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Jim, CKD stands for completely knocked down. Parts are shipped out in boxes from Germany or wherever else the VW is manufactured and a local factory assembles them to make a Beetle, Kombi, Golf or whatever. The local assembler will add locally made parts in order to increase the local content and thus reduce import duty and taxes even further. These parts may be just tyres, batteries and paint but more sophisticated assembly operations may even include locally made generators, starter motors and seat upholstery. Nevertheless, VW Type 3 vehicles were only ever CKD-assembled in Australia (1968 to 1974), no where else. There was full manufacture of Type 3s in Brazil (1968 to 1981), in South Africa (from 1963 to 1969) and in Australia (from 1963 until 1968 when CKD-assembly started). And, note, the date for Brazil from 1968 to 1981 is not a mistake. The lovely Brazilian "Variant II" was made from November1977 to December 1981. It had a normal pancake 1584cc twin-carb Type 3 motor, a Type 3 floorpan with CV-joint torsion bar rear suspension but it had McPherson strut front suspension and rack and pinion steering (like the 1975 German 1303 Beetle). It was only available with a two-door station wagon or Variant body hence the name "Variant II". Unfortunately, in Brazil it couldn't compete with Volkswagen do Brasil's own VW Passat and so passed into oblivion after only a short production run. Regards, Simon Glen Toowoomba, Australia. Jim Adney wrote: > On 27 Jan 2001, at 10:10, Simon Glen wrote: > > > The two-door model was also CKD-assembled in Mexico. The four-door > > version was also CKD-assembled in Nigeria but renamed > > there as the "Igala". > > What/who is CKD? > > - > ******************************* > Jim Adney, jadney@vwtype3.org > Madison, Wisconsin, USA > ******************************* > > ------------------------------------------------------------------- > Unsubscribe? mailto:type3-request@vwtype3.org, Subject: unsubscribe