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Sat Aug 13, 2005 6:34 am

Anyone know where to find clear lens for the front turn signals on a 1973 Super Beetle?

Sat Aug 13, 2005 7:02 am

Not very common, but maybe the "tuner" catalogs like NOPI might carry them.

Sat Aug 13, 2005 8:11 am

i believe mid america has them... i was going to buy some and found them about a month ago... but dont remember where... maybe cip1? wasnt hard to find... do a search

Sat Aug 13, 2005 9:25 am

Blimp has them:
http://www.vochos.com/turnsignals.html

Sat Aug 13, 2005 3:59 pm

They are listed on e-bay all the time.

Tue Aug 23, 2005 6:41 pm

bought mine thru www.socalauotparts.com good price got'em in 5 days

Wed Aug 24, 2005 10:33 am

Cip1 has them. I took mine and smoke tinted them from the inside.

Sun Nov 01, 2009 7:29 pm

i bought a set from Bugparts.

Mon Nov 02, 2009 10:52 am

Remember that you have to run amber bulbs in them to be legal... you don't need to get pulled & handed a fix-it ticket from the LEO's -

bnc

Mon Nov 02, 2009 11:04 am

didget69 wrote: Remember that you have to run amber bulbs in them to be legal... you don't need to get pulled & handed a fix-it ticket from the LEO's -

bnc
I don't think so....I'm running original 68 tails on my vert that are simply red turn signals.

Mon Nov 02, 2009 11:08 am

Bierboy wrote: didget69 wrote: Remember that you have to run amber bulbs in them to be legal... you don't need to get pulled & handed a fix-it ticket from the LEO's -

bnc
I don't think so....I'm running original 68 tails on my vert that are simply red turn signals.

The OP was talking about front turn signals.

Mon Nov 02, 2009 11:53 pm

Thanks for finding this thread, 70bugdriver, and for the info on running amber bulbs, didget69. I was about to do a search on clear turn signal lenses after seeing a few installed on some Beetles in the Readers Rides forum.

Now that they've been on the market for some time, how good is the quality of those lenses? Do they hold up well for years, or is this another item that falls apart in a short time
like most shoddy aftermarket parts do?

Tue Nov 03, 2009 9:18 am

Yellowbeard wrote: Bierboy wrote: didget69 wrote: Remember that you have to run amber bulbs in them to be legal... you don't need to get pulled & handed a fix-it ticket from the LEO's -

bnc
I don't think so....I'm running original 68 tails on my vert that are simply red turn signals.

The OP was talking about front turn signals.

Hmm...I was not aware of that. Is it a federal law or something?

Tue Nov 03, 2009 9:51 am

I think what lights are legal or not tends to vary by state. (For instance, in Missouri, volunteer fire people can use flashing/rotating blue lights when going to a fire. However, other state have police that are all-blue on the light bar).

However...generally speaking, I think you're only supposed to have flashing red lights that face anywhere but to the rear if you're an emergency or police vehicle (or a school bus). I think putting a red turn signal lens (or red bulbs in a clear turn-signal lens) on the front fenders of your Beetle is a really fast way to get a nasty ticket. If you get a pissy police officer, they could cite you for whatever the law is that prohibits the red forward-facing lights. So if the law is to prevent falsely looking like a police, even though a single flashing turn light isn't going to look the lights on a police car, that's the charge you'd end up defending.

I have no specific knowledge of this, I'm just guessing.

Tue Nov 03, 2009 10:24 am

Bierboy wrote: Yellowbeard wrote: Bierboy wrote: didget69 wrote: Remember that you have to run amber bulbs in them to be legal... you don't need to get pulled & handed a fix-it ticket from the LEO's -

bnc
I don't think so....I'm running original 68 tails on my vert that are simply red turn signals.

The OP was talking about front turn signals.

Hmm...I was not aware of that. Is it a federal law or something?

Clear front turn signals were kosher until (somebody correct me here) '64(?). My US-spec '63 has clear front turn signals. US-spec bugs had red turn signals in back, while euro-spec bugs had amber rear turn signals. Eventually (I think in the early seventies) US law changed to make amber rear turn signals legal.

edit: To answer the OP's question, clear front turn signals are legal, so long as they conform to DOT standards in place when the car was built. SO...if you have a '63, for instance, which came from the factory with clear front turn signals, you can run clear fronts. If you have, for instance, a '75, which came with amber front turn signals, you must run amber front turn signals to be legal.
All this depends on which cop you run across. I've had cars that were customized, and nowhere legal, which the local cops didn't give a second look to. I also had my trusty showroom-stock '58, which got me hassled all the time by a rookie cop who didn't know his vehicle code very well.

Tue Nov 03, 2009 10:43 am

Yellowbeard wrote:
edit: To answer the OP's question, clear front turn signals are legal, so long as they conform to DOT standards in place when the car was built.

And, of course, all those regs are approved by committee and approval is (presumably) checked by committee.

So you get stuff like the New Beetle (which I love). I think the reg for headlights is they're supposed to be limited 55W per side low-beam, 60W high beam. Each bucket in the front of my 2008 New Beetle has three bulbs. There's a daytime running liight that's a 55W H7, there's a little dinky bulb that's the "low beam" (like 10 W), and then another 55W H7 that's the high beam. When the high beams are on, the high beam bulb is on, and the daytime-running-light bulb is also on, meaning the whole assembly is putting out 110W on high beam. Huh? I suspect someone did a "look over here" presentation when running this by the US DOT.

Oy.