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Reading in the VW Museum catalogue, it says of the EA97 that it was "developed parallel to the Volkswagen 1500.... Preparation for its manufacture progressed to the so-called zero series so that several number of prototypes were actually built. These vehicles were used in the Volkswagen factory through the end of the 60's for transportation and provided many uninformed visitors with reason for speculation about forthcoming new models. The tooling for this car was transferred to Volkswagen do Brasil which successfully manufactured the vehicle as the "Volkswagen Brasilia" after making a number of technical and styling changes". This model was being developed as a Beetle replacement, with a 1200 cc engine, but was judged too under-powered to be acceptable for an entry-level car. I was told this by a retired senior VW production engineer, Otto Schubert, who used to work at VW do Brasil, and later moved to Hanover where he finally headed production planning on the T4 transporter project. He told me that as a young engineer he had drawn up the tooling drawings for the rear fender louvres and the headlamp housing on the Type 3. We met through a mutual friend during a school exchange visit, and he gave me a personal visit to Wolfsburg, showing me the Wolfsburg technical school he was at during the war, and the flat they had in the old factory town. His father had been a power-station refuelling crane operator at the factory - the four chimneys we know well. A wonderful day out, finally achieved after dreaming of it for over 30 years. Dave. UK VW Type 3 & 4 Club http://www.hallvw.clara.co.uk/ ------ ------------------------------------------------------------------- Too much? Digest! mailto:type3-d-request@vwtype3.org Subj=subscribe