TheSamba.com :: View topic

Tue Aug 15, 2006 10:44 pm

Neither did I , I was asking for a picture of the semaphore "MADE IN" 1962.

Tue Aug 15, 2006 11:00 pm

Suboval wrote: When did semaphores end in the European VW market?

1960 model year was the last year for semaphore equipped VWs

Wed Aug 16, 2006 5:32 pm

And only through February, I believe.

Wed Aug 16, 2006 8:08 pm

twinwindowsJHC wrote: Neither did I , I was asking for a picture of the semaphore "MADE IN" 1962.

So they stopped making them at the same time they stopped installing them? Or did they keep making them, in case someone needed a new one?

Thu Aug 17, 2006 8:12 am

I'm sure they made them well past the end of production date for the cars. Remember SWF and SHO were both independant suppliers who sold similar parts, and there were a large number of semaphore equipped VWs on the road in 1960.

I spent 12 years doing support and obsolesence planning. Beleive me, you don't just drop all parts stock just because you stop using something production.

Thu Aug 17, 2006 10:55 am

General rule for car companies is to provide spare parts for about 10 years after its last production use, some say the federal law here in the US is actually 7. This was a huge issue at one time when Delorean went under in the 70's, and there was alot of controversy on who would make the parts for 7 years.

But discontinuing parts/planning during earlier times though was more of an art than a science it may be today. For VW it was likely striking a keen balance between ensuring a spare parts supply that would not alienate past customers, but making sure money was being made on spare parts sales. Life expectancy of these cars factors in heavily too, which was likely very short since these were ultra economy cars, and at some point it was going to cost VW more money to manage the parts than what they could make on them or write them off for, very dangerous to an economy car maker.

Would anyone know here for sure how long semaphores were made? Highly doubt it. My guess is the earliest (grooved/ribbed) styles weren't made any later than the mid 50's, while the later styles were likely made for a few years longer than their production use, just past the mid 60's maybe, and thats likely due to the fact that European market owners held onto their cars alot longer. Given that folks were still coming up with boxes full of later style NOS semaphores up through the mid 90's, my guess is that just a few volume orders in very economical order quantities were produced by the suppliers.

Thu Aug 17, 2006 11:40 am

Brezelwerks wrote:
My guess is the earliest (grooved/ribbed) styles weren't made any later than the mid 50's,
My bet is that they stopped making grooved/ribbed semaphores right when they switched to smooth semaphores in production. VW didn't care about originality, so when you took your spit dash split into the dealer for a new semaphore in 1954, they sold you a smooth semaphore because it fit perfectly.

Sat Aug 19, 2006 6:52 am

Very good point Bruce. Semphores are fairly reliable electromagnetic things though, other than the lenses over time, so it would be interesting to know what the dealers did if a guy with a split came in with a damaged semaphore in 54-55, if it was just a broken lense did they swap out the whole semaphore, or just swap the lense, seems a waste if the thing functioned well to toss out the whole thing, folks tended to fix things during those times rather than tossing out whole assemblies. Or, did they simply just swap it out for a smooth semaphore?

Seems if they did that then likely they did it in new pairs to assure an even match, since you couldn't swap the semaphore covers (which matched the car color), and from what I recall the replacement semaphores were black. I tend to be persuaded that folks of that era took enough pride in these cars and cared just enough to assure an even looking set were installed on the car. This topic came up a few years back on the kabriolett.com forum and someone knew the details on the dealer policy/warranty.

Tue Aug 29, 2006 7:17 am

I have a set of SWF semaphores with part # L143.001-2 and a "KB" stamped near the top of the semaphore. Am I to assume that these are October 1950 SWF split bug semaphores?

i thank you in advance for your help, trying to get the right semaphores on my car.

Tue Aug 29, 2006 10:37 pm

slammedsplit wrote: I have a set of SWF semaphores with part # L143.001-2 and a "KB" stamped near the top of the semaphore. Am I to assume that these are October 1950 SWF split bug semaphores?

As long as the outer face of the arm isn't smooth, Oct '50 is a safe bet.

Wed Aug 30, 2006 4:47 pm

correct SWF semaphores for a split bug?????

Wed Aug 30, 2006 11:10 pm

slammedsplit wrote:

correct SWF semaphores for a split bug?????

Yes. The "KB" is clearly stamped, so they're definitely Oct '50.

