DesignBuild's 1972 Super Beetle made for the European Market

[DesignBuild]

I bought a 1972 Super Beetle this past April in Houston, Texas and it has some features not commonly seen in made-for-America Volkswagens.
First, it has no window trim. There are no shiny bits around the stationary windows. The rubber seals are plain and they are shrinking on the inside, i.e. pulling away from the body, especially on the windshield.
Second, the seat upholstery is cloth, and it appears to be corduroy. as you can see in the pictures it is blue. In areas that are normally hidden it is much darker. It also originally had buttons on the cushions. In places you can see the heavy thread poking through the fabric.
Third, the seat backs are the low back variety. In 1972 cars heading to America had high backs, not this one.
Fourth, this car didn't come with the 1600 engine. It has the 1300, 44PS engine. It has dual port heads and performs quite well considering. The engine number begins with 'AB'.
Fifth, the car came with a rear window defroster and forced warm air over the rear window.
Sixth, the lights on the front fenders are the same as the 1968 models and are only directional signals, no parking lights. The only parking light is with the brake light in the rear. There are no backup lights built into the rear lights. The directional light in the rear is on top and is yellow. (would like to find dual filament sockets to put parking lights in the front)
Seventh, the emblem on the engine cover is VW1302. There is no VOLKSWAGEN emblem spelled out as there is on American cars.
Eighth, the headlights are adjusted from the outer chrome headlight ring. The adjustment screws are in the outer ring. I shouldn't say outer ring as there is no inner ring or headlight holding hardware inside the headlight bucket.
Ninth, the headliner has only three panels that are perforated with the remaining material printed with holes. The other headliner panels like the ones close to the windshield and side and rear window are simply printed to look like perforated material. It appears to have been an off-white material that is disintegrating.
And finally for number ten, the car came to the US in October 2015 having lived in Germany all the previous years. The speedometer and odometer are both metric, i.e. kilometers per hour and kilometers. The cool thing is the odometer that has recorded only 58,830 km when I purchased it. I have added only 50km to that. I am waiting to get the title and new license plates. I have a paper license plate on the rear only for the time being. The maintenance records in Germany and the US match the recorded distance so I think the odometer is correct and hasn't gone around once already.
If you are reading this you are probably wondering what I am going to do with it. Well, I have already tried installing pop-out windows but the ones I got didn't work out very well; didn't seal out water, the frame was too close to the pinch weld to install any kind of pinch weld cover, and the latch is a piss poor design. Even if you install it first in the closed position the E-clip holding it together breaks with the slightest tension on it.
Please email me if you have had problems with the pop-out with the glass attached latch.
Thanks for reading.

[Q-Dog]

Nice. The car I drove in high school was a Marina Blue 1972 with dark blue interior.

I see Becker radio knobs. Not a surprise for a car from Germany.
_________________
Brian

'69 Dune Buggy
'69 Beetle Convertible
'70 Beetle

[plotch]

Nice, good luck.

[theyellowbug]

That's a very nice bug! Congratulations! I'm impressed with the condition overall, but especially with the padded dash (the vents aren't popping out!). Am I correct that yours has a curved windshield? I have a flat-windshield '72 Super 1302L with padded dash and vents in poor condition. As it arrived here in Greece in December of '71, I suppose the Greek sun has destroyed it. Re the pop-out windows, I wanted them but was advised by a shop here specializing in Beetle classic rally cars that it's not possible to fit the pop-outs to the '72 Super without a lot of problems. I think I'm the 3rd owner, and the previous owners made some changes that have made it very difficult to determine which replacement parts I can use. I'll be very interested to know what, if any, changes you decide to make and how they work out for you. Mine originally had a 1200 engine, which would've been sensible given the tax on big engines in Greece, but it's now been replaced with a Porsche engine. Reading through the 10 points you listed, I realized that mine shares only 9-- my rear defrost is missing! No idea why. Mine had only a left-side mirror and I noticed yours has both. I replaced my seats with high-back VW Golf seats, safer and more comfortable, which necessitated changing the seat belts too. The new seats are a tight fit with the heat levers, but it all works. The original seats (low, like yours) were too worn out. I'm about to make some major changes, hopefully pulling out the damaged padded dash and leaving it metal, going for the earlier model look I prefer (I once had a '61 bug), and repainting (tired of being yellow), but I'll post a photo of the current incarnation. Looking forward to reading more about your '72 Super!

