Back on March 32, 2022, three people had a dream. A dream of making something great, of building a community of like-minded people to celebrate something they all loved, via the power of communication, art, science, and joy. I remember David, Beau, and I read something about that from a newspaper clipping we were using to wrap some chunks of LA river fish, but thought it sounded pretty hokey, so we decided to start a car website/community instead! This very community you’re a part of now! Yes, everyone, it’s March 32, and the Autopian is four years old!
Holy crap, four years! How did that happen? I remember on the day the site went live, the Association for Dressings and Sauces sent us a vitriolic message by courier suggesting we’d be gone within a week, and to them that was six days too late. The Society of Actuaries sent a dozen black roses with a note that called us “sub-morons.” The Industrial Fasteners Institute sent a series of angry emails, each with a Photoshopped picture of David and myself doing dangerous, stupid things, like eating mouthfuls of industrial brad nails. There seemed to be a lot of forces in confederation against us, but that only fueled our resolve to make the Autopian happen.
So here we are, four years into this grand experiment, and I think it’s going better than ever. Our community is without question the best automotive-focused community of friendly car geeks anywhere on the public or private internet, and I’ll back that up with my tangelo-sized fists if I need to. We have interesting and fun stories going up every day, and we’re even technically an automobile manufacturer, at least in the eyes of the state of California, thanks to the scratch-built WWII Jeep project. And there’s so much more to come!
With all this in mind, let me introduce you to our fourth-year anniversary car, the Volkswagen Type 4! Last year we had the Saab Sonnet III, and before that, the Ford Mustang II, so I think the venerable Type 4 fits well into this group.
The Type 4 was VW’s attempt to drag the old 1930s-era Beetle formula of air-cooled rear engines into the modern world, and overall, they succeeded, I think. When the 411 was released in 1968, it was the first VW to use unibody construction, MacPherson strut front suspension, and an all-new aluminum flat-four air-cooled engine that would outlive the Type 4 itself, going on to power Microbuses and Vanagons and the VW-Porsche 914. It was also VW’s first production air-cooled engine to make 100 hp, at least in some versions!
The Type 4 was also VW’s first four-door car since the Kübelwagen, even if the wagon version was inexplicably still a two-door.
You can see the unibody difference when you slide under one. Especially if you can also slide under an earlier VW. Here, I’ll save your shirt from getting filthy by showing you the underside of a VW Type 3 Squareback (top, body-on-chassis) and a VW Type 4 Wagon (bottom, unibody):
See the difference? Look at all that modernity!
The Type 4 was an absolute packaging triumph; the MacPherson front suspension allowed for an absolutely cavernous front trunk, and there was still luggage area at the rear:
In wagon versions, of course, there was a ton of room at the rear, over the flat engine:
These were what VW considered a “premium” car, and while it was a pretty idiosyncratic take on “premium,” I always thought these were fascinating cars. The general public may have been fascinated, but not really enough to buy them, and the Type 4s are generally considered a sales flop.
Of course, we have to keep in mind what “sales flop” meant for a company the size of VW, which sold over 20 million Beetles. This “flop” still managed to sell about 368,000 cars. That’s about 100,000 more Type 4s than there were Acura Legends made, so that’s something.
The Type 4 is sort of the underdog of the air-cooled VW world, but I’m proud to have it as the Autopian’s fourth anniversary car. Just like us, it’s a mix of old, weird ideas clumsily melded with modern techniques! It’s strange and charming and flawed and wonderful, just like all of us!
Here’s to keeping on doing this for many more years! This is a weird time for, well, everything, but especially for the automotive journalismism world, with the encroaching AI slop and private equity numbnutzen buying up everything. But not us! We’re committed to serving you, our readers and members, with human-produced geeky and fun car content, as much as we can.
Want to join us? If you’re not a member and would like to become one, you can help us celebrate our fourth anniversary with a special discount! Just click this link to save 4.44% on a Cloth-teir membership, or go here and use the code 4tunate and pick out whichever membership level you want and get the fourth anniversary discount!
Top graphic image: Volkswagen
Happy Anniversary to all!
I figure this is a good place to send some money every year to help keep fun and interesting things on the internet, like my Patreon subs.
YES!
That is what this site brings, connections. I have *so* many questions about mayonnaise (why for clam’ sake are there two ‘N’s ?) – now we know the Association for Dressings and Sauces can answer these quesitons
“Back on March 32, 2022, three people had a dream. A dream of making something great, of building a community of like-minded people to celebrate something they all loved, via the power of communication, art, science, and joy’ Then we said F–k that, and created the Autopian.
Can’t resist.
Happy birthday!
Congrats, guys! This is still one of the few sites left which is always open in my browser tabs.
It wasn’t named “four doors, eleven years too late” for nothing though.
So, huh… the Type 4 and not “the” 4? No, no, that’s totally fine, whatever. The Type four is just fine.
Haha jk, happy Fourst Anniversary!
It took VW 6 years to build a 2/3 scale, 2-door Corvair Lakewood wagon. Well done!
Happy Anniversary!! ^_^ Keep producing great articles (and cool t-shirts)!
“We have interesting and fun stories going up every day”
Not so many on the weekends. I still find myself perusing the old site more on Saturdays and Sundays.
saw a post on FB yesterday. someone envisioning a “shootingbrake beetle. clumsily created using the beetle engine cover as a 2 part rear gate on a 4 door wagon. needed to mention that dhooting brakes are 2 (passenger) door models, & that VW had already created that car as type 4. looking at Wikip, was kinda stunned to see that the fastback was a available as 4door option, but the squareback only as a (2door) Shooting brake.
Congratulations on 4 years!
We had a 411 as my mom’s daily driver for 10 years. It was roomy, only slightly underpowered, had excellent seats and good ventilation for the era – necessary to counteract the outgassing of the 12V battery which was thoughtfully located, uncovered, beneath the driver’s seat. Nothing like a good whiff of H2SO4 to keep you alert!
Our German BMW mechanic at the time said “They call it 411 because that’s how many they sold in Germany its first year.”
This anniversary could have been even more four-tastic if a Morgan 4/4 Series IV had been the celebratory vehicle chosen.
411: Four doors, eleven years late!
Happy March 32nd guys!