VW & Porsche pattern switches

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Introduction

In the late-1970s, I was trying to source a matching 1968~79 VW Type 2 style (i.e. dimpled, truncated cone-shaped switch-knob), single-throw, accessory dashboard switch with integral tell-tale light, for the Minnow Fish carburettor’s electrical de-icing element, of my British specification 1973 VW 1600 Type 2 Westfalia Continental motor-caravan. There seemed to be little if anything of this kind available; although I was aware of a matching Hella triple-throw accessory switch (Hella part No. 6RE 001 596 001) for front & rear fog lights!

Generally speaking, British specification 1968~72 & 1973~79 VW Type 2s were only equipped with either four & three dashboard switches respectively; these being for: (a) headlamps, (b) interior courtesy lights, (c) hazard-warning flashers, and (d) windscreen wipers & washers [1968~72 model-years only]. In contrast to those in North America, few if any such vehicles in Great Britain, were equipped with an electrically-heated rear window, so there was no associated green-lensed switch with integral tell-tale light, which would have been ideally suited to my Minnow Fish de-icer application.

1968~79 VW Type 2 heated rear-window switch [211 959 621 A]

I had discovered during the late-1970s (and later in the 1980s & 1990s), that 1968~79 VW Type 2 vehicles seldom appeared in car breakers’ yards (I found about a half-dozen over a circa 20 year period!), but VW Types 1, 3 & 4 were commonly found. However, the VW Type 3 & 4 style (i.e. stepped, truncated cone-shaped switch-knobs) dashboard switches, including the heated rear-window switch with integral green-lensed tell-tale light & coiled-wire symbol, did not match my existing VW Type 2 switches!

Need picture of VW Type 3 & 4 heated rear-window switch

For aesthetic reasons, I wanted all of my dashboard switches to have switch-knobs of matching style, so being of a pragmatic disposition, I salvaged a second-hand, VW Type 4 style (i.e. stepped, truncated cone-shaped switch-knob) heated rear-window switch for use with the carburettor’s de-icer, together with some matching VW Type 4 style switch-knobs, to substitute onto my existing three 1973 VW Type 2 style dashboard switches. This was quite fortuitous, because I discovered many years later, that the optional glove-box-cover latch-knob and cigar-lighter knob [n.b. both are rare on British specification, 1968~79 VW Type 2s!] are of the VW Type 3 & 4 switch-knob style.

VW Type 1 style cigar lighter

1968~79 VW Type 2 latched glove-box cover

In later years, I acquired some additional VW Type 3 & 4 style heated rear-window switches, to use with various other accessories such as: (a) auxiliary driving lights, (b) front fog lights, (c) rear fog lights, (d) auxiliary reversing lights [to see at night when reversing], (e) roof-mounted flood-lights, etc. For these, I could make substitute tell-tale light lenses from translucent acrylic sheet of different colours (e.g. white, dark-red, light-red, orange, yellow, light-green, green, turquoise, light-blue, blue & magenta, etc), to facilitate easier & quicker identification of the switch applications; although it’s also useful to inscribe & paint appropriate standard emblems on the lenses.

In an auto-jumble during the 1990s, at one of the local Essex VW Club shows near Dunton, Essex, England, I came across a Hella single-throw, plastic-cased accessory switch, with a VW Type 3 & 4 pattern, stepped, truncated-cone shaped switch-knob and integral red-lensed tell-tale light & NO symbol, for which the £1•00 asking price was within my budget. Unlike the genuine VW switches, this was retained by a knurled circular nut.

I later re-discovered a reference to three Hella accessory switches of this type as follows, with different-coloured (i.e. red, green or amber) plain lenses, featured in a 1982/83 vintage, Swedish automotive mail-order catalogue, given to me several years earlier by a Swedish university-friend. At that time in 1982/83, they were each priced at 27 Swedish Kronor, which was about £2•50.

Hella part No. 6ED 001 566 42 1 | Red lens

Hella part No. 6ED 001 566 43 1 | Green lens

Hella part No. 6ED 001 566 44 1 | Amber lens
_________________
Regards.

Nigel A. Skeet

Independent tutor (semi-retired) of mathematics, physics, technology & engineering for secondary, tertiary, further & higher education.

Much modified, RHD 1973 VW "1600" Type 2 Westfalia Continental campervan, with the World's only decent, cross-over-arm, SWF pantograph rear-window wiper

Onetime member, plus former Technical Editor & Editor of Transporter Talk magazine
Volkswagen Type 2 Owners' Club (Great Britain)

https://vwt2oc.co.uk

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Switch-Knob Styles

So far, I have referred to switch-knob styles which I believe are applicable to air-cooled VW models from circa 1968 onward, apart from the 1980~83 VW Transporter T3 (i.e. VW Vanagon in USA parlance!), but I am aware that very different styles of switch-knob were used on earlier car models, as I observed during my childhood between 1964 and 1968, on my father’s 1964 VW 1200 Type 1 Beetle.

