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Thu Jan 16, 2025 7:52 pm

What are the US options for restoring old VW speedometers? My zwitter speedometer is filthy, and the one from my 56 vert Jimmy makes a clicking noise.. so I need a recommendation. I did find there is a shop in Hollywood, but they have Hollywood prices.. are there other options?
Searching Samba, I did find a guy named Rick Borth in Austin, Tx, but he only does the mechanical repair, not any work on the faces or bezels.
SD

Thu Jan 16, 2025 9:42 pm

Back in 2008 i called North Hollywood Speedometer also and they wanted a minimum of $400.00 to restore my trip speedo (new glass,redo the face and new clear pointer included)
So I decided to try it myself with the help of johnshenry selling me a clear needle and answering a bunch of PM's.
I still haven't sent the knob out for chroming :oops:
I'm worried a small part like that will get lost.
Its not the greatest but it works for me.
Contact Ruben, I bought a restored KM speedo from him he restored years ago for my Oval
https://www.thesamba.com/vw/forum/profile.php?mode=viewprofile&u=225354

Fri Jan 17, 2025 8:37 am

I sent my speedometer to Krautclassicparts to be restored. He had it for about 4 months but when I got it back I was thrilled by the job he had done. It is beautiful. I asked him not to do the back because I wanted to keep the patina look but the dial and hand are perfect. The total cost to me including shipping was about $230 CDN. Could not be happier. Also it is dead on accurate, which is nice.

Before:

After:

Just what I asked for

Don

Tue Jan 21, 2025 1:40 pm

Some of those $400.00 re-lithoed speedo jobs from yesteryear aren't that great either. I scrapped one of those that I got second hand because the alignment of the lithography was slightly off, as was the width of the concentric dial rings. (See pic.) Note how the VDO and KM are not centered over the twin arrows.

As someone who worked decades in microlithography, the quality was unacceptable to me. However, I still have this dial, in case anyone wants it, for swapping into a Zwitter speedo.

The Zwitter speedos are notorious for a strange paint peeling problem. The dial paint loses adhesion locally in a bizarre horizontal line pattern. Seen it a few times, very annoying. I have a spare available with some ink touchups on it to mask this problem.

Tue Jan 21, 2025 9:33 pm

Thank you all for the feedback and messages.
Here is what I need brought back, like Zwitterkafer pointed out, zwitter faces have a paint issue and this one is no different.

I did contact a few places and have settled on Orange Empire
https://www.thesamba.com/vw/classifieds/detail.php?id=1239882
fingers crossed, boxing it up to ship tomorrow..

Tue Jan 21, 2025 10:44 pm

My vote also goes to Krautclassicparts (Thorsten Schneider) in Germany. He did my original Dec '52 zwitter mph speedo which was in pretty poor shape and restored it to like new condition. (I asked him to keep the original odometer reading).
The pictures tell the story. It took a few months but it was well worth the time and cost!

Wed Jan 22, 2025 10:10 am

Does anyone know where these restorers find replacement clear needles and re-lithoed dials? That's the toughest part, I can deal with everything else.

Wed Jan 22, 2025 10:18 am

Zwitterkafer wrote: Does anyone know where these restorers find replacement clear needles and re-lithoed dials? That's the toughest part, I can deal with everything else.
A couple sellers on eBay sell the clear needles, ranging from $20 to $45.

Wed Jan 22, 2025 10:49 am

Thanks, I'll check out the needles, hopefully they are good.
As far as the dials go, if they are being re-lithoed, that is some mighty fine work! The layer colors and positioning must be spot-on, and the surfaces are not flat, which makes it tougher. But the alternative of finding good original dials (from donors? old stock?) seems improbable.

Wed Jan 22, 2025 1:59 pm

Update: Zwitterkafer - Reach out to this guy. He may have originals:

Sounds like I am too late to provide you my recommendation, but this gentleman, based in Central Coast California region did a fantastic restoration on the Aug 54 Speedo I bought from him and does VW Speedo restorations as his business:

Wed Jan 22, 2025 3:16 pm

Thank-you for that tip!

Thu Feb 13, 2025 11:21 am

Follow-up: Jim's VW did not have any clear needles, but suggested Steve B. at speedoking.com. I purchased a few, and was delighted, as they are very nicely made!

Tue Feb 18, 2025 10:35 am

Zwitterkafer wrote: Follow-up: Jim's VW did not have any clear needles, but suggested Steve B. at speedoking.com. I purchased a few, and was delighted, as they are very nicely made!

Ok great I am glad in the end it worked out. Jim is veeeery knowledgeable and (usually) has so many rare parts. Success!

Sun May 04, 2025 5:52 pm

SO, to follow up... it was not inexpensive but I think the results speak for themselves.
New needle and bezel, replated housing, NOS bulb holders, and a rescreened face
Turnaround time was just over 3 months.

Email contact for Ryan is oescorona@gmail.com

Sun May 04, 2025 10:16 pm

That came out great !!!!

Sun May 04, 2025 11:11 pm

56Cabrio wrote: That came out great !!!!

X2!

Wed May 07, 2025 11:46 am

I second the enthusiam for the speedos that I have had completely restored by Ryan at Orange Empire Speedometers!

I had him restore two original "trip odometer" speedometers back in 2014 or '15, a 1958 Beetle "trip" and a 1959 Transporter "trip" version.

I also bought a 1967 Transporter speedometer that he had already restored and then I mailed him back my original core unit.

All of them are are incredible! No flaws that I can see, super attention to detail and originality in his work. Not cheap or quick, but I've never regretted the cost or time needed by Ryan to refresh these beauties. I'll happily use him again when needed!

Bill Bowman