The car was never a great success and suffered problems with reliability from the very beginning. The car featured a very sophisticated and complicated heating system. A supplemental petrol-driven heater (Eberspächer) was located above the gearbox and it was practically impossible to reach! When it failed, it actually cooled the warm air from the heat exchangers! One of the first things I did with my 412 was to remove the Eberspächer and put in new, isolated tubes for warm air. This helped raise the interior temperature inside considerably, but it was never a warm car
The design was ...eh...unique, is that the right word? The engineering was complicated but dated, with the exception of the fuel injection system. The
electronic fuel injection is a chapter of it own: The VW workshops could not handle it properly: "Change all parts in the system and pray that it will work" was the word of the day.
That did nothing for the car's reputation!.

This drawing does not show everything. The extra heater was located above the gearbox, perhaps it doesn't appear in this diagram because it was optional in some countries. It was standard equipment in Sweden. Also missing from the diagram is the battery that was located beneath the drivers seat! Putting the battery here was no improvement over the Beetle, which carried its battery under the rear seat. To operate the mechanism, which also functioned as the adjustment lever for the seat - and this was the late sixties!, one had to to unlock and fold the seat backwards. This was very hard to do and required strong hands. On cars equipped with the extra heater, there was an additional battery located beneath the front passenger
seat.
The little grey box to the left of the engine is the electronic control unit. On the Estate it was located under a side panel in the back seat, on the righthand side.

It began with 411

412, a facelift?

A dream to drive?

A technical wonder?

The brain!

Gallery Four!