TheSamba.com :: View topic

Fri Jun 20, 2008 11:23 pm

EA57RHD wrote: Caledfyn, no I do not have that book, but I heard it was a great book On CKD VW's in Australia. I received an email from a guy in Australia saying that he knows the author of the book and that he could get one for me. I'm waiting on his response.

By the way, my 57 has the 53 aluminium starter button and two position ignition switch just like on the 53's, somewhat of an oddity, but appears to be original to my car.

My CKD is low millage and original, I don't see how or why someone would have changed out the ignition and added a starter button.

Any thoughts on this anyone (IN2VWS)

Thanks
EA57RHD

1957 Aussie built Beetles did not have the starter button. It will have been added at some time.
Do you have documentation confirming the low mileage of your car?
Have you removed the starter button to see if the hole has been drilled or punched?
Have you checked the thickness of the paint on the body of the car to check how thick the paint is?

Sat Jun 21, 2008 12:40 am

I've got an October 55 and a June 57 Australian CKD and neither has the push button starter.

Sat Jun 21, 2008 12:53 am

I ordered my copy directly from the author, Rod Davies and paid using PayPal.

His email is rdavies52 at optusnet.com.au

Sat Jun 21, 2008 2:16 am

Here is the dash we are discussing...

My late 56 dash has no signs of these 2 extra items (knob or button on the far right). My car has been media blasted to bare metal and for sure, no signs of these.

I think they might have been added :shock:

Sat Jun 21, 2008 8:39 am

Caledfyn wrote:

The wacky Hella indicators can stay until the wings go off to be fettled at some future date.

That's a lovely car. :D

Personally I like the wacky Hella indicators...they're part of the car's history.

I'm not a subscriber to wiping the slate clean and pretend it fresh out of the factory type of resto. It's little imperfections and additions that give the car character and tell the story.

Take all that away and there's nothing to tell. :?

Sat Jun 21, 2008 9:32 am

I agree John, the black car in the pic above is an awesome original car. I crawled all over it with a camera and Edward is a lucky guy to have it.

I blasted mine only because it needed a lot of repairs done, as it would've been a scrap candidate if I hadn't saved it. A prior, prior, prior owner warned me the paint was thick, and he was right.

I told the prior owner of the black RHD pictured above if I wasn't so deep in my resto I would've bought it instead for sure.

I'm hopeful mine will come out nice, but it will never be original :D

Sat Jun 21, 2008 9:41 am

Quote: That's a lovely car. :D

Personally I like the wacky Hella indicators...they're part of the car's history.

I'm not a subscriber to wiping the slate clean and pretend it fresh out of the factory type of resto. It's little imperfections and additions that give the car character and tell the story.

Take all that away and there's nothing to tell. :?

Cheers for the nice comments John.

I do agree with you to some extent. How far into a restoration does a cars character change? This one does need some work as the front valance has had a knock in the past and the rear valance has been hacked to accomodate twin tail pipes. It's also been repainted at some point in its life which was why I was trying to find out its original colour. The milometer stands at 90k and I think that's probably right given the level of wear and tear and that its still on the original engine.

Where a car is rotten, then a 100 point resto might be the order of the day, otherwise it's about keeping its character.

Sat Jun 21, 2008 4:08 pm

Hey guys,

They are all nice cars.

Don't get me wrong when I asked about how thick the paint was. It was not a criticism. I asked because the comment was made that the car was low mileage and original. My point was that if the car has been resprayed, what else was fixed/added etc. during its life.

As said earlier, they are all very nice cars.
:wink:

Sat Jun 21, 2008 4:38 pm

John, I have not removed the starter botton to check if it had been drilled or punched, I will have do that soon and post my findings.

As far as the other botton on the dash, that is the horn botton now. I don't know why anyone would have done that to this car if the original wheel is still present. I knew the added horn botton was not original but was uncertian on the starter even though I know that it's a 53 item. Still learning and trying to gather information on Aussie CKD cars.

