TheSamba.com :: View topic - 1961 One-Year-Onlies...

Tue Oct 16, 2007 4:14 pm

COTC lists these steering wheel/column/handbrake colours in 1961

021 Hydrate Green for body colours (up through Feb.) L380 Turquiose and Ll391 Pastel Blue.

020 Basalt Gray for body colours L41 Black, L456 Ruby Red, L360 Gulf Blue, and (after March) L380 Turquiose and Ll391 Pastel Blue.

023 Sand Stone for L87 Pearl White cars

022 Nepal Green for L478 Beryl Green cars.

It doesn't talk about any convertible-only color schemes in 61 though.

Thu Oct 25, 2007 5:22 am

Hello All, Restoring my Beryl Green bug(early 1961...Nov.1960), as close to original as possible, and am going thru the "finding the correct parts" phase also! Anybody know if these colored steering wheels were molded in color, or painted?
New to the forum, and am surprised to see so many San Diegans on this thread. I lived just across from Kearney Mesa HS for 2 years(just moved to Point Loma) and didn't see hardly any other old bugs at all! Nice to see that I'm not the only one in the area with a '61. :D

Thu Oct 25, 2007 7:55 am

ruzlkampf wrote: Anybody know if these colored steering wheels were molded in color, or painted?

I think it's paint. Here's a closeup of the wear on on the unrestored gray wheel that came out of my old Ruby Red 61, you can see the color layer is not very thick, the base layer is some brown/tan color:

Thu Oct 25, 2007 12:37 pm

Man,all of these "experts" failed to mention the '61 only bulb diffusers and lenses on the '61 taillights;'61 diffusers are "fish egg" style,'57-'60 has horisontal lines,and late '55-'56 are smooth. As for the glass lense,it should have two part #'s along each side of the lense opposed to the '57-'60 which had just the one set of #'s on the bottom. :roll:

Fri Oct 26, 2007 1:49 am

Hey Thanks, Glutamodo! I have never seen another real '61 steering wheel to compare mine to. Mine doesn't have the Nepal Green wheel/column(it's ivory) and I'm not sure if mine are original. Anybody know if all Beryl Green(or the blue/turquoise) bugs ALL had colored wheels? Maybe ivory was an option? Do "61's have a unique steering column also? Splines unique? I read your gallery, and that answered my question about the horn set-up.
Reason for asking; Bug is gutted, and being painted this week. Will have the column/wheel out for repainting. Want to put a '62/later wheel on the car until my original wheel is restored. Possible? Should I go with a later column? I don't have a known '61 set-up to compare to. :shock:
Anybody know the detail differences? Your knowledge would be much appreciated! Thanks.

Fri Oct 26, 2007 5:14 am

Quote: Anybody know if all Beryl Green(or the blue/turquoise) bugs ALL had colored wheels?

I don't know if they all did...But, I know my Beryl green 61 had an Olive green colored Steeering wheel(Must have been Nepal)

Sat Oct 27, 2007 1:36 am

Hey All !, Kick boards under rear seat(1st year installed) had no heater hole. Also, my bug is an early "61 and has no vent for the oil filler to carb. Don't think this oil filler is a 36hp part, as they have a bracket to fit integral generator stand and this fits 40hp motor. Anybody know for sure? I'm running a later vented setup right now, cause crankcase pressure blows oil thru front seal with original non-vented.
Thanks for the info malley56, all I can find on interior/steering wheel color combos is; "New for 1961, color matched interiors". Were colored steering wheels unique to 1961 also? I don't ever recall seeing multicolored wheels on 62"s, only black/ivory. Also, colored rubber mats and running boards seem to be unique for '61's.

Sat Oct 27, 2007 8:59 am

ruzlkampf wrote: Hey All !, Kick boards under rear seat(1st year installed) had no heater hole.

Actually '60 model was the first year. :wink:

Sat Oct 27, 2007 5:07 pm

Hey Scotty, I'm just north of you in Vista. I've got a very nice 61 only brake fluid tank thats yours for free if you want to stop by and pick it up.
It even comes with the hard to find green brake hose.
Chris

Sun Oct 28, 2007 8:34 pm

glutamodo wrote: What is the chassis number? The front hood went from 4-tab to the early 3-post midway through the year, at chassis number 3 551 045.

