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Fri Apr 01, 2011 2:17 pm

derluftwagen wrote: Is there an echo in here?

Thanks for the confirmation :wink:

Hey, great minds think alike. :D

Sat Apr 02, 2011 1:49 pm

L 259 Pelican Red ?

Sat Apr 02, 2011 5:20 pm

derluftwagen wrote: L 259 Pelican Red ?

I have that issue!! I think inca!

Sat Apr 02, 2011 7:54 pm

non metallic

Sun Apr 03, 2011 5:25 pm

Sun Apr 03, 2011 8:42 pm

1959 Gute Fahrt Magazine with an article on Karmann factory production concerning beetle Kabrioletts
ANY ONE SPEAK GERMAN WHO COULD TRANSLATE THIS ARTICLE???

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Tue Apr 05, 2011 2:11 pm

Caption above the photo of the pans states that they are only a months worth of production.

There are around 160 chassis there pretty low production numbers. There must be a few more of those lots around the plant.

And it seems Karmann continued to receive partial bodies into the late 50s as well. You can see the addition to the rear quarter as they roller weld the top of the panels.

This is confusing as Ive seen NOS convertible rear quarter panels for sale. The one in particular that I am thinking of is the 54 ribbed quarter that was for sale FOR EVER but is no longer listed.

Did Karmann ever make complete panels (front and rear using vw sheet metal and the Karmann only pieces) and assemble complete bodies?

I thought they started in 56 with the new body style and Karmann doors, but I stand corrected.

Here are some late ones

http://www.thesamba.com/vw/classifieds/detail.php?id=563581

67/74 bug convertible lt. 1/4 panel NOS Price: $1000
67 bug convertible left 1/4 panel pt#151809081F i am not sure what years it fits my interchange manual says it fits up to 74 it is NOS

http://www.thesamba.com/vw/classifieds/detail.php?id=430978

NOS convertible rear quarter Price: $300 obo
This is a barn find! It is a NOS rear quarter for a convertible. I believe that it is pre-67, but am not 100% sure on it. It has been stored for many years. The pictures show it all. This is in excellent condition. As with anything this old, it does require some work to make it perfect. There are no major problems with it. I am asking $300 obo.

http://www.thesamba.com/vw/classifieds/detail.php?id=557977

67/74 bug convt. lt.1/4 panel sect. NOS Price: $500
67 bug convertible left 1/4 panel front section pt#151809081F it mat also fit up to 1974 there is some very light surface rust from storage NOS

Here is a late 56-69 NOS vert door which seems to be one piece with no lead (rust everywhere).

http://www.thesamba.com/vw/classifieds/detail.php?id=874368

Nos vert driver side door from old stock
with SURFACE rust must be right for 55-59 mod

What about doors? Did Karmann cut down any 56 and later doors too?

According to this chart the rear quarters look one piece. It also seems there are enough kab specific parts that getting sedans and having to cut them up that much seems like a lot of work.

Fri Apr 08, 2011 11:35 am

I just checked my doors and quarters for seams. Rear quarters outers are definitely modified sedan. The inner panel is a vert stamped piece which seems to include the corner and top of the panel itself.

The doors are also hybrid with the inner door a modified sedan, the outer door seems to be one stamped piece.

Are ribbed doors the same with the stamped one piece outer shell?

Fri Apr 22, 2011 2:33 pm

I was only recently directed to this post. Pretty interesting information. I dont see mention to the convertible doors unless I missed it during the fast scan. I hope to read it more detailed later. The information seems to stop at OVAL era. I know this is the correct forum for this, but does anyone have information on the changes after those years. Specifically post 1960 through 67. Did the same process continue until the end of production in 79? what about the Supers?

Fri Apr 22, 2011 2:39 pm

VOLKSWAGNUT wrote: I was only recently directed to this post. Pretty interesting information. I dont see mention to the convertible doors unless I missed it during the fast scan. I hope to read it more detailed later. The information seems to stop at OVAL era. I know this is the correct forum for this, but does anyone have information on the changes after those years. Specifically post 1960 through 67. Did the same process continue until the end of production in 79? what about the Supers? the factory article I posted is 58-59 , post oval and lots of pics from early 60s including ghias and porsches

Sat Apr 30, 2011 10:58 am

Body numbers.

Karmann used its own body number system. While sedans stopped in 58 Karmann continued to use a body number at least until 67 (anyone have a 68-79 vert with a body number?). Early verts had it below the vin plate while later verts had it above the jack clamp on the passenger side.