My plans are to remove the horn botton, but possibly leave the starter botton on the dash just because I like it, but will see because the anal purist side of me is saying to remove it.

Thanks Eric for the kind words on my 57

These CKD cars are truly strange, The blue 56 that came over with my car from Australia, has the keyed lock on the passanger side of the car and the driver side door locks from the inside (LHD style) WTF!....Just the opposite of my car. Chime in any time Chris :)

EA57RHD

Sat Jun 21, 2008 4:58 pm

EA57RHD wrote:
As far as the other botton on the dash, that is the horn botton now. I don't know why anyone would have done that to this car if the original wheel is still present.

EA57RHD

MIne is the same. I have a button for the horn on the right hand side of the dash. Obviously there'd been a problem with the proper horn button and rather than take the tank out or spend time tracking down the problem, they just drilled the dash and did it that way! It was probably quicker and saved the original owner a few quid.

EA57RHD wrote:

These CKD cars are truly strange, The blue 56 that came over with my car from Australia, has the keyed lock on the passanger side of the car and the driver side door locks from the inside (LHD style) WTF!....Just the opisite of my car. Chime in any time Chris :)

EA57RHD

Again, mine is exactly the same. The owners were an elderly couple and apparently the gentleman flipped them around so that he could make sure the door was secured properly when his wife was riding in the car with him! When I first saw the car I wondered if it had been in a shunt and a handle had been damaged or they just got them on the wrong way around. However, there's no way it's been punted as everything is exactly as it should be.

Sat Jun 21, 2008 6:04 pm

EA57RHD wrote: Hey Caledfyn, thanks for posting the pic for me. I checked the paint card link you posted and I didn't see The color black on it? is this a complete list of Aussie colors?

EA57RHD

I do not know why, but Black is rarely mentioned on Australian VW literature, yet it was available.
The black we had was called Arnhem Black. It was mentioned in VW advertising as seen here:
http://i197.photobucket.com/albums/aa28/in2vws_com/other%20sites/b573.jpg

Sat Jun 21, 2008 10:03 pm

Shit John, is there any literature you don't have :) , I'm totally impressed.

No hard feelings from me, I understand were your coming from asking about the thickness of the paint and millage.

I was told by the previous owner that it was a low millage car, and the millage on the speedometer was correct. Not documented, but probably an assumption based on the fact that the car is so clean and was last registered in mid 1980's (reg sticker still on window) and sat in a private collection in Australia along with two other CKD Ovals before being purchased and shipped to California. So who really knows for sure?

As far as the paint goes, it's about 85-90% original paint. I think the rear apron, rear fenders and deck lid have been resprayed many years ago, But it does retain the correct original parts including the ribbed fenders. the rest of the paint is no doubt original, and where the paint has worn back in some areas, you can see the red primer which I think is specific and correct to Aussie CKD cars, unlike their German counter parts.

Although this was not my thread (sorry Caledfyn) I appreciate and respect all the input. I know more about my CKD Oval today then I knew yesterday :)

EA57RHD

Sun Jun 22, 2008 2:28 am

EA57RHD wrote: Although this was not my thread (sorry Caledfyn) I appreciate and respect all the input. I know more about my CKD Oval today then I knew yesterday :)

EA57RHD

Absolutely not a problem EA57RHD! Like you I now know a little more about what I've got sitting in my garage and about Aussie Ovals in general which was the aim of this thread.

EA57RHD wrote: and where the paint has worn back in some areas, you can see the red primer which I think is specific and correct to Aussie CKD cars, unlike their German counter parts.
EA57RHD

Same with mine regarding the primer. In fact, on one of the headlight [ics I posted earlier you can just see the red where the paint has chipped away.

Thanks for posting that advert John, it's stuff like that that really gives you a feel for the history of the car. Maybe you could answer one of the questions regarding the MKA numbers ? I've read that 1954 ckd production totalled 1385 cars, yet my car, which left Germany in April 1954, has an MKA number of 1468. Therefore my question is, did they start stamping the numbers from 1000, or was my car built up in very early '55? Is there a record of these numbers somewhere or has this information been lost?