The turn signal switch is mechanically the same for 1960 and 1961, but in 1961 they went to push-on spade terminals for the first time instead of screw-terminals. They both have 6 wires as the switch sends a combined signal to the rear for the brake lights and the rear turn signals.

The steering wheel's horn setup is a bit more primitive, with three spring loaded brass pins under the horn ring that make the contact. The horn ring itself is shaped a bit different too, although I've seen later rings on there and be made to work.

I gotta run so I'll let others add to this discussion...

-Andy

That is crazy, because if you are correct, I own the very last 4 tab hood bug, my 61 ragtop is chassis number 3 551 044.

Sun Oct 28, 2007 9:08 pm

Cool! Well, it had to end up somewhere! \:D/

Mon Oct 29, 2007 7:23 pm

c.davis419 wrote: Hey Scotty, I'm just north of you in Vista. I've got a very nice 61 only brake fluid tank thats yours for free if you want to stop by and pick it up.

Calling that reservoir a 61-only, that's incorrect as well, the rubber-cap reservoir didn't change to the screw-cap style until September 18,1962, a few days into the 1963 model year.

Sat Nov 03, 2007 7:58 pm

Just in case you all hadn't seen this one:
http://www.wolfsburgwest.com/cart/DetailsList.cfm?ID=111955993WW&AD=Wired_11_07

Sun Nov 04, 2007 1:42 am

ruzlkampf wrote: Hello All, Restoring my Beryl Green bug(early 1961...Nov.1960), as close to original as possible, and am going thru the "finding the correct parts" phase also! Anybody know if these colored steering wheels were molded in color, or painted?
New to the forum, and am surprised to see so many San Diegans on this thread. I lived just across from Kearney Mesa HS for 2 years(just moved to Point Loma) and didn't see hardly any other old bugs at all! Nice to see that I'm not the only one in the area with a '61. :D

Also a '61 owner in San Diego (San Marcos), and I bought it in the Clairemont area. Bummer is, mine is a black model. So it did not come with any of the fancy color matched items.

I thought 4 tabs ended in early '60, not '61?

Sun Nov 04, 2007 11:56 am

ive got a pearl white 61 with hydrate green bits, the seats were replaced with leatherette at the dealer so they weren't... ebrake and shifter have been changed along the way and the steering column is sand stone.

Tue Apr 22, 2008 2:36 am

glutamodo wrote: I vaguely remember my first VW, a 61, having that teardrop shaped nozzle on it. Looking around the classifieds I found this one for sale, this is how I remember mine looking like, look at this listing:

http://www.thesamba.com/vw/classifieds/detail.php?id=232144

and I think I've seen one or two like this one before, in chrome

my '62 beryl green ragtop has this nozzle, so also on a '62. Furthermore it has; a color matching gearlever, handbrake lever but an ivory colored steering wheel with lock. I know, it's not 61, but is this an original feature? The horn ring also has notches (so not only 61)

(testfitting my recently restored Akkord Autotransistor)

Tue Apr 22, 2008 2:59 am

Part numbers are different on the steering wheel from '61 and '62. And no the '61 wheel is not one year only either, it shares it with 1960.

Tue Apr 22, 2008 12:03 pm

I know that some of the color matching of the ebrake and shifter ended in about Feb 61. Only a 6 month or so deal.
I did the research a while back to sell a hydrate set that I had. I found the info here on The Samba, in the tech section.

Tue Apr 22, 2008 3:00 pm

What happened in Feb 61 was they dropped the green/blue keyed interior colors. What they switched to was Basalt Gray and Rock Gray, differenent 1961 colors that were already on use on the L41 Black models. It only affected car colors L380 Turquoise and L391 Pastel Blue. In 1962, L391 was no longer an offered body color, but L41 and L380 carried on, but both of them used different 1962 interior color schemes.

Tue Apr 22, 2008 3:11 pm

iamtheredworm wrote: RareAir wrote: scottyhoffo wrote: I have the correct steering wheel, but what about color? The BC says "radscheibe" but that means "wheel disk"... my wheel is painted what appears to be the original L390 golfblau.

Your steering wheel is painted L390 Gulf Blue? Hmmm :? I thought only convertibles were equipped with color-matched steering wheels.

Irish bugs did.
heres mine colour coded steerng wheel,gearstick plus handbrake.

and you can just make out the clover in the top corner.

the us did to

it was a 5 month only thing i know of 2 cars in az this way

i have the shifter ebrake and stering wheel out of one