[bnam]

Nice Euro spec car. My 71 is also Euro spec. Your tail lights are also smaller than the same year US versions. They look the same, but are the smaller tombstones that were used in the US only till '70 (without the amber part).

The outlets near the rear window are not for warm air, but are part of the flow thru ventilation which was introduced in '71.

Any pics of your headliner?

Byas
_________________
1971 1302LS Convertible (RHD) owned since '74
Click to view image
1965 Karmann Ghia Coupe - under restoration
1966 Fiat 1500 Cabrio (with 1600 Twin cam)
1952 Citroen TA 11BL

[Nessy]

Nice 1302, and as already mentioned it has the Euro-spec features such as smaller front and rear indicators etc.
I think it has been restored though.
The wing beading would originally have been a shade of blue, not black , and the window rubbers would IMO have had chrome inserts from the factory.
The only late model European Beetles to not have chrome window trim was the non-Super base model 1200 , and that definitely isn’t one.......
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1972 1302LS Convertible RHD

[DesignBuild]

You are correct about the beading and it was replaced when the American owner that bought it in Germany had his wife oversee getting it roadworthy after sitting in storage for some 40 years. He claims that there was no repainting, except there is overspray under the right rear and right front fenders. The right fenders were touched up.

The headliner needs to be replaced since it has many slits in it. Probably some kind of shrinkage tears. I noticed that the perforations on the sides of the headliner are printed not perforated. Only three panels facing the roof were perforated. The headliner in the car is a one-piece headliner. Other people in Europe have confirmed that headliners in Volkswagens of this period had one-piece headliners. I am not sure what I am going to do about the headliner because printed headliners aren't available.

The pictures I have of it coming out of storage show blue fender beading. I've had this discussion many times and no one seem to know that the bead can be painted to match the body as many American cars in the 1950s had painted fender (called welt in the US) bead and it wasn't the plastic stuff VW used. My 1951 Studebaker had rear fender welt that was painted body color when it came from the factory and whenever it was repainted or touched up. If it was done then, with newer materials and flex additives, it can be painted today.

If the car was restored like you think then explain the presence of FAG Shaffer flexible brake hoses dated 4-72. Explain the original blue corduroy upholstery and the low reading on the odometer. The American that bought the car in Germany confirmed that it spent 40 years in storage. The son of the original owner had the car registered in his name from 2005 until the American bought it. The car didn't have any license plates on it for all the intervening years.

I bought the car in April 2019. After getting Hagerty Insurance this year I asked if they could recommend an appraiser in the Houston, TX area and they gave me the name of five people here. I contacted 4 of the 5 and all of them appraised the car within $100 of each other without me telling them of the other values. I bought the car for $6500 and it appraised for twice that. If you are wondering, the 5th appraiser never answered my calls.

One thing they all had in common was the belief that all the car was original.

Not one of the previous owners had work done on the car where it really needed it. I have receipts that the American kept and the brakes were supposed to have been gone through in Germany and he paid for work that was never done. The same goes for work he paid for in Florida. None of what he paid for was ever done. The brake hoses could have been replaced 4 times since that is what he paid for but they were the ones that were installed at the factory. The German outfit recommended that the front suspension bushings be replaced. They were paid for but never done. They aren't terrible since the car steers well, doesn't wander, and doesn't shake at speed. But I can see that they will need replacing sometime this year. I suspect they are the original parts. I did replace the front ball joints since they were very stiff and the boots were torn in more than one place. The ball joints I put in have grease fittings.

The American told me he and his wife replaced a lot of the rubber seals because they were crumbling and the only source was in the US. This has been confirmed by Maddel and a number of other German Samba members. I know too that some of the wiring was replaced due to shorts when turning left. The only wiring harness source was from the US. Some things that were unique to European cars are easily bought in Europe but hard to find in the USA.

[DesignBuild]

TheYellowBug:

I like your upholstery. The houndstooth or dogstooth pattern is available again. I will lookup the source and post it or send it to you.
Black and gray houndstooth was supposedly used in some 1972 Beetles and Super Beetles but it is vague on the specifics.

I have the flat windshield. I did some digging regarding the mirrors. The driver's side arm is stationary unless you loosen it with a wrench and reposition it, but the mirror pivots on the arm. The passenger's side mirror supposedly comes from the Cabriolet. The arm is in the shape of a 'J' and this allows the mirror to be parallel to the ground. All of the replacement mirrors do not align properly with the body of the car. The rear defroster strip came on the 113 model. This seems to be the designation in 1972 for the Super Beetle. In 1973 the Super is finally given its own number of 135. You can find this at the following link.
https://www.volkswagen-classic-parts.de/catalogues/Kaefer-1302-1303/index.html (This has all of the parts for the 1302 and 1303 Kafer models).

