TheSamba.com :: View topic

Sun Jul 09, 2017 2:32 pm

We have a 1961 11-window standard. The M-code says the color is "M GRAU".

I'm slowly getting the house paint off and am delighted to discover the original paint largely intact. My dad just found a rusty emblem for it (at the Iola car show) and he's offered to media blast and paint the emblem for us.

I assume this emblem would be painted the same grey. Where can I find the information I need for him to get the paint color in the ballpark?

Thanks!

Sun Jul 09, 2017 6:17 pm

At above see the buttons? Hover your mouse cursor over the "Technical" button. A pop up list will appear, left click on "Paint/Upholstery". Lots more good info to know is thru all of those buttons.

The emblem should be the same color as the body.

Check out the "Literature" you can access thru the "Archives" button. Lots of glorious photo shoots of buses just like yours, back when they were brand spanking new!

Sun Jul 09, 2017 8:01 pm

A mouse grey standard would have an emblem like this:

Sun Jul 09, 2017 9:26 pm

Thank you both - for the tips and the photo.

Best wishes,

Scott

Mon Jul 10, 2017 9:03 am

I can't remember if a near match for Mouse Gray ever popped up in this thread, but it's possible:

https://www.thesamba.com/vw/forum/viewtopic.php?t=421762

Thu Aug 03, 2017 8:45 am

Hi Z,

A belated thanks for the thread. My plan is to do some testing and share my mouse grey results there.

Best wishes,
Scott

Thu Aug 03, 2017 8:55 am

srfndoc wrote: A mouse grey standard would have an emblem like this:

Don't forget the "coup 'd gras", to add the lower color paint color to the logo between the upper "V" and the lower "W" as can be seen in that photo...

Bill

Mon May 26, 2025 8:10 am

I see a lot of emblems that are all white and don't have any paint between the V and the W.
Was this a thing only for the two tone buses or by certain years?

Mon May 26, 2025 9:01 am

Mile High Puma wrote: I see a lot of emblems that are all white and don't have any paint between the V and the W.
Was this a thing only for the two tone buses or by certain years?

Kombi's (including Westy's) and commercial vehicles came with silver white emblems with the center stripe painted the base color:

That said, after collecting emblems for over twenty years and finding lots of silver white emblems with no color stripe, I think VW phased out the stripe at some point or a lot of emblems were replaced by the dealer and they didn't bother painting the stripe.

Mon May 26, 2025 5:35 pm

Thanks for your knowledge on the subject, would be nice to know when they stopped painting it.

Tue May 27, 2025 8:37 am

Mile High Puma wrote: Thanks for your knowledge on the subject, would be nice to know when they stopped painting it.

I've long had a theory it was when VW started figuring out ways to save steps and money. I'd bet a donut it was with the '62 model year. So I am hoping your question gets answered here. :)

Tue May 27, 2025 8:51 am

hitest wrote: Mile High Puma wrote: Thanks for your knowledge on the subject, would be nice to know when they stopped painting it.

I've long had a theory it was when VW started figuring out ways to save steps and money. I'd bet a donut it was with the '62 model year. So I am hoping your question gets answered here. :) Around the same time as the hubcap painted center disappeared possibly?

Tue May 27, 2025 9:59 am

August of 63, sounds about right.

Tue May 27, 2025 11:21 am

^^ Re: emblem I would be interested to know as well. Having owned some "patina" buses over the years it is completely possibly that the small batch swatch between the "V" and the "W" simply wore off revealing the silver white emblem.

It would sure seem to be a lot of effort on the factory's behalf to have to individually colour match each logo swacth to the corresponding colour of the bus.