Also, I'm assuming my car is either Glenburnie or Gypsy grey. Any ideas which one and if there is a paint code ?

Sorry for all the questions!!! :shock: It's not often I get to chat to an authority on something!!

Sun Jun 22, 2008 2:47 am

Caledfyn wrote: EA57RHD wrote:
As far as the other botton on the dash, that is the horn botton now. I don't know why anyone would have done that to this car if the original wheel is still present.

EA57RHD

MIne is the same. I have a button for the horn on the right hand side of the dash. Obviously there'd been a problem with the proper horn button and rather than take the tank out or spend time tracking down the problem, they just drilled the dash and did it that way! It was probably quicker and saved the original owner a few quid.

The repositioned horn button is a common "lazy fix" for a wiring problem that the og owner couldn't figure. It happened on my '58 Ghia too.

It can sometimes seem confusing but the wiring to the horn is the negative side of the circuit and is well explained on "Johnshenry's" website here: http://www.thebugshop.org/gotech.htm

Sun Jun 22, 2008 3:35 am

Caledfyn wrote:

Thanks for posting that advert John, it's stuff like that that really gives you a feel for the history of the car. Maybe you could answer one of the questions regarding the MKA numbers ? I've read that 1954 ckd production totalled 1385 cars, yet my car, which left Germany in April 1954, has an MKA number of 1468. Therefore my question is, did they start stamping the numbers from 1000, or was my car built up in very early '55? Is there a record of these numbers somewhere or has this information been lost?

Also, I'm assuming my car is either Glenburnie or Gypsy grey. Any ideas which one and if there is a paint code ?

Sorry for all the questions!!! :shock: It's not often I get to chat to an authority on something!!

The MKA number......a good question, to which we don't have an answer yet. IMO, they started at 1000. I say this because we are yet to see a car with an MKA number below 1000, and because of the numbers of CKD kits that came here measured against the time line of the imports.
The same theory/opinion applies to buses. We are yet to see a bus with an MKA number below 1000.

I have done some digging through my color chips and books. I have found that Gypsy Grey was also know as Mew Grey on Morris, BMC vehicles in 1957 and 1958. It has the same paint code and formula. Now I just have to dig deeper to find a Mew Grey chip........

Mon Jun 23, 2008 9:26 pm

OK, Eddie, I am chiming in with my '56 RHD that is a dove/capri blue color....I would like to know the real name....

Tue Jun 24, 2008 12:08 am

5vert6 wrote: OK, Eddie, I am chiming in with my '56 RHD that is a dove/capri blue color....I would like to know the real name....

Gorgeous car!

There seems to have been three blues for Australian '56s:

Horizon blue
Pigeon blue
Mountain blue

Horizon blue is much lighter if the pic in the gallery is anything to go by, so pigeon or mountain ?

Tue Jun 24, 2008 12:28 am

Caledfyn wrote: 5vert6 wrote: OK, Eddie, I am chiming in with my '56 RHD that is a dove/capri blue color....I would like to know the real name....

Gorgeous car!

There seems to have been three blues for Australian '56s:

Horizon blue
Pigeon blue
Mountain blue

Horizon blue is much lighter if the pic in the gallery is anything to go by, so pigeon or mountain ?

Horizon and Mountain blue were the same color. They had the same paint code and formula.
http://i197.photobucket.com/albums/aa28/in2vws_com/in2vws/VW%20Paint/in2vws_AU_Paint_23.jpg

So, I would guess its pigeon Blue, or Summer Blue if it is a 57 model year.

Tue Jun 24, 2008 3:21 am

Did the Australian colours follow model year, calendar year or some other weird schedule?

Tue Jun 24, 2008 6:59 am

[img]Thanks for the info on the color. :D This is a very nice clean car and fun to drive![/img]