There is a guy in Germany that has his mother's 1200 and it has no padded dash. I believe it is a 1972 model and may even be a Super Beetle. I have a series of posts about this car and it is titled Paul's 1972 Super Beetle.... It is at 6 pages in length and there is a post from the guy with the 1200 from inside as he is cruising down the road. Send him a message and ask him about the specifics of his car. Regarding your rear window, it could have broken and been replaced by a standard window especially if they were hard to get at that time.

Tell me more about your bad original style seats. Look through the Parts Book link and look at the seats with the separate head restraints. I grew up in the era where cars had no seat belts or head restraints. When I was growing up I was never in an accident either. That era seems to be just like the times of Star Trek where seat belts don't seem to exist in any star ship.

[DesignBuild]

Regarding the rear defroster: it was a standard item on Super Beetles according the the brochure that is available here on TheSamba. The 1200 models may not have had a padded dash but it may depend upon the country it was delivered to.

I am starting a new post about the headliners. It seems that the replacement headliners being made for the later Beetles and Super Beetles are all perforated when the originals weren't perforated except for a few panels under the roof. I think I know why the majority of the headliner wasn't perforated. Those areas that aren't perforated are glued to the padding or to the body of the car. If these areas were perforated the glue would have been smudged on the outside surface of the headliner and would have made a mess during installation. Not sure why Volkswagen even bothered with the perforations.

[gti_matt]

I find the lack of any front parking lights surprising. Are you sure they aren't little bulbs built into your headlamp reflector bowl and perhaps they're just both burned out? I would pull a headlamp out of the fender and see if there is BOTH a replaceable bulb for the headlamp and a small one separately inserted into the reflector bowl.

If you don't have this setup (I suspect you should though), you can replace the lamps with such a setup that would keep the car looking the same with no additional light assemblies but yet will add the parking lamp function you desire.

[gti_matt]

Check out this link/pic:
https://www.thesamba.com/vw/archives/manuals/1972bug_french/55.jpg

I would expect that your German-spec headlamps would be one of those two. The one on the left of the pic looks like a non-halogen bulb and the one on the right looks like a halogen (H4 specifically) bulb. Either way, note the small secondary bulb in each case. That should be the parking ligiht.[/img]

[DesignBuild]

It is the parking light as seen in this picture. These are the headlights installed in the car.

[DesignBuild]

The radio is a Grundig. I have been looking for a face-plate with no luck yet. I am surprised that it seems to be so difficult to find with the millions manufactured for VW and other cars. I have another post I created that shows things like the radio details, etc.

I found a source for printed headlining material in the US but the dots are smaller than the dots on the VW headlining material. I will ask the supplier next week if they can print the material with a slightly larger dot. I plan on making a replacement headliner for my car using the original to make a pattern.

It seems that the right rear fender was replaced with both fenders on the right painted or repainted while it was in Germany after coming out of storage. The right rear tail lamp is actually 1 inch lower than the left. I guess the shop that did the work never heard of painting the fender bead/welt. The same technique and materials are used that are used on the flexible parts of newer cars. The flex additive can also be used in the paint on the parts of the car that get hit with small rocks. The additive will help to reduce chipping. 3-M Body Schutz can also be applied in a thin coast and then painted over with the flex paint to prevent rock chips. This is a very effective way to prevent rock chips on the underside of the fenders and in the body wheel wells.

I am considering repainting the fenders and the front panel that hides the opening in the front of the tunnel using a one shot hardened urethane or a catalyzed enamel, whatever I can get mixed in the Volkswagen color. I will also paint the fender bead at the same time. When I do this I will also weld close the extra holes in the right rear fender that are now under the tail light housings and I will mount the right tail light housing in new holes that match the left rear fender.

I am on the hunt for new seat fabric in a light color that I can then dye the shade of blue like the original fabric. You would think that corduroy fabric would be easy to find but it turns out it is not easy to find the correct material. Color isn't the problem since that can be changed. The problem is finding the correct number of wales per inch and the correct weave. The original fabric is 10-wale per linear inch and the fabric is synthetic with a mix of polyester, nylon, and acrylic. I will settle for polyester and nylon.