Present Day Photos of KDFs, Kubels and Schwimmers

[L21pearlgrey]

[finster]

yes, in manchester. sold now though. looked nice and gnarly, so many for sale now look suspiciously dead straight.

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"we're here on Earth to fart around" kurt vonnegut

nothing lasts, nothing is finished, and nothing is perfect...

[L21pearlgrey]

[Rome]

This past Sunday at the Audrain Concours d'Elegance in Newport, Rhode Island: '44 KdF:

Well done, Alex from Long Island, New York!

Article: https://www.autoweek.com/photos/g68882013/gallery-2025-audrain-concours-delegance-photos/

[cyberdyne systems 101]

The semaphores on the KDF's, some on this thread are in the usual place on the upper B pillar, then we have some with an external unit mounted just before the doors, this latest one having them recessed into the front quarter panel. Anyone know why the differences?
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When I think of something to say - I'll be the first to know

56' Oval
71' Westy

[Rome]

I don't know for certain, but here's my guess. The external, "free-standing" units (aka trafficators) were first used on Kuebelwagens per a production model at Wolfsburg. They were readily available generic units for the auto and truck industry, were mounted at the front quarter panel, or up on pipe supports such as the Kuebel on the previous page. That location fulfilled the requirement of being visible from vehicles behind, as well as those in front/opposing traffic. They could not be mounted on the A-pillar for visibility height because the windshield could be flipped down.

Remember, the vehicle's wiring harness had to accomodate the wires to the sem's. For the Beetle/KdF, using that same location probably enabled the same wiring harness to be utilized. and did not need that pipe support for height or body stiffness. A running production change sourced ready-made slimmer and recessed sem's in the quarter panel, needing a press tooling change to make the sem opening but being sleeker so that the turned-off sems are not exposed to small obstacles such as tree branches when the car was being driven. And less exposed to weather.

Finally, moving the sems to the B-pillar had the benefit of a more central vehicle position and also higher, for best visibility. But that required yet another press tooling change (B-pillar opening; and another to close off the opening on the front quarter), as well as lengthening the wires to those locations in the harness. That location probably proved sufficient or optimal for the increased postwar production, up until the sem's were outlawed in the auto industry as of either July 1 or July 31, 1960 production for all motor vehicles in Europe. Thats why no '61 Euro Beetle or Type 2 had them anymore- production of that model year started on August 1, the first day on which the new ban on sems went into effect.

[KdF1]

It's a prototype feature. Built this way. Quite Odd. Took us quite a while to figure this out. We restored it as it was built to keep it's history intact. I had a large book of restoration photos I could have showed you that day. Most 44 KdF beetles had no semaphores by that time as they simply deleted them.
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Feb 1944 KdF Type 82e.
Nov 1947 CCG type 11