Aircooled VW South Africa

Hi there guys from the UK. I am Mike and I have just become the proud owner of a '74 412 LE Variant which was imported from ZA last year. I have some questions that hopefully some of you guys may be able to help me answer. The first is - what factory colour is my car? See the picture below, it is a pale green colour that I have not seen in the UK at all.



Secondly how could I possibly look at trying to trace some service history, ownership history? The car has a Lannie Motors Tzaneen VW dealer sticker in the rear window... maybe they could help?

Thirdly does anyone know of anywhere I could source a book pack - owners manual etc. for my car?

Look forward to hearing from any of you guys!

Many thanks, Mike Smallbone, Essex, UK.

Hi Mike, and thanks for your post. I see you have logged in as a guest, please feel free to register on ACVWSA in order to become part of the South African Aircooled VW family.

The exporting of vehicles from SA is frowned upon by some, but certainly not by all of us. Congrats on becoming the owner of a fantastic vehicle!

My folks had a 412 sedan and Variant for most of my years as a child, and I have personally owned and drive a couple of them, they are very special and under rated cars. My dream is to own one again some day.

Unfortunately their parts are becoming very rare in SA as well, ironically most cars were sent to the junk yard a decade or more ago in pretty much a salvageable condition, but you know what they say about hindsight.

There is also a very nice FB group called 'VW 411/412 Freunde', please have a look there as well.

Stay in touch!


(yours truly to the left)

As for the colour - it was generally referred to as 'Avo green', and is a colour quite unique to the South African 411 and 412 models. It is probably the most common colour that they were painted. Here is another pic of my Dad's 412 sedan, circa 1979 - same colour.

Hey there - awesome, awesome, awesome!! Thanks so much for posting such an informative and helpful reply!! Much appreciated.

I will indeed join up and keep posting here too. It's a real shame they are becoming rarer over there, as they are extremely rare over here. My dad too had a 411 4dr Saloon and a 3dr Variant both white when we were kids, and also a 412LE 3dr saloon and a 412LE Variant - like mine but in Sumatra Green too (I will get some pics uploaded). So I was brought up on them and it was just meant to be that I would own one eventually. I absolutely promise that this car will not lose it's ZA heritage over here... going to keep the plates she is on and the Lannie Motors dealer sticker in the rear window too. She needs some TLC mainly to the front end as there has been a pretty poor previous repair at some point in her 43 yrs, but as she came from inland ZA, she is pretty much corrosion free which is amazing!!

Can you try and get me the paint code for the colour please?

Also if you hear of anyone who has an original document pack - handbook etc - even if it is in Afrikaans - I would be really interested in trying to get hold of one!

Thanks again and I will be back LOL

Welcome Mike, and congratulations on your car!

The colour was not only common on 411/412s, it was available across the VW range in the early to mid-1970s and was very popular in South Africa.

Unfortunately, VWSA has not kept any of its archive records so there is no information available about South African colour codes and what they signify.

Avocado green is a colloquial description of the colour, which may or may not be what VWSA called it back in the day.