My limited knowledge so far, suggests that the various flexible black-rubber switch-knob styles probably correspond to the various VW Type 1, 2, 3 & 4 vehicle models as follows:

VW Type 1 Beetle - disc shaped switch-knobs having a milled / ridged edge with stubby, small-diameter (i.e. circa 10 mm) stem

VW Type 1 Beetle - Stepped, truncated cone-shaped switch-knobs with long, large-diameter stem

1968~79 VW Type 2 Transporter T2 and late-model, pre-1968 VW Type 2 Transporter T1 – dimpled, truncated cone-shaped switch-knob

VW Types 3 & 4 and VW-Porsche 914 – Stepped, truncated cone-shaped switch-knob with stubby, small-diameter (i.e. circa 10 mm) stem

If any of these are known to be in error, please feel free to inform me!

Past reference to gallery pictures and classified advertisements, seems to indicate that the greatest variety of switches, including accessory switches and dealership-fitted air-conditioning system associated switches, have the switch-knob style corresponding to the VW Type 3 & 4 vehicle models.

1973 VW Air-Conditioning Brochure

https://www.thesamba.com/vw/archives/lit/1973_ac.php

Hence, I am hoping to source at affordable prices, various types of additional switches with the VW Type 3 & 4 style of switch-knob [i.e. stepped, truncated cone-shaped with stubby, small-diameter stem] to complete my 1973 VW “1600” Type 2 upgrade project. However, I do have a back-up plan, which involves using six of eight available 20 mm square, push-button Citroën Visa switches, mounted in an aluminium plate that replaces the dashboard’s central ash tray.

1968~79 VW Type 2, supplementary six-gauge panel, six-switch panel (for Citroën Visa switches) and VW Type 3 & 4 style dashboard switches, with home-made coloured lenses

https://www.thesamba.com/vw/forum/album_page.php?pic_id=292937

The eight available push-button Citroën Visa switches are:

Latching, single-throw, hazard warning / emergency flasher switch [with integral tell-tale light]

Latching, single-throw, front fog-lamp switch [with integral tell-tale light]

Latching, single-throw, rear fog-lamp switch [with integral tell-tale light]

Latching, single-throw, fan switch

Latching, two-throw, window-demister switch

Latching, single-throw, window-wiper switch

Momentary, single-throw, window-washer switch

Momentary, single-throw switch with unidentified function-emblem (looks somewhat like a partially-filled, rectangular fluid reservoir with filler cap)
_________________
Regards.

Nigel A. Skeet

Independent tutor (semi-retired) of mathematics, physics, technology & engineering for secondary, tertiary, further & higher education.

Much modified, RHD 1973 VW "1600" Type 2 Westfalia Continental campervan, with the World's only decent, cross-over-arm, SWF pantograph rear-window wiper

Onetime member, plus former Technical Editor & Editor of Transporter Talk magazine
Volkswagen Type 2 Owners' Club (Great Britain)

https://vwt2oc.co.uk

[NASkeet]

Repurposing Switches!

Many switches can be repurposed for applications that are very different from those for which they were originally intended.

For example, one of my eight available 20 mm square, push-button Citroën Visa switches, was originally intended for that car’s emergency-flasher / hazard-warning lights, but it readily lends itself to being used as a changeover switch.

Hence, in my 1973 VW “1600” Type 2, it is being used in conjunction with two accessory relays, to change over from the single factory-fitted disc-horn that is adequate for urban driving (apart from Cairo, Egypt, where car-horns blare constantly from dawn until dusk!), to a set of two or five fanfare air-horns (I possess both, but I have yet to decide which to use!) for fast-highway, rural & mountain driving; enabling me to activate both types of horn using the steering-wheel’s central horn-button.

There is on-going debate about what switching regime might best be used with the after-market, electrically-heated, laminated front windscreens (separate left & right hand heated zones), that are readily available in Great Britain for retro-fitment to the various VW Type 1 Beetles, 1968~79 VW Type 2 Transporter T2, 1980~92 VW Transporter T3 (i.e. VW Vanagon in USA parlance), 1993 onward VW Transporter T4 (i.e. VW Eurovan in USA parlance!) and other modern-classic Volkswagen models.

Forum Index > Bay Window Bus > Heated Front Windshield

https://www.thesamba.com/vw/forum/viewtopic.php?t=627310

For my own 1973 VW “1600” Type 2, I personally favour using a double-throw “fog-lamp” switch having a VW Type 3 & 4 style switch-knob, with integral tell-tale warning light, in conjunction with two accessory relays and a changeover relay, so that only one high-current heated zone is switched on at any given moment. Alternatively, one could use almost any double-throw switch (e.g. those originally intended for headlamps & sidelights, two-speed windscreen wipers, two-speed fans, etc) in conjunction with one or two separate tell-tale warning lights in the main instrument panel.
_________________
Regards.

Nigel A. Skeet

Independent tutor (semi-retired) of mathematics, physics, technology & engineering for secondary, tertiary, further & higher education.

Much modified, RHD 1973 VW "1600" Type 2 Westfalia Continental campervan, with the World's only decent, cross-over-arm, SWF pantograph rear-window wiper

Onetime member, plus former Technical Editor & Editor of Transporter Talk magazine
Volkswagen Type 2 Owners' Club (Great Britain)

https://vwt2oc.co.uk