered mine direct from Veloce last night
no idea how much 914 content there is but still should be an interesting read about Heinz's last folly !

cheers
Dennis

drove a stick shift 411 variant, south african built car, in perth for a short borrow about 30 years ago. went harder and faster than my type 3 variant. and steered way better.
twin carby 1.7 - no fuel injection if i remember right.

also borrowed and drove a 412 in chicago in late 80s. 4 door. slur matic auto box.
awful.

412s are resolved stylistically (almost), plenty of space - incredible packaging.
virtually none here in australia.
a batch of test 411 cars were brought into aus in late 60s, in the hands of vw cultists if still in fact surviving and a few south african private imports from refugee white farmers/professionals fleeing to a new life in western australa in the 80s mad their way in. interesting cars in some ways, but the last gasp of a VW corporate giant unable to figure out which way to go.

lucky for the 914 the engine was on offer.

sometime in the mid 80s one of the assessment cars, a white VW variant 411 was for sale in melbourne. i checked it out to maybe buy. it was already rusted out to the gills, and it was maybe a little over 15 years old, and that was australia -- where rust happens slowly. even type 3s were not rusting out at that rate. full of injected foam i believe.

i loved my type 3 variant, it could go anywhere and it did, right through the outback where the only other cars i saw were toyota land cruisers. an amazing car and a hard act for VW to top with the type 4.