I saw this photo today that had the number BEHIND the vin plate

Here is a new one for me.

MDKG wrote:

All other stamped body numbers are above the jack clamp on the passenger side. Anyone else have this stamp location?

1961

1967

According to PR the body number was dropped for 151 as well as other models in Aug 59 but obviously this is incorrect. For sedans maybe but not verts

After thinking some more about it, looks like I figured out the Karmann body numbering system. If you have the old style number, that number is sequential from the beginning of production!

example : If your body number is 47127 that means your car is the 47127th kabriolett made. Its that simple.

47935 looks to be the last old body number made on Aug 6th 1958. If I am correct the first vert produced after that car should have the body number "1" stamped behind the vin plate. Also noticing that there are 3 and 4 digit numbers, I think the numbers restarted at the beginning of the "official" model year change.

To validate my theory I need someone with a 5 digit body number to post a pic. To disprove, I need a body number higher than total number of cars produced by model year.

Sat Apr 30, 2011 7:53 pm

Do I understand your theories correctly, that the Karmann stamped number would essentially start at #1 at the beginning of each production year of the Beetle convertibles. In other words ever 1st car produced in a given year after the 1958 model year, would be stamped with #1, and sequentially go up until the end of that production year? This theory sounds plausible.

Sat Apr 30, 2011 8:22 pm

Sun May 01, 2011 7:05 am

From the 60-64 convertible post

guteandtite wrote: VOLKSWAGNUT wrote: Do I understand your theories correctly, that the Karmann stamped number would essentially start at #1 at the beginning of each production year of the Beetle convertibles. In other words ever 1st car produced in a given year after the 1958 model year, would be stamped with #1, and sequentially go up until the end of that production year? This theory sounds plausible.

in theory yes! but ive never seen one below 3 numbers, so they may have started the sequence at something higher than 0, say 100 for sake of 3 numbers, would be pretty cool to have a car stamped 1, but im sure that vw would have kept them for their executives or something

The Hunt is now on for the stamped numbers.

derluftwagen maybe post your theory here too http://www.thesamba.com/vw/forum/viewtopic.php?t=420451&highlight=

Wed Nov 23, 2011 8:34 am

Speaking about a 5 digit karmann number mine is 41971. The car was built mid desember 1957 with vin nr. 17572**. So I would definitly say that your (derluftwagen) theory is plausible!!

Will post pictures later on..

Another question I have is what does VW 1/15 mean?

Wed Nov 23, 2011 1:40 pm

korfitts wrote: Speaking about a 5 digit karmann number mine is 41971. The car was built mid desember 1957 with vin nr. 17572**. So I would definitly say that your (derluftwagen) theory is plausible!!

Will post pictures later on..

Another question I have is what does VW 1/15 mean?

It seems all 57 and earlier karmann verts (except mine and a few others) had 5 digit body numbers with the 15 prefix.

The 5 digit body number I am looking for is for 59 and later cars. The hunt continues.

15 or 1/15 is the vert only model number

Fri Jun 08, 2012 12:00 pm

Just had to add this sweet police vert pic

some vert panels on the right

Tue Jul 10, 2012 5:18 pm

a few more

I guess the only karmann type III

Sun Nov 25, 2012 2:41 am

AlteWagen wrote: korfitts wrote: Speaking about a 5 digit karmann number mine is 41971. The car was built mid desember 1957 with vin nr. 17572**. So I would definitly say that your (derluftwagen) theory is plausible!!

Will post pictures later on..

Another question I have is what does VW 1/15 mean?

It seems all 57 and earlier karmann verts (except mine and a few others) had 5 digit body numbers with the 15 prefix.

The 5 digit body number I am looking for is for 59 and later cars. The hunt continues.

15 or 1/15 is the vert only model number

Hey guys, I have a problem with the identification of my vert body number. My VIN number is 1 411 479 - prduction 21 January 1957 and I thinking that body number should be between 15-33985 and 15-41971. Maybe someone has a vert from January 57 oraz december 56 and can write body number.
Cheers

Sun Nov 25, 2012 11:35 am

why is there a problem with your body number? Karmann stamped their own numbers so time frames may not be exact.

Sedans are known to have body numbers off a month or so.

here is another registry with body numbers listed, go to the bottom and look under Karmann

http://www.thesamba.com/vw/archives/registry/

Another thing to consider is that if there was a replacement clip installed at some time the original number may be gone.

Post some pics