TheSamba.com :: View topic - Official Mexican / Brazilian Beetles

Tue Feb 04, 2014 4:05 pm

My '83 I found somewhat locally last summer. That was a cool surprise, I never thought that I'd find one from my birth year in Canada!

I'm assuming it was originally exported to Europe (going by the interior and a few other things), but I haven't been able to find anything on it. It was purchased at a police impound auction in Vancouver by the previous owner in the late 90s, who drove it to Ontario where it sat in his garage for years.

Once I start fixing it up (too much snow to even get into the barn right now) I'll hopefully find some coins or a receipt or something under the carpet that might indicate where she once came from.

It was winter driven for a few years so I do have some rust issues to take care of (but the pan is beautiful), and I need to get rid of the turn signals on top of the fenders. The plan is to keep this one totally stock. (The CD player needs to go- a Blaupunkt tape deck would look much better in there!)

Tue Feb 04, 2014 4:12 pm

bandi wrote: My '83 I found somewhat locally last summer.
Nice Sedan! but since 1977 the turn signals were installed on the front bumper, even on export Sedan sold to the european market.
Since 1980 the mexican Sedan has front head rests.

Tue Feb 04, 2014 5:38 pm

Antonio Trejo wrote: bandi wrote: My '83 I found somewhat locally last summer.
Nice Sedan! but since 1977 the turn signals were installed on the front bumper, even on export Sedan sold to the european market.
Since 1980 the mexican Sedan has front head rests.

This being the reason I said I need to get rid of the turn signals on the front fenders.

I'm not sure what the deal is with the seats, I haven't looked too closely, but it almost looks like they were reupholstered and the headrests were done away with. I think I can feel mounting holes under the fabric.

Wed Feb 05, 2014 2:23 am

fender mounted turn signals were probably just added to comply with regulations on side repeaters. Late german and mexican beetles for the italian market had drop-shaped blinkers installed on the front quarters for the same purpose.

Wed Feb 05, 2014 5:25 am

GArBa wrote: fender mounted turn signals were probably just added to comply with regulations on side repeaters. Late german and mexican beetles for the italian market had drop-shaped blinkers installed on the front quarters for the same purpose.

I think GArBa is right, the fender markers where added to my '96 when it was sold new in Germany. The side markers (from a Vauxhall) were added when the car was imported to the UK in 2002.

As it happens this picture that shows the signal lights is another one of my favorite pictures, taken in Kingston, Ont just 80 km from bandi's '83!

bandi wrote: ....and I need to get rid of the turn signals on top of the fenders....

I have since replaced the fender markers with these NOS Italian markers:

Wed Feb 05, 2014 10:55 am

Those Italian markers are nice! 8)
And quite rare. :cry:

Wed Feb 05, 2014 11:27 am

Gerrelt wrote: Those Italian markers are nice! 8)
And quite rare. :cry:

Well, I wouldn't go so far as "rare", but they don't show up often... This seller has some (and others) listed:

http://www.thesamba.com/vw/classifieds/detail.php?id=1594970

Wed Feb 05, 2014 1:33 pm

1983 Volkswagen of Mexico Sedan sales brochure (from 03/1983) model made and sold for the local market only.

Wed Feb 05, 2014 1:38 pm

Looks so true to form without turn signals on the front fenders. Nice cars you Mexico (and everywhere but the USA) folks got to enjoy.

Wed Feb 05, 2014 1:54 pm

Dealership service and genuine VW parts.

1983 Sedan sales brochure: Mexico Sedan production to Germany.

Wed Feb 05, 2014 7:09 pm

Cool! Thanks for sharing that- I can't wait to get digging in my car during the "freshening up" process and see if I find anything under the carpet indicating where my car was sold. The vented decklid does point to Mexico as per the brochure, but who knows what's been swapped over in the past 31 years (the car has definitely been painted at some point, but it's still the original colour.)

And Hopkin, those Italian signals are really neat, I didn't know such a thing existed. (I had Italian tails on my 914 which had a yellow section for the reverse light.). I've met you before, I was parked beside you at the VW show in Embrun with the white '69 Beetle.

Wed Feb 05, 2014 7:09 pm

mascrappo wrote: (and everywhere but the USA)

And Canada :)

Wed Feb 05, 2014 7:34 pm

bandi wrote:
And Hopkin, those Italian signals are really neat, I didn't know such a thing existed. (I had Italian tails on my 914 which had a yellow section for the reverse light.). I've met you before, I was parked beside you at the VW show in Embrun with the white '69 Beetle.

Yes, I remember I still have your card from Belleville VW. Looking forward to seeing your Mexican. I found German, British and French coins as well as 2 Euros in my car (1 DM, 2 Euros, 1 Pound 58 Pence, 1 Pennig & 10 Centimemes). The DM was in the glovebox, I like to think that the original owner put it there for luck, the other coins were under the back seat and under the mat.

Edit: Found this pic from Embrun:

Wed Feb 05, 2014 7:42 pm

That's exactly what I'm hoping to find somewhere in my car.

Or gold coins. Those would work as well. From any country.

Mon Feb 10, 2014 5:26 pm

Anymore Mexican/Brazilian's out there??

Sat Feb 15, 2014 9:43 am

here a pic of the late-german and mexican beetle italian spec side repeaters:

these are new hella (made in china, but good quality). the same design was made by other manufacturers (i had ARIC italian made units on mine but the screws rusted and cracked the lens around them) and used on a number of imported cars in Italy (e.g. porsche 356, ford taunus, hillman super minx...)

Sat Feb 15, 2014 10:19 am

GArBa wrote:

Was that keyhole for an alarm system? VW Canada has a '92 or '93 Beetle in the showroom of their head office that's never been on the road and it has one of these as well. Just always been curious about it.

Sat Feb 15, 2014 11:17 am

yup, that's the key switch for the alarm. when switched on it will activate contact switches on the doors, hood and decklid and turn on a horn if any of them is opened. I'ts very basic and operated by mean of a cylindrical key (same type as old bike u-locks) which is not the best for security, but it's better than nothing I guess.

Sat Feb 15, 2014 3:40 pm

My 1984 Selvas green Mexican Beetle, bought in 1993 and driven 140.000 km since then:

My 1984 Special Edition Velvet Red Mexican Beetle, bought new by my father and 260.000 km:

Sat Feb 15, 2014 4:49 pm

bandi wrote: Was that keyhole for an alarm system? VW Canada has a '92 or '93 Beetle in the showroom of their head office that's never been on the road and it has one of these as well. Just always been curious about it.

They were put in around '99 or '00. My '96 does not have the key switch, for the earlier sedans the alarm relay had an antenna and it was deactivated by a button on a key fob.
The module can been seen in the first picture, I had removed it from between the two relays near the fuse panel (and 'jumped' the circuit to disable the alarm). The antenna can been wrapped around (gray cable) the box near the foam in the second picture.

I have since dis-assembled the alarm module and permenantly by-passed the circuit internally. In that way the module has been plugged back into it's spot between the fuses as it was when the car was new. The antenna has been removed.