Bone Stock Original; Spare Me!

[Zooman]

OK, I'm a purest, aircooled vintage Stock-Head.
But... How can folks, or Volks, try to pass off a 68 thru 72 Beetle as Stock with Original Fenders and such when One tail-light is higher than the other or bigger than the other!!!
If you see this sort of discrepancy; Be fore-warned: Between 1968 and 1972 the tail-lights grew in size and height to meet crazy USA DOT standards. 1968 and 1969 are the same. 1970 have a side marker reflector on the housing. 1971 are bigger and higher with the 1970 side marker, but without bumper mounted reflector, 1970 only. 1972 are slightly higher on the fender with side marker. Of course, 1973 the fender and tail-light is completely revised. (This is all for USA spec Beetles). You CANNOT mix and match these fenders and lights and say they are "stock" ! Thanks for letting me "Vent" !!!

[hambone]

Wow Zooman take it easy...
But this I did not know. Do you have any examples of this enraging material?

[Elwood]

Yes I love this sort of information and like the stock attitude to keep it straight for buyers looking.

[vwlover77]

The one that drove me nuts was a guy on e-Bay claiming that the Bay window Bus he had for sale was the "factory original" paint - never repainted - while the U-pin on the sliding door was the same color as the body..... They were unpainted metal from the factory...

[Amskeptic]

the U-pin on the sliding door were unpainted metal from the factory...

These were chrome on the deluxe buses until 1973 when they switched to silver paint.

As for the tail lamps, Zooman is spot-on.
Colin

[vwlover77]

Was it really silver paint? That's cool. The 79 I owned previously had the correct silver U pin, but I always thought it was just corrosion-resistant metal. I didn't know the early ones were chrome. That's even cooler!

[VWGirl]

OK, I'm a purest, aircooled vintage Stock-Head.
But... How can folks, or Volks, try to pass off a 68 thru 72 Beetle as Stock with Original Fenders and such when One tail-light is higher than the other or bigger than the other!!!
If you see this sort of discrepancy; Be fore-warned: Between 1968 and 1972 the tail-lights grew in size and height to meet crazy USA DOT standards. 1968 and 1969 are the same. 1970 have a side marker reflector on the housing. 1971 are bigger and higher with the 1970 side marker, but without bumper mounted reflector, 1970 only. 1972 are slightly higher on the fender with side marker. Of course, 1973 the fender and tail-light is completely revised. (This is all for USA spec Beetles). You CANNOT mix and match these fenders and lights and say they are "stock" ! Thanks for letting me "Vent" !!!

actually mr purist, i do believe that 70 models did not have the side reflectors on the taillight housings as that was a 71/72 only ..

and to add, 73 and 74 fenders are one year only (only the front super beetle fenders are 1yr only on the 73's)

[Zooman]

Sorry, but I insist... Changes for 1970 were large front turn signals with side reflectors and rear housings with side reflectors and bumper reflectors (For North America). This was to meet US DOT side reflector/visability codes for 1970. Type III's got larger tail-lights and wraparound Turnsignals, as well as the Karmann Ghia, which ruined it forever. I verified all this in VW pulications...

Happy Volkswagening! Steve

[Bookwus]

Hiya VW Girl,

Sorry, but I insist... Changes for 1970 were large front turn signals with side reflectors and rear housings with side reflectors and bumper reflectors (For North America).

Absolutely the actual case! As a long standing owner of 70 only VWs I can certainly testify to the fact that the taillight housings for a 70 DO have the side markers. If you still have your doubts, check in with the Bible of VW restoration, Garwood's Car of the Century for verification.

[Zooman]

OK, I am proud of being an anal purist;
As far as SuperBeetles go, we are still talking lights here... Yes, 73 and 74 SuperBeetles changed fender punch-outs for bumpers, in 73 we had static steel brackets and in 74, the shock-absorber bumper for the DOT crash standards;
But lights remained the same on Beetles and SuperBeetles from 73 on, until the front bumper mounted turn signal of the late seventies-early eighties. Rear lights were the large round units with no separate housing, just lens on fender. Boy were they bright... At the time, Road & Track likened them to aircraft beacons.

