Weird and Wonderful VWs - The VWs that never made It

The 1960s - The Long Road to Watercooled

If you have ever read safer Motoring or a VW book from the sixties, then the type 3 was heralded in the press as the future for VW. Sales turned out to be solid, but despite being a better car than the bug in many respects it failed to kill off the Beetle in terms of sales and longetivity. This meant that VW was to go back to the drawing board and begin planning the next Beetle replacement, as well as extending the range of the Type 3.

The Other? Type 3s

I have recently come across a request for a Type 3 cabrio on the Volkszone forum. This never made it into production despite the fact that several prototypes were made at the launch of the type 3, sales brochures were prepared and it was exhibited at the Berlin Motorshow in 1961. There is more information on the Wheelspin site for those who want a detailed look at the best Type 3 never produced.

The EA 160 4 door type 3

Another experiment was the EA 160, a four door version of the Notchback. As always, the sole survivor is in the Wolfsburg museum. Another prototype that never made the light of day.

Replacing the Type 3 and the Beetle

The EA 97 , paved the way for the Brasilian Type 3

The first prototype to replace these models did actually make it into production „ though you'll be lucky to see one in this country. The EA97 (not to be confused with the EA97/1) project was still aircooled on a Type 3 style type platform, but with a modernised body. Germany abandoned the idea, but the tooling was shipped off to VW Brazil, where (with the addition of the Type 4 style front ? Known as the Leiding nose?) ? it became the Brasilia. Full details of this unique South American model is on the Wheelspin website from may 2000.

The EA 128 4 door - sort of aircooled Passat

The EA128 was another idea for a larger car, probably to catch the North American market. It owes more to the later Type 4, but was even bigger. Like the Type 4 it had a monocoque body ? the first for VW, now standard from the Type 4 onwards, including all modern watercooled VWs. It was a big six seater station wagon (estate) with a stonking flat six engine adapted from the power unit used in the Type 4. It had comfortable wishbone front suspension rather than the Beetle's torsion arms or the later MacPherson struts. See it at the Wolfsburg Museum.

The EA 158 - aircooled with a Datsun body

The last of the aircooled 1960s Beetle killers was the EA158, borrowing the same suspension from the EA128, and was a monocoque bodied Beetle killer, slightly larger than the Bug with a Beetle flat 4 engine still in the back. Some of the ideas made it into the production Type 4. It had fastback styling, but the nose lent itself to VWs most serious Beetle replacement of the sixties, read on¸

Watercooled, the first step

The EA266 - the first watercooled VW, pulled at the last minute

The Porsche designed EA266 really did almost make it as the replacement for the Beetle. Much time and money was spent on the project and over 50 examples were built between 1966 and 1971. A radical departure for Volkswagen, it had a modem monocoque body, was front wheel drive and was powered by a mid mounted 4 cylinder watercooled engine.

It was ready to start production as the VW 191, set to appear in 1972. The Volkswagen press at the time knew a lot about this new car and everybody was ready to see it in the showrooms. Literally, at the eleventh hour, VW's new chairman, Rudolf Leiding axed the project, partly due to spiralling costs, but also because Leiding was looking towards the type of platform favoured by the newly acquired Audi group for the future of the marque. The Type 191 failed at the last hurdle, while, under its new chairman, Volkswagen began to make plans to move to a conventional front wheel drive, watercooled platform, and we all know where this led in 1975!

The Ghia Wedge

The Italian styling firm of Ghia, ever busy with the Karmann Ghia, and Type 3 Ghia (razor-edge) were not resting back. In 1965 they produced an aircooled update to the Ghia that had more modern styling and a wedge nose somewhat like a pointed version of the type 4. Again, this one never went into production. The Ghia had to wait for the Scirocco in 1974 to be replaced in VW's line up.

The First Inkling of the Golf

The EA276 - good job they went with the Golf instead

From 1969, with the idea of a front wheel drive, front-engined philosophy well in place, Volkswagen made its first steps, ironically with an aircooled prototype. Somewhat boxy in appearance, the EA276 was a hatchback design with a front mounted aircooled engine as the powerplant and MacPherson strut suspension. Again, it never made it into production in Germany, but was used as a test bed for the up and coming Beetle killer „ the Golf. The basic design was eventually shipped to Brazil and adapted into the VW Gol (not a spelling mistake). This was a hatchback between the Polo and Golf in size, which began life with a front mounted aircooled engine. Subsequently its appearance morphed so that it looked more like the Golf (though smaller) and was converted to use watercooled powerplants (see may 2000 Wheelspin on the web).

Well, that's it for now, next month we have a look at VW's further EA vehicles, taking us from the mid seventies till the present day.

The 1950s prototypes