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VW Dictionary
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0-9 A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W X Y Z

D-pillar The rearmost roof support metal on a 4-pillar car.  Also see A-pillar, B-pillar, and C-pillar

DA Slang for the "Dual Action" air tool used for stripping paint.  It has a random orbital surface.

Daily Driver Refers to a VW of any type that is driven regularly: to work, school, shopping, errands, etc..  Opposite of Trailer Queen

Dak Dak Australian nickname for the Beetle sedan and convertible. This term is onomatopoeia for the sound a Beetle makes. 

Danbury Multicar A third-party, aftermarket camping conversion for the Transporter.

Dannenhauer und Staus D&S was a specialty coach-builder that, like Hebmuller and Rometsch, produced a number of very exotic cabriolets. 

Dash Slang for dashboard.

Dashboard Area in the front of the interior around the steering wheel that houses the gauges.
dashboard1.jpg (178255 bytes) dashboard2.jpg (185833 bytes)

Dashpod Small dash area used on Barndoor Buses from 1950-1955.  Can also refer just to the Bakelite speedo dash face used on Barndoor and Split-Window Beetles
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DBGM Abbreviation for Deutsches Bundes Gebrauchs Musterschutz, the German patent office.  Parts may have this marking to show they are patented.

DC Abbreviation for Double Cab

DDB Doyle, Dane & Bernbach was the New York advertising firm that conceived and produced the fabulously successful Think Small marketing campaign for Volkswagen of America.  Debuting in 1959, it was the single most successful automobile advertising campaign of all time.  One example was a Beetle in a sea of blank space, with a simple phrase below. 

Dealer Memorabilia Promotional items given away by VW dealers, ranging from key fobs to body badges to lunchboxes.  Highly collectible.

Dealer plate frame Dealer plate frames were added to cars and usually had the name of the dealer and the city on them. Used as free advertising for the dealership.

Decklid Term to describe the engine cover on various VW models
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Delog German OE manufacturer of glass used in VW and other vehicles.  Delog is laminated safety glass and often seen used in windshields.

Dellortos One of the more popular brands of dual carburetors for high performance upgrade of the VW motor.
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Deluxe Term for highest trim level on a bus.  A Standard microbus with the addition of trim strips along the beltline, dash clock, etc.  Deluxes began production in 1951 and were available in both sunroof and non-sunroof models.
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Denzel Austrian coachbuilt sports car. The first Denzel had a hand-built wooden body based a Kubelwagen chassis.  It used the Kubelwagen's 25hp engine and won first place in the 1949 Austrian Alpine Rally. A production prototype was completed in 1951 using an aluminum body on a steel frame chassis and utilizing the Volkswagen suspension and engine. Formal production began in 1953 and ended in 1959 with about 350 total cars produced.  The bodies came from Karosseriefabrik F K Gesellschaft, a Viennese firm that also produced some of the early Porsche bodies. There were 3 models:
Denzel Sport "Seriensuper" with 1281cc 52hp engine
Denzel Sport Super with 1290cc 64hp engine
Denzel Sport International with 1500cc 80hp engine

Devin Devin produced fiberglass cars based on the VW chassis. One was taken from a rare Italian car named Ermini around 1954. Devin also created the all recognizable dune buggy which created a fiberglass craze from the 50s to 70s.

Devon British Camper, Devon Ltd converted a huge amount of Bay Windows to Campers.

Disc Brakes Device for slowing or stopping the rotation of a wheel. Consists of a rotor and brake caliper.  The rotor, usually made of cast iron, is connected to the front or rear axles. Friction material in the form of brake pads in the caliper are forced hydraulically against both sides of the disc. Friction causes the rotor and attached wheel to slow or stop.

