TheSamba.com :: View topic - 56 ragtop rear corners supposed to be rounded or square?

Sat Jan 19, 2008 5:49 pm

When I replaced my sunroof cover a while back someone told me that the rear corners where supposed to be square instead of being rounded like a 57+. I recently looked at some 56 ragtops and they were all rounded in the back. Does anyone know for sure which is correct?

Sat Jan 19, 2008 5:54 pm

Model year '56 had the one-year-only square corners in the rear.

Sat Jan 19, 2008 6:14 pm

Early '56 had the square corners. It was changed mid year,like the taillights on '55 beetles :wink:

Sat Jan 19, 2008 8:16 pm

Hi,

In 1956 there were 3 sunroof styles.

In August 1955 at chassis # 1 0929 746 the 3 fold 4 square cornered sunroof was replaced with a newer two fold roof.
The front corners were rounded and the rear corners were square.

In November 1955 at chassis # 1 024 647 The mechanism changed but the rounded front and square rears were also on this version. This new mechanism did not retrofit into the earlier roof.

In May 1956 at chassis # 1 181 041 the sunroof had multiple changes made to it, the most visible was 4 rounded corners. This continued to the end of the 1963 USA version and much longer on European versions.

Dave

Sat Jan 19, 2008 9:50 pm

dave ,
which change coincided with plastic runners ??

Sun Jan 20, 2008 5:29 am

ian c wrote: dave ,
which change coincided with plastic runners ??

Hi,

The first change in August 55 put nylon rollers on the sliding segment. Previously it was pieces of leather.

Dave

Sun Jan 20, 2008 9:30 am

what changed to mech in november ?

Sun Jan 20, 2008 4:14 pm

ian c wrote: what changed to mech in november ?

They made some changes in the design of the track and the head piece.

Keep in mind they only made 94,900 of these bugs world wide. Only a small percentage of these bugs had a sunroof, Figure 80% (a complete guess here) or better are crushed, crashed, rusted or some other way destroyed that leaves probably less than 20,000 left world wide, a small percentage of these have sunroofs. I really haven't any idea how many are left, just guessing it is precious few. Most of us will probably never see one of these August 55 tops in our lifetime.

Because of the changes in the November mechanism the sunroof cover needed to be a little bit longer than the earlier version put on in August.

Also the cover for the August roof was still made of canvas.
That was changed in November to the Vinyl type of cover for the Deluxe.

The big changes for the four rounded corners were on how you adjusted the tension of the cover with slots in the roof enabling you to move it forward or back.

Dave

Mon Sep 01, 2008 4:47 pm

djkeev wrote: Hi,

In 1956 there were 3 sunroof styles.

In August 1955 at chassis # 1 0929 746 the 3 fold 4 square cornered sunroof was replaced with a newer two fold roof.
The front corners were rounded and the rear corners were square.

In November 1955 at chassis # 1 024 647 The mechanism changed but the rounded front and square rears were also on this version. This new mechanism did not retrofit into the earlier roof.

In May 1956 at chassis # 1 181 041 the sunroof had multiple changes made to it, the most visible was 4 rounded corners. This continued to the end of the 1963 USA version and much longer on European versions.

Dave
My sunroof is (ser # 1 102 38XX) so I presume that the roof that goes into it is a 3 fold type ragtop? How can I be sure it is for a 3 fold ragtop. Any measurement? How can I determine that it is not a grafted ragtop...
Claude

Mon Sep 01, 2008 5:03 pm

vwclap wrote: djkeev wrote: Hi,

In 1956 there were 3 sunroof styles.

In August 1955 at chassis # 1 0929 746 the 3 fold 4 square cornered sunroof was replaced with a newer two fold roof.
The front corners were rounded and the rear corners were square.

In November 1955 at chassis # 1 024 647 The mechanism changed but the rounded front and square rears were also on this version. This new mechanism did not retrofit into the earlier roof.

In May 1956 at chassis # 1 181 041 the sunroof had multiple changes made to it, the most visible was 4 rounded corners. This continued to the end of the 1963 USA version and much longer on European versions.

Dave
My sunroof is (ser # 1 102 38XX) so I presume that the roof that goes into it is a 3 fold type ragtop? How can I be sure it is for a 3 fold ragtop. Any measurement? How can I determine that it is not a grafted ragtop...
Claude
Is there 7 or 8 digits in the serial number in 56? The achive section tell 7?
Claude

Mon Sep 01, 2008 10:41 pm

vwclap wrote: My sunroof is (ser # 1 102 38XX) so I presume that the roof that goes into it is a 3 fold type ragtop? How can I be sure it is for a 3 fold ragtop. Any measurement? How can I determine that it is not a grafted ragtop...
Claude

Look at the Aluminum rails that are attached to the roof. How many screws are used to hold down that Aluminum rail? If it only uses 5 screws, you have a 2-fold sunroof.

Fri Nov 07, 2008 8:49 am

djkeev wrote:
Keep in mind they only made 94,900 of these bugs world wide. Only a small percentage of these bugs had a sunroof, Figure 80% (a complete guess here) or better are crushed, crashed, rusted or some other way destroyed that leaves probably less than 20,000 left world wide, a small percentage of these have sunroofs. I really haven't any idea how many are left, just guessing it is precious few. Most of us will probably never see one of these August 55 tops in our lifetime.
Dave

I have one! :wink:

Tue Feb 03, 2009 11:00 pm

thanks for the answers dave .

i think mine is one of the august 55 roofs ,
i can take a measure of the aperture to tell ?
i can take pics and post them on here if you can help ??

its time to order a new roof outer cover for it :roll:

i'm looking on wolfsburg west site , and they have 2 different kinds of material available in black , round front/square back .
any advice on this guys ??

http://www.wolfsburgwest.com/cart/ShowCart.cfm?1053118685

thanks
ian

.

Wed Feb 04, 2009 1:28 am

I'm in the process of moving house guys but once settled I'll get some pics of my August '55 ragtop roof section and post them on here. :wink:

Wed Mar 04, 2009 12:01 am

heres the latest .
after going to look at my car ,
i found it has rounded corners front and rear .
and it has the earlier "ribbed" handle .

Thu Jun 04, 2009 8:46 pm

Maybe this thread is played out. or not, either way here is a pic of my Aug 55 2 fold ragtop. vin 1-0949815

Sat Jun 06, 2009 1:58 am

carnut63 wrote: Maybe this thread is played out. or not, either way here is a pic of my Aug 55 2 fold ragtop. vin 1-0949815

Is that what the original iron slat(tension plate) looks like on a 56? I thought it was the same as the 3 fold one. Does anyone have dimensions of this slat so i can make one.

Sun Jun 07, 2009 1:05 pm

newwaver wrote: Is that what the original iron slat(tension plate) looks like on a 56? I thought it was the same as the 3 fold one. Does anyone have dimensions of this slat so i can make one.

That appears to be a later 56 -> front header bow. Three fold bows are square at the front like this:

If you need a front bow, just cruise the classifieds:
http://www.thesamba.com/vw/classifieds/search.php?...ton=Search

Mon Jun 08, 2009 11:02 am

No sorry i was talking about the rear slat iron that bolts through the roof into capsulated nuts, my ragtop came with a later studed round corner slat and someone butchered the capsulated nuts to fit it!

Mon Jun 08, 2009 6:37 pm

Sorry, I would take some measurements but I left the military decided to deploy me so i wont be back for a long...long....time...