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Fri Jul 16, 2010 6:32 pm

mozart wrote:
Found this picture on Wikipedia. Checkout the cool Lois Lane car, a 1950 Nash Rambler roll top convertible.

I love that style design. Love the late 40s early 50s cars, before the fins and chrome spun out of control...

Fri Dec 03, 2010 3:15 am

I guess this is the best thread to discuss 1946-details...

One question: If a 1946 is a "Military delivery" or "Private delivery" - what would be the main differences?

Or - to put it differently: Was a 46 ever delivered with chrome-bumpers? Chrome-taillight rings? Chrome-headlight rings?

...enlighten me.

Fri Dec 03, 2010 10:31 am

no chrome bumpers /headlight rings /handles in 46. that didn't happen till 48? on export models . if my memory is correct.

Fri Dec 03, 2010 10:52 am

SplitPersonality wrote: I guess this is the best thread to discuss 1946-details...

One question: If a 1946 is a "Military delivery" or "Private delivery" - what would be the main differences?

Or - to put it differently: Was a 46 ever delivered with chrome-bumpers? Chrome-taillight rings? Chrome-headlight rings?

...enlighten me.
Hi there,
in 46 were only military vehicle for the "Besatzer" build.
First chrome stuff comes in 47 but i think only for some special cars for show ( there is a pic with a lady posing before a 47 and in the back the windows of the buildings are broken )
In 46 the guys in the factory were lucky when they got a sup, they don´t think about chrome
The front / backlights was the first with chrome
Marcus

Fri Dec 03, 2010 6:21 pm

beetlekey wrote: SplitPersonality wrote: I guess this is the best thread to discuss 1946-details...

One question: If a 1946 is a "Military delivery" or "Private delivery" - what would be the main differences?

Or - to put it differently: Was a 46 ever delivered with chrome-bumpers? Chrome-taillight rings? Chrome-headlight rings?

...enlighten me.
Hi there,
in 46 were only military vehicle for the "Besatzer" build.
First chrome stuff comes in 47 but i think only for some special cars for show ( there is a pic with a lady posing before a 47 and in the back the windows of the buildings are broken )
In 46 the guys in the factory were lucky when they got a sup, they don´t think about chrome
The front / backlights was the first with chrome
Marcus
This picture of the '47 Beetle was taken at the Harrah's Museum in the late '70s. Note the chrome plated tail-light lens bezels, bumper and guards.

Fri Dec 03, 2010 7:53 pm

Chrome plated headlight bezels, bumper /guards and wiper arms.

Fri Dec 03, 2010 8:06 pm

Chrome plated large VW logo hupcap. A 1949 accesory?

Sat Dec 04, 2010 10:00 am

mozart wrote:
Chrome plated large VW logo hupcap. A 1949 accesory?

1948.

Sat Dec 04, 2010 10:11 am

beetlekey wrote:

Hi there,
in 46 were only military vehicle for the "Besatzer" build.
First chrome stuff comes in 47 but i think only for some special cars for show ( there is a pic with a lady posing before a 47 and in the back the windows of the buildings are broken )
In 46 the guys in the factory were lucky when they got a sup, they don´t think about chrome
The front / backlights was the first with chrome
Marcus

That is actually incorrect. The first VWs available to the general public were supplied in limited numbers to car dealers during 1946. The first delivery of civilian spec Volkswagens was to the Schultz dealership in Essen on 17th July 1946. This consignment consisted of a delivery of eight cars. The next delivery from the Volkswagenwerk was to Raffay in Hamburg when they received one car to sell to the public on 22nd July 1946. In October 1946, the VW dealer network was founded in Germany and the process of appointing dealers and distributors began alongside supplying a small number of cars to those appointed.

However, I do not know if these 'civilian' spec 1946 cars had chromed hubcaps, headlamp rims, tail light bezels and bumpers.

Tue Dec 07, 2010 9:18 pm

Speaking of Chrome Hubcaps etc. on '46s and seeing this thread resurrected I finally found and uploaded here the entire 9 page article from Hemmings "Special Interest Autos" magazine article Nov.Dec. 1977 issue, this magazine article is now older than the '46 Beetle was when they test drove it! Its interesting to read this old article in a Non-VW centered collector car publication from 33 years ago, you could still buy an aircooled VW new back then, the Vintage Volkswagen Club of America was started just one year before this article:

Wed Dec 08, 2010 1:04 pm

Thanks for posting that, neat article. Several updates to that '46, many are noted in the picture captions.

I wonder about "Notch under bumper is for hand crank". There wasn't a notch, but rather a bracket, which was mounted on top of the bumper. Makes me wonder if the bumper was reinstalled upside down at some point.

Wed Dec 08, 2010 6:40 pm

Yeah, I think we mentioned the rear bumper back on page 3, on page 2 someone posted a pic of same car in 1975 with bumper on right side up but with same broken guide, some one must have flipped it for some reason between '75 and '77, last I saw it a few years ago in Michigan it was still upside down, its another one of these "museum cars" that no one wants to touch for any reason because thats the way its been for 30+ years ...

as the above story goes Johnny von Neumann "reconditioned" it in 1954 but i doubt they rechrommed the bumpers and hub caps since being a VW dealer they would have simply installed new style chrome parts if necessary, I took a good hard look in person at those chrome hubcaps and bumpers and they looked like the real deal to me,

I especially like how they mentioned that nipple hubcaps and 16-inch wheels were "EXTREMELY RARE" in 1977 !

Wed Dec 08, 2010 10:40 pm

Herbie3Rivers wrote: johnshenry wrote: I always get in trouble at those museums when they have VWs. "Sir. SIR! Please get out from under the Beetle." I have look ALL over them.

