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  View original topic: Are these wipers correct for my car?
murray7010 Mon Feb 15, 2010 9:39 am

Hello to all,
Just a quick question, i realize the actual wiper blades ARE NOT correct for my 51 split, but are the bases/arms correct? I've been told by previous owner that they are possibly oval era. Thanks for looking!





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billmetric Mon Feb 15, 2010 11:37 am

Those appear to be post Oval bases with cut down post oval arms and super late aftermarket blades, from the gallery below are split blades, note round arms:

and here are some oval arms, the arms are much thinner than what you have which are '58-'64 bases

also note that correct pre '58 blades and arms were generally made as one piece with blade and arm not detatchable,

murray7010 Mon Feb 15, 2010 3:50 pm

Thanks for the clarification. I had no idea the bases were even rounded. Guess I know what to look for now

billmetric Tue Feb 16, 2010 8:14 am

Be prepared for some sticker shock...
I bought a '55 Beetle in Germany and it had chrome split round wipers on it when I bought it, I didn't know any better back then to know what they were, when I had the safety inspection done that was the only thing the old German inspector didn't pass due to hardened rubber but he let me slide because he knew I would have a hard time finding new blades even in 1989 in Germany round wiper inserts were uncommon to say the least, back then I went to the local VW dealer and ordered a pair of "correct" blades for a '55 and they were the thin flat oval arms/blades, I don't remember how much the dealer charged for them in '89 but they were reasonable back then, not anymore ... I never did find new round arms so I ended up prying open the new oval blades for the rubber section and jammed them into the formerly perfect chrome split blades I had ...
so years later I have a Hoffmann Standard Split and one set of chrome and one set of black arms and blades, however I have never been able to determine which wipers to use on a Hoffmann USA spec standard, it did have chromed bumpers, hubcaps, door handles inside and out so I feel the chrome wipers may very well have been used, in fact I did find one rusty chrome round wiper arm but no bases in a pile of junk and debris inside another Hoffmann Standard? who knows?

The bases and arms have been reproduced these days though so they are available from a few samba advertizers:
http://www.thesamba.com/vw/classifieds/detail.php?id=649929

http://www.thesamba.com/vw/classifieds/detail.php?id=425514



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