For the originality gurus out there...convertible top handles...

[bond007]

Well, I proudly own a '78 Convertible I purchased 5 years ago. I'm the 5th owner, and know the previous two. Here's my story:
I usually like to keep originality to the max when it come to these VWs, (this is my 4th), and while raising the top the other day, I revisited a thought that had been wondering me for years. This car has a grab handle in the passenger's side top frame. While it's easy to grab the frame and raise the top through that handle, it appears to only exist in the passenger side, I do not have a grab handle for the driver's side, however, the holes for mounting one are there. I question this because the car has been kept extremely original down to the original owners manual, key that works the ignition and doors, and a separate original key for the glove box, and "Lucas" coil still in the fuel-injected engine. So I wonder if it did not come with a driver side grab handle from factory. To puzzle me even more, I went to my local air-cooled VW shop, which has a bunch of junk cars to pull parts from, and found another fuel-injected late model convertible with the remains of a top still there. To my surprise, that one still had a grab handle in great condition, and it was still installed in the passenger side, no handle for the driver side, yet the holes were there as well.
The only thing non-original to my car are maintenance items (tires, plugs cables etc.), the radio, and paint while restored 10 years ago (that the previous owner switched from original white to New Beetle Indigo-Ink Pearl color), (they did an impressive job back then, but I would have kept it as an original triple white convertible). So I went ahead and bought that additional handle from the shop to install it on the driver side this upcoming weekend, but now I'm still wondering whether the car originally came with one from factory. The owners manual is not specific on that topic either. Opinions??? Thoughts????
Thanks

[390nellie]

My bone stock barn find 79 also without drivers side handle.

[whobba]

Same with my bone stock two owner '78 - only one handle on the passenger's side.
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[finster]

my '74 european cabrio has one each side - maybe it was a cost cutting exercise nearer the end of production...

[iowegian]

While having a handle on the driver's side might be handy, such a drastic modification will probably reduce the car's value by 50 percent or more.

[volksworld]

i'm guessing the extra holes in the frame were for a passenger side handle on a right hand drive car