'58/'59 Beetle Discussion

[mattpeace]

There isnt carpet on the rear of the backseat, it is some sort of hardboard
that i think may have been upholstered.

[alstare84]

if this can be helpuful at my website you can see some March 1960 beetle...

http://alstare84.net/?page_id=27

http://alstare84.net/?page_id=88

[Jake Martinez]

i have the og seat bakrest and it has same carpet that was in the rest of the car.
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58 euro vert
63 bug ruby
64 sunroof notch
65 bug
67 standard

[58Dub]

I think it was added...both of mine do not have carpet......haven't seen any that did.
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58 Beetle (now just a pile of parts in the corner)
60 Beetle (2221 turbo under construction)
70 Beetle Baja project

[stale air]

I dont believe they got carpet on the back of the rear seat til 66.
_________________
WANTED: Henry Veale Santa Rosa plate frames
WANTED: Brittsan Motors Fresno plate frames
WANTED: Any Georgia plate frames

[Jake Martinez]

so could this have been a option in 63? with the carpet on the seat rest would there be luggage rails in 63?
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58 euro vert
63 bug ruby
64 sunroof notch
65 bug
67 standard

[hundel]

October '58:

Front fender straight vertical where it meets running board (no flare).
Front fenders have metal headlamp tubes.

Hope this helps narrow down the transition date. I own body VIN 2117358, and my one-year only '59 Fjord Blue paint helps make original body parts stand out on my car.


By the way, VIN listing from page 1 of this thread indicates I'm part of the '58 run. This vehicle was sold and titled as a '59. The line between '58 and '59 is not black and white. Seems the factory was putting '59 fenders and the new paint color on VINs that were logged as being part of the '58 run. And, for obvious reasons, dealers were already calling them '59s.

[Pulga59]

Jul '59.


My bug front fenders both have the wire tubing and a smooth transition from fender to side step and there is a dramatic bulge of the headlight compared to my buddys '60. But the p.o closed the horn grills. Will after market fenders come with wire tubes under the head light buckets or is that an indication of original fenders?

[mario_0609]

[JDGas]

One more thing that came to my attention today while looking at the few wire tube fenders I have. I noticed that on the backside of the headlight bucket there are a few variations. One is smooth, one has a dimple top and bottom, and the other has two vertical slotted dimples. What do you guys' have?
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1959 Ragtop Beetle - sold
1958 Danish Beetle
1967 SO-42 West. - sold
1961 Sunroof Beetle - sold
1969 Sunroof Beetle

[JDGas]

Took some picyures today of what I was trying to explain above.
Here are european wire tube fendes with a smoot bucket.

Backside of same.

Here is a original(I think) American '58/'59 wire tube fender with a pair of dimples in the back of the bucket(bottom one is just above wire tube hole). It's hard to see from the inside, but you can in the rear view picture. I had to remove the undercoating to see them better.

Backside of same.

And here are the fenders that are currently on my '59. My first thought was that they are guaranteed to be reproductions, but where the meet the running board is similar to an original. However, the headlight bulge is not as pronounced as an OG, and there are holes in the bucket for later wiring. Now guess is an early reproduction. I assume when the P/O had it painted in '82, he swapped out the fenders for fresh new ones.

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1959 Ragtop Beetle - sold
1958 Danish Beetle
1967 SO-42 West. - sold
1961 Sunroof Beetle - sold
1969 Sunroof Beetle

[stale air]

Here is something that I also find interesting. I always thought that they redesigned the rear seat stops in 60. But I was looking at CUSHE63's 59 resto thread and came across this. It looks like they redesigned them in 59. Pretty cool I think.

Here is a pic of the rear seat stop on his 59.....

Here is a pic of the rear seat stop on my 58..........

_________________
WANTED: Henry Veale Santa Rosa plate frames
WANTED: Brittsan Motors Fresno plate frames
WANTED: Any Georgia plate frames

[Agave58]

[spectre6000]

[JDGas]

[bsvwoc]

My beetle has the earlier style, what material were they made from?
And lets not forget the seat hooks and rubber when did they change those?

PC

[stale air]

[JDGas]

[JDGas]

[stale air]