TheSamba.com :: View topic - Beetles with Multi-Colored body parts

Sun Apr 16, 2017 7:31 pm

This is a very interesting thread.
Thanks, Bruce, for starting it.

Tue Apr 18, 2017 2:18 pm

hitest wrote: Derluft- indeed, the upper car (likely a '64 due to wheels rims and decklid) may have Gulf blue as a base, because...

61sunrf- VW was extremely picky. It probably would not have taken much back then for a fender to blow inspection- and get resent through paint. I would not expect to find major repairs so much as finish flaws. If the texture or hue were far off from fender to car- I'd bet VW would pull it. In the previous examples, however, it's strange that even VW could blow a paintjob on a taillight housing!

I do know that the airscoops and license light on my orginal paint thing look they came from different continents... Perhaps the bodywork and paint finish were a perfect match- but the color was simply off?

EDIT: I just know there are 3 bilingual retired VW factory workers from the sixties getting a kick out our theories. What's German for(?): "those silly Americans- they just don't get our Friday afternoon paint antics."

This is instantly where my thought went. It's not hard for me to picture a scenario where color of a fender/door/decklid/taillight housing was slightly off hue or had a slight bubble in the top coat and was rejected because it wouldn't match on a completed car. VW would have grabbed a replacement from it's stock of pre-paints and sent the rejected one back through the process meaning it would be repainted and according to factory needs it would get a different color. There is also scenarios where parts that got rejected would get multiple coats of different colors. For example if instead of being recycled back into the production line it was repainted and put in the mass stock of pre-painted parts. Then VW would routinely go through their stock and assess if they have too many of a specific color - grab colors where the stock is too high and recycle it again. So you would have a pool of parts that already have two different colors that are getting selected to get another color. *Total speculation - but based on evidence others have presented.*

Wed Apr 19, 2017 5:08 am

61SNRF wrote: Can anyone explain why I had a '67 decklid that had been painted not twice but three times then?

I don't believe for a minute that every example out there happened in a dealer body shop. My information authority states that he has never found any evidence that the parts were body worked or repaired in anyway except for the repaint. Maybe it was done in a special facility on the assembly line, but done at the factory none the less.

Any good conspiracy is an unproven one!!!

Thu Aug 31, 2017 10:16 am

I've read through most of this topic but not every word, interesting none the less. I didn't see any examples from early cars, maybe because it's a post 1958 thread, but I do have one to contribute.

This is an original paint December of 1955- 1956 model year pastel green USA delivered Beetle. The original paint is weathering off nicely and reveals this, on the exterior of the front hood:

That's jungle green under the pastel green. The car was manufactured a few days before Christmas, 1955 and delivered to Washington state. It didn't get titled until just before Valentines Day, 1956, and the title is from a Lakewood, CA dealership, a suburb of Los Angeles. I would think that an LA ordered VW would have been delivered through Long Beach, not Washington state? Leads me to suspect that something happened to the car in transit, the hood was replaced and repainted and then shipped to LA, no?

Thu Aug 31, 2017 10:58 am

@tasb

Certainly possible it could have been happening in 55/56, the paint/body specialist elrick67 mentioned his '58 back on page 3.

You're in the best position to judge. Have a close look under the hood, it might have thinner coats of paint, but it should have the same Jungle green under Pastel, and the paint on hood hinge bolts should be undisturbed.

Mon Jul 22, 2019 9:47 pm

Here's the hood on my 67. Underneath it is nice factory black with no sign of damage, on the top side during paint prep, however, we have primers then red, then sealer, then VW Blue, then sealer, then black. I can only see the red in a few places where I burned through the blue, however, there is filler under the black. This is factory paint so VW did do actual dent repair on stuff.

Tue Sep 17, 2019 7:23 pm

@67ctbug,
I don't believe VW ever used any plastic fillers under factory paint, it should be all metal work. Your second pic does look typical of cars in this topic but hard to say from this side.

Here's a perfect example I recently found on FB, Ruby Red under Sea Blue...

Tue Sep 17, 2019 8:11 pm

Just saw this thread, here's a pic of my old '71 Super I had in the early '80s. The road salt wasn't kind to my (then) 10 year old car:

Wed Sep 18, 2019 11:04 am

Here is a shot of mine

Wed Sep 18, 2019 12:05 pm

here's a pic from wolfsburg in 54/55. filling imperfections after primer

Wed Sep 18, 2019 3:57 pm

finster wrote: here's a pic from wolfsburg in '55. filling imperfections after primer

Look at that, plastic filler!

Fri Sep 27, 2019 12:20 pm

@hopken and socal 1904, if you have read from page 1 you should know that this topic was created to showcase unmolested cars with cars with ORIGINAL paint.

Since both of your cars obviously feature NEITHER of these atributes I would greatly appreciate it if you would please delete each of your posts.

Thank you for your understanding.

Fri Sep 27, 2019 12:27 pm

67ctbug wrote: finster wrote: here's a pic from wolfsburg in '55. filling imperfections after primer

Look at that, plastic filler!

First off, can finster please provide the source and legitimacy of this photo?

Secondly, the filler being applied in the photo is no doubt a lacquer based "spot" filler and not a polyester based surface repair filler.

Mon Sep 30, 2019 1:07 pm

Filler was used on the assembly line. These barndoor buses are full of it

Mon Sep 30, 2019 1:41 pm

[quote="61SNRF"]
First off, can finster please provide the source and legitimacy of this photo?

sure - page 136 of 'als der kafer laufen lernte' by bernd wiersch a book of photos taken at the factory in 1954

ps -perhaps you should change the title of the thread by adding 'factory fitted' or similar...

Mon Sep 30, 2019 2:06 pm

here's another pic from the same book showing quality control inspectors in the bodyshop - played by val kilmer and geoffrey rush look-a-likies

Mon May 11, 2020 7:36 am

Found this example while browsing the Classifieds...
https://www.thesamba.com/vw/classifieds/detail.php?id=2376802
Note paint on left front fender worn through revealing Java Green under OG Black...

Seems like these oddity's are more commonly seen '65-> as paint quality from this era seemed to drop off.

Sun Jul 26, 2020 3:40 pm

..and yet another perfect example from jchaidez, Sea Blue door under Ruby Red topcoat...

Wonder what retort bill may would have now? May he RIP.

Mon Jul 27, 2020 1:05 pm

61SNRF wrote: ..and yet another perfect example from jchaidez, Sea Blue door under Ruby Red topcoat...

Wonder what retort bill may would have now? May he RIP.

Some extra images per 61snrf :

I do not know if the door is unadultered but these may help.

Mon Jul 27, 2020 3:28 pm

jchaidez wrote:
Some extra images per 61snrf :

I do not know if the door is unadultered but these may help.

Thanks jchaidez :wink:
Although it can be said from this pic it looks like the hinge screws have been loosened at one time I don't think there is any doubt (at least in my mind) that the car left the factory with this door.

Again it's an excellent example but why the oddity is so much more prevalent on 65 /66's with Ruby Red or Sea Blue is still a mystery.