Dizzy Slang term for distributor

Doghouse Introduced in the 1971 model year on all upright air-cooled engines, the "doghouse" fan shroud (so called because of the two additional pieces of tin that were added to the front of the shroud to accommodate the new cooler)  provided a more efficient system of cooling the VW engine. The new design re-located the oil cooler (found previously within the shroud, over the number 3 cylinder) by offsetting it away from number three towards the front of the car.  Coupled with a  high volume fan this set up provided more cooling to the VW engine. As a side note, the doghouse fan itself is not interchangeable with non-doghouse shrouds and vice versa.

Dogleg Area of metal on a VW Bus surrounding the front wheel well.  Aka the front wheel arch.
Also see Dogleg - Thin Lip, Dogleg - Fat Lip
dogleg1.jpg (98612 bytes)
Barndoor 3-piece doglegs, note seam on top

Dogleg - Fat Lip Style of Dogleg used on pre-1962 Buses where the lip is thicker, approx. 46 mm high in the center.  Also see Dogleg - Thin Lip

Dogleg - Thin Lip Style of Dogleg used on 62-67 Buses where the lip is thinner, approx. 24 mm high in the center.  Also see Dogleg - Fat Lip

DOKA DOKA is German slang for a DOppel KAbine or double cab pickup

Door Check Rod See check rod
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Door Panel Hardboard, vinyl, cloth (or a combination of one or all of them) that covers the inside of the door in the interior.  Often replaced during a restoration.
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Doppelkabine See Double Cab

Dormobile A large number of third-party, aftermarket camping conversions for various vehicles were made by Martin-Waller, Ltd. of Folkestone, England. In fact, so well-known were these that many people refer to any camping conversion generically as a "Dormobile". 
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Double Cab After realizing the popularity the Binz coach-built truck models had achieved, VW realized the demand and stepped up production of their own double cab model. The official VW Double Cab was similar to the Binz design yet the door was almost half the width, leading to a smaller rear passenger compartment and a slightly longer bed area. Initially Double Cabs had gates made from shortened Single Cab gates until production was ramped up for DC-specific parts. DC's were never available with ribbed bumpers..
doublecab.jpg (33742 bytes)

Double Clutching The action of pressing in the clutch, moving the gearshift to neutral, then pressing it in again to up or downshift once the transmission and engine rpms match up.  Necessary on pre-53 VWs with a crashbox transmission

Double Door Indicates a VW Bus that has cargo doors on both the left and right hand side of the vehicle.  The term "drive-thru" is also used.
doubledoor1.jpg (189283 bytes)

Drews Pronounced "Draivs". Coachbuilt sports car from the early 1950s. They were quite square-looking, with suicide doors. Some have lips above the wheel wells and/or ribbed bumpers. According to an article in the May 2004 issue of VW Trends, 150 were made.

Drive-Thru See double door.

Dropped Beam Front-end that has been modified to allow for lower stance, creating a lowered VW.  Also see adjuster.

Drop Spindles Modified front-end spindle that produces a lower stance for the front of a vehicle

Dub Shortened version of Vee-Dub

Dual-port Refers to the number of individual intake passages into the head.  Dual ports have 2 per head.
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Dumped Slang for lowered.  See also slammed and body-dropped.
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Dune Buggy General term for an off-road VW kit car based on a Beetle chassis.  See Meyers Manx
dunebuggy.jpg (33389 bytes)

Durante Nose Hawaiian slang for a Pope's Nose

Durvit German OE manufacturer of glass used in VW and other vehicles.  Durvit is tempered glass.

DVDA Dual Vacuum Dual Advance . A distributor with both vacuum and mechanical advances but only one vacuum can. It provides vacuum to retard the timing at idle on one vacuum line for emissions reasons and vacuum to advance the timing when driving on the other vacuum line. These were paired with the 34 Pict-3 carburetor stock for select 1971-1974 vehicles. See SVDA

Dwell Dwell refers to the length of time, in distributor shaft rotational degrees, that the breaker points were closed and the ignition coil was being charged with electricity. The coil sends voltage to the spark plugs when the points open and the dwell period ends. 
For example in a 4-cylinder VW engine it might be 50° (Spark fires at 90° intervals, points are closed for 50° between each firing)

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