'55 transition year debate?

[joel55bug]

I've already done a search on what I'm trying to figure out and found nothing, so I'll say sorry in advance if I've missed something somewhere. I know the '55 to be the transition year oval and there are all kinds of different things found on this cars such as the three different styles of taillight. My question is is there such a thing as a ribbed door/ non-semaphore car?

[sgmalt46]

all 55's had ribbed doors as far as i know.
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55 deluxe 23 window bus
64 crew cab
55 rag top beetle
66 beetle
71 square back (sold) ! good luck with it Henry!
46 beetle 552nd royal army service corps CCG

[rglsr]

1955 beetles had ribbed doors. Early-Mid 1955 USA spec cars had semaphores, smaller egg tail lights. Mid-Late 1955 USA spec cars had bullet turn signals, larger 1956-61 style tail lights, no semaphores.

[*Darren]

As previous poster noted no debate look at page 255 of Progressive Refinements 4-1-55 US spec cars got directionals. Door change didn't occur until August with the start of the 56 model year.
http://www.thesamba.com/vw/archives/manuals/progre...part_1.pdf.

I'm sure that there are some photos in the gallery of such a car.

[joel55bug]

Thanks for the replies guys, you learn something new everyday on these forums. You can always count on the samba and its members for good useful information.

[*Darren]

BulliBill searched for his car in the oval galllery

[BulliBill]

Yep! I own and still love that completely unrestored original paint Deluxe Sunroof Oval in the photos referred to above! Sweet old Beetle! It is the type of "transition" Oval Beetle the original poster is asking about, produced at Wolfsburg in mid-June of 1955. It is sitting under a cover down in my garage about 30 feet from me right now. I'm a very lucky guy!

By the way, that first photo is of me and "Martha" parked for a VWAG photo session in front of the 1938 VW main factory building at Wolfsburg, Germany in 1999 while driving "Martha" on the DKF "Return To The Fatherland" Tour (touring in nine American-owned pre-1957 VWs from Los Angeles all the way to Germany and then back). What an incredible adventure it was! The second shot is with "Martha" and my wife Kathryn just a few months ago along the Missouri River near St. Louis, MO.

Happy to add to the answers about this particular era of transition Oval... ask away!

Bill Bowman
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Coeur D'Alene - Lake Shore Volkswagen
Mission VW - San Fernando
Thornton VW - Stockton

Thanks for any help!

[Keith]

I have the same exact U.S. spec '55 bug as BulliBill, only without the sweet ragtop

Being that these are 8 month only cars (Jan-Aug), I was under the assumption that ALL U.S. spec '55's had bullets and snowflakes and that none of the U.S. spec 55's had semaphores.

This is the first in all of the discussions I have read about '55's that I have heard of "early and late" U.S. spec cars. I thought the only change for the semaphore '55's was going from hearts to eggs.
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Formerly known in the forums as "OVALTEEN"

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[Mr. OGPaint]

[joel55bug]

All great information, thanks for the feedback, much appreciated.

[ZENVWDRIVER]

March of '55 remained old school... love early '55s the best with egg tail lights, ribbed doors and semaphores... sure was lucky to find it, earlier this year... zero rust, never hit.

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[joel55bug]

[Wiggy]

[*Darren]

[Wiggy]

Yes. I had an April 14 built car delievered to Philadelphia that had semaphores and also has US overriders which was also an option.
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Kevin "Wiggy"

My 58 Ghia Vert

My 51 Split 11G

My 57 Deluxe

My 56 Oval

[Wiggy]

[Wiggy]

Right from VW

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Kevin "Wiggy"

My 58 Ghia Vert

My 51 Split 11G

My 57 Deluxe

My 56 Oval

[h~moto]

[56Cabrio]

[*Darren]

Wiggy got that part as I had posted a link to pr. But I'm just curious IF the U.S. option really was an option (or really all U.S. bound got them) and if it was a U.S. option could a customer in Europe have requested. I recognize would have been obscure, but you know how VW was at the time. Kind of like standards not coming to the US. I recognize the likelihood of an answer is about 0.