(first posted 7/20/2014) VW’s current strategy to design larger cars specifically for the US market isn’t exactly new. In the early sixties, VW gave serious thought to a six-seater rear-engine sedan to take on the Americans on their own (big) terms. The EA 128 was a fair chunk bigger and wider than the Corvair, right into US mid-size territory. And with bench seats no less, to seat six big Amerikaner. Even a wagon version (Kountry Knecht?) was built. But where to get the underpinnings and six-cylinder engine for the AmiWagen? Where else:
image: hobidas.com
Those wheels are the give-away: Porsche, of course; that wellspring of VW prototypes and engineering for decades. And how convenient; the timing in 1962 was perfect for Porsche, since their own new six-cylinder 901 (911) was just in gestation. The result: a (US) mid-sized sedan version of the 911, from the suspension right up to the steering wheel.
image: hobidas.com
Stretching 4.7 meters (185 inches) long, the EA128 was a half-foot longer than the Corvair, and from the looks of it, substantially wider.
image: hobidas.com
The front seat was clearly designed for three-across seating, with a 40/60 split bench. The dash is decidedly un-American; needs to have a long horizontal speedometer and just a gas gauge. This is way too Porsche-like.
image: hobidas.com
The 2 liter 911 air-cooled boxer six engine was detuned to 90 hp, which was respectable for European standards of the time, but the engine’s torque curve would have been anything but familiar with the typical American driver. Never mind the cost to build it, which presumably was at least one of the EA 128′s downfall.
where’s the fake wood?
The Corvair’s own downward trajectory probably didn’t help. And even if VW could rationalize its production, it would have still come out way more expensive than a Fairlane. But VW had it all wrong: this should have been sold as a Porsche, with a zippy new name, say…Panamera.
Related reading: VW 411/412: VW’s Deadly Sin
* There’s something VERY disconcerting about the flat, featureless front end. It’s like a face without a mouth.
* OTOH, the greenhouse and interior are very stately. They remind me of the Rolls-Royce Silver Shadow, believe it or not!
* The wiper placement on the featured car looks…wrong. If the picture of the wagon version is any indication, the car actually had narrowly-spaced parallel wipers like the M-B W116 and R107 or the Porsche 993.
* The wraparound turn signals satisfy the “make them visible from the side” and “economize by using the same unit for all four corners” criteria, but they won’t win any beauty contests…and it just seems wrong for them to be MORE visible from the side than they are from the front and rear of the car!
And…that’s all.
Yeah, I see a lot of RR in the shape and styling. Of course we still have to consider the grill less front end, side markers larger than the taillights and as fine an engine as the classic 911 engine is, it’s just all wrong for this car and it’s intended market. Best I’m sure that it was never produced.
“It’s like a face without a mouth.”
‘I have no mouth and I must speed’ – apologies to Harlan Ellison
The best part of this proto-411 is the interior, which looks great! If only the outside matched the inside. It needs an early Type 3 front end transplant.
I still like it in 2022! I’m 100% certain the Corvair debacle was at the back of VW’s mind when they decided to can the EA128 – this to me would have been one of the main arguments against it (why would anyone in the US buy something which is – sort of – no more no less than a bigger Corvair?). Plus, the same problems arising in respect of the Corvair’s handling would have applied to the EA – perhaps even the more so if powerful 911S-based engines were to be introduced.
It deserved a more refined work in the head lamps and tail lights to look the least attractive.