Earliest brown faced speedo?

[ZENVWDRIVER]

… would be interesting to discuss with the buyer - why he purchased that unit - you/we might know him - we'll have wait and see - z
_________________
5/50, pastel green 11G - SOLD
8/50, gray 11A Beetle
6/52, pastel green 11C - SOLD
11/4/52, black Zwitter - SOLD to my little bro.
1954 Porsche, pre A, with VW 36 horse- SOLD
1/54, black 11C Beetle - TRADED
2/55 Iceland green Beetle, on a 1965 pan
3/55 113 Beetle, stratos silver
1955 Messerschmitt KR175 - SOLD, sadly
1960 single cab
1962 SO33, with SO 42 interior
9/63 Pacific blue, Ghia
'87 Toyota MR2
'02 WestFORDia E-150, GAVE TO OUR SON

All super-heroes, wear a MASK

[johnshenry]

[ZENVWDRIVER]

[finster]

does that logo look like it's been somehow 'worked'?

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

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

[johnshenry]

Here's a grey face speedo dated Jan '49 on eBay. So potentially we have narrowed the first brown face down to Feb-Apr '49? And again, as someone suggested earlier, there was a lot of prototyping/shows going on that year. VDO might have been asked by VW to come up with a new and different face graphic design for some new models coming out.

https://www.ebay.com/itm/303852432488
_________________
John Henry

'57 Deluxe
'56 Single Cab

[johnshenry]

[ZENVWDRIVER]

… your '49 pod, looks fabulous!
_________________
5/50, pastel green 11G - SOLD
8/50, gray 11A Beetle
6/52, pastel green 11C - SOLD
11/4/52, black Zwitter - SOLD to my little bro.
1954 Porsche, pre A, with VW 36 horse- SOLD
1/54, black 11C Beetle - TRADED
2/55 Iceland green Beetle, on a 1965 pan
3/55 113 Beetle, stratos silver
1955 Messerschmitt KR175 - SOLD, sadly
1960 single cab
1962 SO33, with SO 42 interior
9/63 Pacific blue, Ghia
'87 Toyota MR2
'02 WestFORDia E-150, GAVE TO OUR SON

All super-heroes, wear a MASK

[sinclair]

Well in the end I tidied it up to use what I have. Not point perfect but not too shabby either. Brown bezel paint is a Ford rattle can, close enough.

[keedub]

I believe there were a lot of changes going in March-June/July period when VW was developing their deluxe features. Since some of it was running changes, there was probably some inconsistencies. For the first ivory deluxe pods, perhaps, the brown pods were painted white, before the development of the all white bakelite pods were introduced.

The earliest Baketlite all ivory Pod I have seen was from September of '49. Perhaps someone on here has one with an earlier date. Or perhaps an original ivory painted '49 pod before 9/49 that has 90 mm hole. Few possible ivory pod scenarios:

1. All ivory bakelite with 100mm hole
2. All ivory bakelite with 90 mm hole (hmmm?)
3. Ivory painted brown bakelite with 100 mm hole
4. Ivory painted brown bakelite with 90mm hole
5. Some deluxe speedos had chrome, some did not.

Also, as Peter Schepmuller pointed out, the early deluxe knobs were ivory. Were they all ivory or painted ivory?

It's fun to try and figure this out without a time machine.

[sinclair]

[johnshenry]

[splitjunkie]

[ZENVWDRIVER]

… why do POs cut the wires of the harness, to the pods? I see lotza' Sinclair's cut also -The PO of my '50 cut mosta' the cloth-covered wires - I guess he thought that was easier and was gunna' replace the harness too - i'm not gunna replace, but will just splice in - just haffta' match the colors - since that car was mine, 40 years back, i know, it had a new harness, then - i'm sad he sorta' ruined a great harness...
… that car is in the Trust for our kid - he's not gunna' like my handiwork and will replace the harness again, i'll bet.
_________________
5/50, pastel green 11G - SOLD
8/50, gray 11A Beetle
6/52, pastel green 11C - SOLD
11/4/52, black Zwitter - SOLD to my little bro.
1954 Porsche, pre A, with VW 36 horse- SOLD
1/54, black 11C Beetle - TRADED
2/55 Iceland green Beetle, on a 1965 pan
3/55 113 Beetle, stratos silver
1955 Messerschmitt KR175 - SOLD, sadly
1960 single cab
1962 SO33, with SO 42 interior
9/63 Pacific blue, Ghia
'87 Toyota MR2
'02 WestFORDia E-150, GAVE TO OUR SON

All super-heroes, wear a MASK

[sinclair]

[chthemonkey]

its 95mm but sits on a rim on the inner which is 100/101mm the speedo is a 53 barndoor and I think the pod is a earlier beetle it is for my 53 barn door ambulance

[EverettB]

[ZENVWDRIVER]

... Are the TYPE 2 brown pods and speedometers 95 mm or 100mms?
_________________
5/50, pastel green 11G - SOLD
8/50, gray 11A Beetle
6/52, pastel green 11C - SOLD
11/4/52, black Zwitter - SOLD to my little bro.
1954 Porsche, pre A, with VW 36 horse- SOLD
1/54, black 11C Beetle - TRADED
2/55 Iceland green Beetle, on a 1965 pan
3/55 113 Beetle, stratos silver
1955 Messerschmitt KR175 - SOLD, sadly
1960 single cab
1962 SO33, with SO 42 interior
9/63 Pacific blue, Ghia
'87 Toyota MR2
'02 WestFORDia E-150, GAVE TO OUR SON

All super-heroes, wear a MASK

[chthemonkey]

not 100% relevant but here's my 53 barn door speedo that was repaired at some point by vdo I'm not sure on the age of the brown Bakelite pod it could be older than 53

[pastellgreen]

There is an anecdote in the book "Kleiner Wagen in großer Fahrt", published in 1949, that a truck loaded with bearings and speedometer slipped into a river. The factory sent out a Volkswagen with staff and a diving equipment, the staff had never seen before. They dived after the speedometer and bearings, brought them to the factory how much they could find. The speedos have been thrown away immediately but they tried to save the bearings, putting them into oilbaths. But at the end, inspection marked them as waste... To the question, why they did such an effort, the answer was: "such goods have been in short supply" during that time.
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1961 pearl white beauty from Portugal
https://www.thesamba.com/vw/forum/viewtopic.php?t=759951

[finster]

as we are talking about a car made in the early post-war years could there have been problems with parts supply causing anomalies like this to occur?
_________________
"we're here on Earth to fart around" kurt vonnegut

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