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Sat May 21, 2011 3:28 am

I have looked at various sites and books along with The Samba to try and find the right paint combinations for my 1954 Light Beige Ovals' wheels; can anyone give me a definative answer about the correct colors used.

The outer rim appears to be a light color like silver beige or pearl white and the centre is probably Copper Red (L251). If you know the correct codes then please let me know.

Next question - The backs of all wheels look to be originaly black with only the outer side detailed with color - is this how they were finished from VW?

Thank you.

Phillmore

Sun May 22, 2011 1:18 am

I ended up painting my inners Sealing Wax red after a very, very long search of L251 Copper red.
Some say you should add a little of bodycolor in SWR to get the correct tint. Never tried that though.
Outer rim is painted in bodycolor Light Beige.
The rest of the rim is all black indeed. And yes, it is high gloss paint.
http://www.thesamba.com/vw/forum/viewtopic.php?t=1...p;start=20
The vw logo on the hubcap is also painted Light Beige, not SWR, according to an old vw 1954 promotion film.

Sun May 22, 2011 7:00 am

Thank you for giving me more information to work with. It will certainly be cheaper for me to use the same paint for the wheel rims as I will be using to paint some of the other replacement panels and I believe I have some sealing wax red left over from a previous splitty restoration. I will try to locate the copper red L251 before taking the easy option though.

I think it's difficult to argue against unrestored wheel examples and those I have seen confirm the combinations of Light Beige and Copper Red, but Bob Wilson and James Richardson say L87 Pearl White outer rims on export model deluxe Ovals with Light Beige body; neither book gives a color for the inner rim or hub cap.

On a DVD I have, it does show an early oval (with hear tail lights) with red VW lettering on the hub caps.

The confirmation you give of black for the wheel and that it shouuld be gloss finish has also been of great help.

Kind regards.

Phillmore

Tue May 24, 2011 6:25 am

If you manage to find the code for copper red, it would be very welcomed to share it !!
Thanks and succes!

Sun May 29, 2011 11:02 pm

Please post some pics when finished.

Mon May 30, 2011 6:09 am

I will, but it will be a few weeks. Im hoping to buy more hub cap clips and rivets this weekend and get the wheels to a blasting company soon. I haven't located copper red paint yet but have not tried all sources so will persevere. Tyres are waiting to be fitted but the rest of the car has a great deal of work to make it roadworthy.

Keep watching but give me a while.

Phillmore

Mon May 30, 2011 8:15 am

I looked forever for L 251 copper red! :?
Glasurit has no formula for this color anymore
i ended up having my painter mix up a custom mix based on the original wheel color

Mon May 30, 2011 1:35 pm

That is such a gorgeous car, ain't it!

Mon May 30, 2011 2:43 pm

That sure is a stunning looking oval and I guess it's what mine should look like. Tomorrow I will make a couple of phone calls to company's that have mixed paint for me in the past - one of which has been in the paint trade since the 60's. Failing all else the next option is to do as someone else suggested and add a little black to sealing wax red and see how the mix turns out.
Seeing the body color with the copper red has confrmed what I thought would be right for the year but also what looks great on the light beige oval.

Here is mine with 66 bug wheels holding it off the floor whilst I do the work on the original wheels.

Thanks for the photo.

Phillmore.

Tue May 31, 2011 1:25 am

This is the state mine is in. I'm still waiting to get it upholstered in August.
Currently working on my 6.1 comp. engine in search of dished pistons.

Phillmore, you can try add bodycolor in SWR too, maybe then it's more orange-colored in stead of the rubyred 1953 tint, wich is a much darker color.

Tue May 31, 2011 2:38 am

Hi piet&som

Now that is inspirational - it looks perfect! I will try the body color blend as you suggested. What color and material interior are you going for? There are traces of Brown vinyl in mine on the door pillars, but I was lucky enough to buy a whole interior in dark red which is too good to re-do at the present time (it has the wrong colored piping - white). Although my photo looks a little more yellow I can say that the color is the same light beige as yours.

Hope to see the car in the flesh one day!

Thanks again.

Phillmore

Sat Jun 04, 2011 1:17 am

Thanks! I'm going for the beige-brown cloth with dark brown piping 'cause the car came with it original and a beige headliner.
I tried to mix some SWR with light beige yesterday out of curiousity. It didn't work out the way I expected it to look. It turned out a lila-violet like tint. Way off! So no good.
Here's a pic of the SWR center, but I guess colors can differ from suppliers. Still working on tyres to put on.

Sun Jun 05, 2011 11:04 am

The wheel looks superb with SWR and thanks for advising against adding L275. I bumped into a man today who is without question a fantastic VW restorer, and was disgussing the copper red issue - he has a friend with a collection of paint chips and will ask about the copper red color, but did suggest that he may not have formulas for the codes shown on the chips; it's worth a go trying.
My wheels should be ready in gloss black at the end of the week but a little wait for the hub cap clips from a reliable supplier here in the UK. I managed to buy a few parts for the 54 today: arm rest, bonnet badge, headlamp bulb holder and collected a Hazet toolbox from a guy which I had bought the toolbox from previously.
The tyres for the oval are quite expensive over here and cost me over £600.00 for the 5 with tubes, delivery and VAT but they are Firestone crossply's without whitewalls (typical UK preference). What are you looking for?

Sun Jun 05, 2011 11:49 am

Congrats on the Hazet toolbox. It has some very handy tools in it like the elbow/knee wrench!
About tyres, there's not really that much of a choice over here. All black Fyrestones I guess. No WW, I like the pheasant look of the car.
I can get ahold of very obsolete nos Fulda's but that's a very dangerous item to put on here!! I do agree to a certain level but I just love those tyres..
Cheers, Piet

Thu Mar 21, 2019 5:32 am

Not the best photos of the wheels and their original factory paint, but here ya go. My June of '55 original paint Deluxe Sunroof Beetle in front of the main factory building at the Wolfsburg Factory back in June of 1999.

The same car about two years ago (unfortunately in the shade) during a scenic drive along the Missouri River here near St. Louis.

The original red color is much deeper/darker than the freshly painted one above.

Bill

Thu Mar 21, 2019 6:13 am

Here is a pic of one of the wheels out of my 5 original paint light beige set in my collection. Lighting isn’t the best (it’s still dark outside) I can get better pics if needed.

Sat Mar 30, 2019 1:53 pm

Superb! Having painted mine, they are now a bit darker but lovely to see an original coloured wheel.

Phillmore.