[VWGirl]

OK, I am proud of being an anal purist;
As far as SuperBeetles go, we are still talking lights here... Yes, 73 and 74 SuperBeetles changed fender punch-outs for bumpers, in 73 we had static steel brackets and in 74, the shock-absorber bumper for the DOT crash standards;
But lights remained the same on Beetles and SuperBeetles from 73 on, until the front bumper mounted turn signal of the late seventies-early eighties. Rear lights were the large round units with no separate housing, just lens on fender. Boy were they bright... At the time, Road & Track likened them to aircraft beacons.

well as i stated, i was talking fenders since this is what your original topic was about... the fenders remained the same from 75 model year on...

i do not know what reflector a 70 beetle has on the side as i have only seen the ones for the 71/72

I did a search on the samba for 70 beetles... out of 70 results for 1970 beetles... there were less than 1/4 of them with the reflectors (this is including those that had the holes for them one of which was advertised probably 5 times and counted as many). so i will give you that at some point in the model year they did go and change them... probably in 1970 preparing for the 71 model year when they all had them... but i do not believe that they all had them...

so is the reflector the same as the 71/72 reflector? I have never seen a listing for a 1970 reflector...

[Bookwus]

Hiya VW Girl,

Actually the taillight reflector was present in every 1970 VW Beetle exported to the North American market. You have been around VWs for a quite a while and I know you realize that POs have made many changes to Bugs in the past 30 to 40 years. You have to also realize, while looking through pictures on the Samba, that those reflectors are one of the items which have been changed out from their original stock configuration. That's why a car in its original stock configuration is worth more than one that has been "customized".

The primary reasons that you see the taillight changed on a 70 are three. 1. The taillight housing on a 70 is the same size as that on a 69 or 68. 2. Some folks never realized that there was difference (70s had the reflector and 68s and 69s did not) in the taillight housings. 3. And for quite some time, the housing reflectors were close to unobtainable. All these reasons made it very easy to replace the original 70 taillight housing with an earlier model. That's why you see you see many 70s without the proper taillight housing.

And some more 1970 lighting trivia....................
Did you know that the taillight lens in a 1970 is different than the one in a 68 or 69? In 68 and 69 the lens had a built in reflector. It would shine light back at it's source. That reflector patch in the lens is NOT in an original taillight lens for a 1970. Why? Because of the addition of the bumper reflectors in 1970. And again, if you go looking at all the 1970s you can find, you probably will find that reflective patch in the taillight lens simply because the lens has been replaced with one from the aftermarket designed to replace all the lenses from that era.

[Zooman]

Firstly, Mike, thanks for your support; your info is right -on. I agree, the Samba is not the place to search for 1970 Beetles to get pictures with factory specs. BUT... I decided to refer to "What Year Is It" 1973 edition, a publication put out by VW of America to ID Beetles. Some police departments used this book to help ID Beetles. Anyway, VWGirl, I wish to put the 1970 Reflector topic to it's final truth... (And where were you in 1970? I was in a VW Showroom!)
1970-Chassis # 11 0 2000001 - 11 0 3096945 ; Beginning August 1969, as always, in Wolfsburg for N.America :
Change #3: Enlarged front turnsignals (combined with side marker lights)
Change #4: Reflectors mounted on rear bumper
Change #5: Side reflectors built into taillight housing

By the way; 1970 saw the addition of Tenths of a Mile indicator on Odometer; also on late 1969 Models.

NEXT SUBJECT PLEASE; NO DISRESPECT VW Girl, But what more can I say????

[VWGirl]

so you still havent answered the question... is the reflector the same size as the 71/72 reflector? as i stated i have never seen one for a 70... but you state they are now available?

does your book state when the late model convertible 4 slot decklid was used? i rarely see those and most don't know they exist... i am not quite sure myself when they were used... i believe 71/72?

[Zooman]

I believe the reflector was the same size even as the tail-lights grew; although at the time a seperate part number for a 72 reflector versus a 70 reflector would indicate that it may be slightly different on the larger lights, however now only one size is available "new", but the Samba always has parts NOS with boxes that people offer. West Coast Metric is a good place to start, and again on the Samba, there is a gentleman in Manila that seems to have a warehouse full of NOS parts from VW.
In 70 and 71, the Sedan had 2 sets of louvres while the Convertible had 4. In 72, the Sedan had 4 sets, and the Convertible used the same pattern. 72-on, to the end of production, all cars had 4 sets of louvres.
Engine covers from Brazil have a slightly different arrangement of the 4 sets of louvres. Of course in early sedans, no louvres, while really early convertibles have vertical, curved louvres, with late fifties and on into the sixties, convertibles had 2 sets of horizontal louvres.
The Beetle, Production history of the people's car by Etzold is a great reference, however based on German Beetles, so a bit confusing for American reference. Progressive Refinements, by VW pops up on the Samba alot, these list every change to the Sedan and other cars in basic type but very thorough! Reference area of the Samba has many showroom brochures as reference, but many times they retouched existing photos with the new feature, sometimes doing a really corney job! Hope this is all helpful. I will try to clear up any questions or inquires. Happy Volkswagening!