I got busted at the Henry Ford museum in Detroit for stepping over the rope and crawling under a split they had there. My son, who was about 12 or 13 I think, was horrified. "DaaaaDDD!!!"

That's why it helps having friends there. One of my best friends dad was head of Ford Motorsport from the mid 70s through the mid 90s. They're really good friends with the curator at the Henry Ford. I keep getting promised an all access tour one of these times I'm in Detroit. Believe me, the Split, the Westy, and the Manx are all on my list of crawling over.

If you have a chance, spin the roof rack on the Westy aroud 180 degrees. It's always bothered me that they have had it on backwards for so long.

Thu Dec 09, 2010 2:23 am

The tailights are correct?

They seem 50-52, I had the feeling they had that brezel arround in chrome, I saw some repro here in samba and they seem different and of course more beautiful :D

Happy Christmas and best regards to all.
Frank

Thu Dec 09, 2010 2:57 pm

Regarding this bug at the Nethercutt, I actually saw it in person this museum is one of my favorite places to go when I want some piece and quiet in my life. I go here often and when i saw the bug in their for the first time I stood there in Aww for about 10 minutes. This collection is the best I have ever seen along with the musical instruments and library they have and train. It's a must go to. The reservation only tour has even more wonderful cars to view and I would love to work at this place..even cleaning toilets just to be able to study all these cars. Anyway the vw is sweet and correct or not Its a great addition for the museum. The Tucker is cool but I think its unrestored as it has paint flaws up close and most cars they restore they paint an initial on the car somewhere which I did not see on the Tucker. I know Nick Cage frequents this museum alot as well as he is a car guy.

Fri Dec 10, 2010 12:53 am

my03yellowv wrote: I would love to work at this place..even cleaning toilets .....
Offer to volunteer. When I toured a large museum that had a Schwimmer, I was talking to the guy who worked there and he told me they have many local volunteer mechanics that do various tasks to keep the cars running. If I lived closer than 4000 miles away, I'd be one of those volunteers.

Fri Dec 10, 2010 12:01 pm

Yes, taillights on the above VWoA '46 are incorrect, also headlights, dashboard and a bunch of other stuff, they probably just slapped a pair of '50-'52 taillights off the parts shelf in 1954 for some reason, I'm thinking it may have even had the Kubel headlights with the adapters originally, The "KDF-Service" guy in Poland has the correct type taillights reproed:
http://www.thesamba.com/vw/classifieds/detail.php?id=870999

here is a 1945 taillight, the lens and ring are different:

I havent seen anyone offering the Kubel headlight adapters yet! I think the Grundmanns made a pair a while back, at some point in 1945 they ran out of the normal headlights but had plenty of leftover smaller Kubelwagen headlight assemblys so someone decided to make an adapter shell to drop a Kubel headlight into the Beetle bucket, you can see that there is something odd about the headlights on the "1000th Volkswagen" those are Kubel headlights in the adapter housings, I'm assuming that most of them were tossed out as soon as the larger "correct" headlights became available

Sat Oct 22, 2011 1:22 pm

ZwitterND wrote: Beautiful cars. I have trouble going to car museums, same with zoo's, seeing all the creatures not being able to run.

Resurrecting the thread...

According to the museum, all of their vehicles have current registration and are in running condition. That being said, the aroma of gasoline is absent from the display rooms I visited, so there would probably be a bit of work involved before any car actually drives down the street.

I visited the Nethercutt museum last night to attend a silent movie event where they showcase their WurliTzeR theater organ and play some of their mechanical music devices (music boxes at mega-scale). We didn't visit the main museum, but we walked through the annex where the '46 Beetle is displayed just inside the entrance on the lower level. The next floor up is a palatial showroom with tall columns. It was filled with coachbuilt limousines and some very early (pre-1900) European cars. The balcony looking down on the showroom was walled with glass cases containing hundreds of hood ornaments. Above that, accessed via a large spiral staircase, was the theater and music room.

There were no ropes and we were allowed to get as close as we liked to the cars in the annex. I didn't know about the existence of this car so it was a pleasant surprise. I took some cell-phone shots but none showed anything different from the photos in this thread.

This is the best auto collection I've been to since I visited Harrah's back before they sold most of it off. We may nit-pick the '46, but at least it is there to be nit-picked, along with may cars of even greater rarity. On the other side of the room was a GM EV1, and remember that GM tried to crush every single one of those!

The Nethercutt curators were very nice people and treated us well. I'll have to go back on a normal day to see the VW again.

Sun Oct 23, 2011 5:33 am

beetlekey wrote: SplitPersonality wrote: I guess this is the best thread to discuss 1946-details...

One question: If a 1946 is a "Military delivery" or "Private delivery" - what would be the main differences?

Or - to put it differently: Was a 46 ever delivered with chrome-bumpers? Chrome-taillight rings? Chrome-headlight rings?

...enlighten me.
Hi there,
in 46 were only military vehicle for the "Besatzer" build.

Marcus

A friend of mine have a 46, bought new by Red Cross in 46 and delivered for duty in Norway. :D

PS: Think we talked at Bad Camberg, Marcus!

Sun Oct 23, 2011 11:48 pm

billmetric wrote: You can see that there is something odd about the headlights on the "1000th Volkswagen" those are Kubel headlights in the adapter housings.

I realize this is an old thread, but I'd like to remind everyone that this photo is of the 1,000th Volkswagen built during the month of March, 1946. Volkswagen was celebrating buildiing 1,000 cars in a single month. It is often misidentified as the 1,000th Volkswagen.