The Model 110 was not a factory Sonderaktion (Special Sales Campaign) model but its DNA has some very close associations indeed with Beetles that were and so warranted its inclusion here.
Paint and Upholstery:
L10A (D7) Rallye Yellow (Rallyegelb) / 29 Grey(black & white houndstooth) cloth (schwarz/weiß)
L31A (G9) African Red (Senegalrot) / 29 Grey(black & white houndstooth) cloth (schwarz/weiß)
L51C (K2) Miami Blue (Miamiblau) / 29 Grey(black & white houndstooth) cloth (schwarz/weiß)
Accent to the paintwork was provided by satin black external trim .
Technical Data:
1600cc typ.113 badged “FUEL INJECTION”.
Factory Fitted Optional Equipment:
none.
Context:
The SEB that never was yet in many ways has more connections to SEB production than some of the official Sonderaktion Editions.
For just one model year only a “Model 110” Beetle was exported to North America and to find details about it you have to look hard. Blink, as I did, and you would have missed that it existed because the sales literature is, well we say, expedient about its promotion and sans photographs.
Based on a utilitarian version of the US specification 1600cc typ.113 Beetles as used for example for the 1974 Love Bug but with dramatically reduced build specification “borrowing” much from the 1975 European market 1200cc Sparkäfer bodyshell and parts lists. The three primary paint colours that it was manufactured in were trimmed with full satin black external trim as used on that previous model year’s Love Bug Edition. This with the exception it appears of the North American market engine lid “FUEL INJECTION” badging which remained in usual brightwork finish. Significantly the L51C Miami Blue version was the only solid blue paint colour Beetle ever produced with satin black external trim – all the others had been in shades of green, yellow, orange or red (plus of course Marathon Metallic).
Because contemporary photographs of the car are very scarce the exact details of some of the Model 110’s specification has been open to subsequent discussion. So until such time as any official press photographs surface we have to rely on the information we can glean from two colour photos: one of which shows an African Red example in a contemporary VWoA advertisement the other, of a Rallye yellow example, that appeared on the cover of the May 1975 issue of Road & Track Magazine and then inside that magazine in several black and white shots as part of a “Comparison Test: The Nine Smallest Economy Cars” report.
Referencing internet sourced photographs of surviving examples and various discussion threads the consensus of evidence suggest that the model had a dramatically reduced build specification that comprised of:
Spartan interior trim that comprised of black fibreboard door cards without arm rests and storage pockets, matching rear side panel trims and grey cardboard rear luggage compartment lining. Half headlining without grab and assist handles with blanking plugs to all holes in the exposed, painted interior roof and pillar panels. These together with the omission of through-flow ventilation fittings including bonnet intake grill, dashboard air vents and crescent extraction vents behind the rear side windows. Lack of engine compartment sound insulation.
Noticeable features that differentiate the Model 110 from the European market 1200cc Sparkäfer concerned the US compliant dashboard with its padded cover, seatbelt and brake system warning lights and the four spoke, flat pad, steering wheel.
Standard style steel road wheels with black plastic centre caps were fitted all as identical to those of the 1975 European 1200cc Sparkäfer although some sources suggest importation also of examples with black finish hubcaps instead of the plastic caps.
The history of this unusual version Beetle appears complicated to say the least and has to be set in the context of desperate US marketplace advertising battles over the starting price tags of model ranges – notably in the face on increasing competition from Japanese made imports. With an advertised starting price of US $2,895 for the 110 (the regular 1975 model “standard” Beetle base price was about US $3000) this meant that VWoA could validly advertise a base price of under US $3000 for the Beetle inclusive of its fuel injection engine introduced for the 1975 model year. By 1976 the Model 110 had been dropped and the emphasis of the last two years of Beetle saloon marketing in the USA and Canada changed drastically.
The Model 110 was produced by Volkswagen AG at Emden (Germany)
Sales Literature:
The only sales literature reference to the Model 110 is on the rear cover of the 1975 model year US brochure for the Beetle “Some things change. Some things never change Volkswagen does both.” by way of asterisked footnote reference to the three colours choices for the model.
As mentioned above an African Red Model 110 featured in a 1975 VWoA advertisement “Now. Fuel Injection for the frugal.”
Further Reading:
“Retrospectively Speaking” editorial column RS 005
Information courtesy Jan Walter, Stephen Paul Hardy, Theodore Singh.