Fri Apr 04, 2008 2:34 pm

janerick3 wrote: SHO date codes are stamped on the back, on both sides of the locking tab with two sets of numbers; year (last one or two digits) followed by month (also last one or two digits).
Bruce wrote: 8/8 ----111 953 021C SHO, matched pair--[Aug 58]
4/12---111 953 021A SHO ----------------- [Dec 54]
2/60---111 953 021E SHO ----------------- [Feb 60]
5/62---111 953 021E SHO ------------------[May 62]
11/9---111 953 021E SHO ------------------[Nov 59]
4/6 ----L143.001.2 --SHO, matched pair.-[Jun 54]
OK, I am a bit confuzzled. If the sequence is "Year / Month", then "2/60", "5/62" and "11/9" do not fit the sequence.

My semaphores are:
4/6 111 953 021A
9/6 111 953 021C
8/9 111 953 021E
11/6 111 953 021E
5/8 111 953 021A
5/7 111 953 021C
5/7 111 953 021C

Again "11/6" does not fit the sequence. Is it possible that the 111 953 021E series semphores switched to Month / Year ?? Or is there some other VW-ism going on?

Fri Apr 04, 2008 9:36 pm

Volumex wrote: janerick3 wrote: SHO date codes are stamped on the back, on both sides of the locking tab with two sets of numbers; year (last one or two digits) followed by month (also last one or two digits).
Bruce wrote: 8/8 ----111 953 021C SHO, matched pair--[Aug 58]
4/12---111 953 021A SHO ----------------- [Dec 54]
2/60---111 953 021E SHO ----------------- [Feb 60]
5/62---111 953 021E SHO ------------------[May 62]
11/9---111 953 021E SHO ------------------[Nov 59]
4/6 ----L143.001.2 --SHO, matched pair.-[Jun 54]
OK, I am a bit confuzzled. If the sequence is "Year / Month", then "2/60", "5/62" and "11/9" do not fit the sequence.

My semaphores are:
4/6 111 953 021A
9/6 111 953 021C
8/9 111 953 021E
11/6 111 953 021E
5/8 111 953 021A
5/7 111 953 021C
5/7 111 953 021C

Again "11/6" does not fit the sequence. Is it possible that the 111 953 021E series semphores switched to Month / Year ?? Or is there some other VW-ism going on?

It looks like the month and year codes were reversed between 1955 and 1956. However, since the 11/6 111 953 021E doesn't fit either sequence; I'm guessing either the last digit of the year code is poorly stamped or the "9" (1959) was accidently stamped upside-down.

Wed Dec 31, 2008 6:29 pm

a57oval wrote: Hi guys, In one of the threads I read on the Samba someone mentioned that semaphores are date coded. I was unaware of this. Where is this info on the semaphore? I looked over a used pair and an NOS pair I have and couldn't find anything. Thanks for your help,
Peter

I have a VW Barndoor 1953 and I need de semaphores, a pair.
¿Where I get it?

Happy new year for all

Thanks
Jorgemico

Wed Dec 31, 2008 9:39 pm

twinwindows wrote: Neither did I , I was asking for a picture of the semaphore "MADE IN" 1962.

Sorry to disappoint, but I could not find a 1962 semaphore, however, I did find these. They are all the HS brand.

.........and it is HS not SHO......

Wed Dec 31, 2008 11:56 pm

IN2VWS wrote: twinwindows wrote: Neither did I , I was asking for a picture of the semaphore "MADE IN" 1962.

Sorry to disappoint, but I could not find a 1962 semaphore, however, I did find these. They are all the HS brand.

.........and it is HS not SHO......

Thank you for posting these pix! It proves that I wasn't smoking something funny when I stated earlier in this thread that semaphores were produced at least through 1968... and many of us know "SHO" is really HS; it's just that years ago an article on semaphores appeared in one of the US VW mass-market or club magazines, where the author assumed the logo on the non-SWF semaphores translated into "SHO" and the "name" stuck.

Mon Oct 26, 2015 4:10 pm

Resurrecting and old thread, as I have come across a weird set of SHO (HS) semaphores:

What are the dates on these? If you follow the standard analysis you'd come up with Dec '55 (top) and Jun '52 (bottom). But look at the part numbers? VW wasn't using the "3x3" numbering scheme until late '53 I think, certainly not in '52???

Did I read somewhere that at some point the digits meaning reversed? SO could the bottom one be Feb '56? If so, that would mean the reverse occurred between Dec '55 and Feb '56?

Mon Oct 26, 2015 11:18 pm

I just got this one. A SWF Sem.
I can not find any date on it.
Should there be one? Where?

Tue Oct 27, 2015 9:08 am

Found it by myself.
G E
That makes it an early oval semaphore.
July 1953