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rainierdeklark
Samba Member
Joined: December 04, 2007
Posts: 624
Location: Stockholm, Sweden
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 Posted: Mon Sep 01, 2008 11:28 am Post subject: Correct interior? |
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I just bought this VW 1/11 from September 1958. The color is L243 Diamond Grey. The door and side panels are grey and green. But the seats are grey with brown back.
Are these the original seats?
It seems to me more like early -60s seats.
Then I wonder about the color; is this really Diamond Grey? It looks a little greenish to me. And I read on TheSamba about cars with the color Diamond Green. Do they mean the same color or are there two colors of Diamond?
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glutamodo 
The Android
Joined: July 13, 2004
Posts: 26311
Location: Douglas, WY
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| Posted: Mon Sep 01, 2008 12:14 pm Post subject: |
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The Car of the Century chart shows you should have color-matched green seats, with either cloth or leatherette for upholstery. So those are not the original seats.
Diamond gray was a metallic paint and I think that's the correct color there. It certainly looks like factory paint there where the paint code decal is! I may be wrong but I think something in the metallic mix of the paint has faded over the years to give it that greenish tint now. The only other color in 1959 that I think was close was L14 Mignonette, which was a grey/green color. But not metallic I don't think. L412 Diamond Green wasn't used in 1959, here's a car painted in that color:
https://www.thesamba.com/vw/gallery/pix/55405.jpg |
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HerrrKafer
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Joined: June 02, 2004
Posts: 1465
Location: East Fishkill, NY
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| Posted: Mon Sep 01, 2008 12:28 pm Post subject: |
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Nice looking car. Andy beat me to it with all the details you wanted  (  ), but I'll echo the sentiment that it really looks like og L243. Yes, there were two different Diamonds... Green and Grey. With apologies to John Henry, I think the Diamond Green (a very gold color) was a little too, ahhh... bold for people's taste. I think Diamond Grey was their toned down version of it, but still has a definite green tint. L245 Light Bronze is also pretty similar, but one-year-only for '58. IMHO, these are some of the coolest colors they ever put on Beetles, which makes sense since 58-59 are undeniably the best Beetles ever. 
I have a question about your door panels.... the off-white section, is it perfectly smooth, or is there a pretty noticeable cross-hatched kind of texture on it? Car looks like a great score.
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Evan H.
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stale air
Samba Member
Joined: August 23, 2007
Posts: 5151
Location: Senoia Ga, formally NorCal
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| Posted: Mon Sep 01, 2008 12:50 pm Post subject: |
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IMHO, these are some of the coolest colors they ever put on Beetles, which makes sense since 58-59 are undeniably the best Beetles ever.
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I couldnt agree more!
Nice car, and I agree, not the correct seats for the car. As far as the door panels go, there were only 3 choices of interior for 58 and 59, blue/grey, red/grey, and green/grey. And your panels would be correct for your car. Here is a interior color chart that might help you out. Its for my color car l245, but its the same for yours as well.
Oh by the way lets see some more pics of your new ride. 
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delliott101
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Joined: February 22, 2008
Posts: 1315
Location: Caldwell - Lake Lowell ID
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| Posted: Mon Sep 01, 2008 12:56 pm Post subject: |
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Keep in mind that like other car companies of the time, VW used nitrocellulose lacquer for their finishes. Especially if there were any clear coats, ultraviolet rays will change the hues of of the lacquer.
This is why old electric guitars (like Fender guitars) will start out blue and over time end up green... or Fiesta Red will become Shell Pink and so on.
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rainierdeklark
Samba Member
Joined: December 04, 2007
Posts: 624
Location: Stockholm, Sweden
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| Posted: Mon Sep 01, 2008 2:55 pm Post subject: |
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What I think is the coolest with this car is that it still has semaphores, but already the square rear window; 58/58 only.
Unfortunately, somewhere in time it has been resprayed in white (why?? Diamond Grey is so nice !)
It's more or less original, except for the missing hoodcrest (and the longer chrome mould instead) and the seats. I also wonder about the white padded sunvisors, shouldn't they be dark perspex?
The car had 5 previous owners and it has the original engine in it. On the plate behind the spare wheel, you can see the chassis number. So I assume that the floorpan and the body also belong together. But to be sure I wondered where I could find the body number.
But, unfortunately, the car isn't in such a good shape as it may seem from the outside:
* Left heating channel/sill is completely gone
* Right heating channel/sill is gone at the rear end
* Floorpan under battery is gone
* Several rustholes in the inner fenders
* Spare wheel well is like biscuit
* Headliner is very dirty and has some damages
* Tonnes of other things need to be fixed (window mechanisms, brakes, rear lights are missing, etc, etc.)
What great about the car is:
* More or less original car
* It is still registered (I have the reg. papers)
* Body is relatively fresh (no dents or excessive rust)
* Nice seats (wrong year though)
* Beautiful undamaged door and side panels (the light grey part has a structure in it)
Although I have no time right now to fix it (I'm building a Split from an Oval body on a automatic floorpan), I will restore it and keep it totally original (no lowering, wide wheels or accesories).
Maybe someone can post some pics of a complete green/grey interior?
Here some more pictures:
Left heating channel/sill is completely gone:
More rust:
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glutamodo
The Android
Joined: July 13, 2004
Posts: 26311
Location: Douglas, WY
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| Posted: Mon Sep 01, 2008 3:13 pm Post subject: |
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Ouch, that's pretty bad rust there. 
| rainierdeklark wrote: |
| On the plate behind the spare wheel, you can see the chassis number. So I assume that the floorpan and the body also belong together. But to be sure I wondered where I could find the body number. |
That ID plate by the spare tire is where you find the body's chassis number. I think by the time your car was made VW'd stopped stamping a separate body number on them. The floorpan chassis number, that's under the back seat:
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rainierdeklark
Samba Member
Joined: December 04, 2007
Posts: 624
Location: Stockholm, Sweden
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| Posted: Mon Sep 01, 2008 3:22 pm Post subject: |
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Now I think about it, it is probably under the sticker with the color number. I will look there soon.
Concerning the rust; yes it is a lot, but if I replace the heating channels and some parts of the floorpan, then I'm allready halfways. And besides, with a lot of love, anything can be saved 
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carcrazed
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Joined: November 15, 2007
Posts: 957
Location: Ohio
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| Posted: Mon Sep 01, 2008 4:24 pm Post subject: |
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my '65 had much worse rust than that and heat channels and new floorpans corrected about 80% of it. Just take your time lining up the heat channels so your doors won't rub. Nice car!!!!
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glutamodo
The Android
Joined: July 13, 2004
Posts: 26311
Location: Douglas, WY
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| Posted: Mon Sep 01, 2008 4:31 pm Post subject: |
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| rainierdeklark wrote: |
| And besides, with a lot of love, anything can be saved |
I just didn't have that kind of love for my first Bug....
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rainierdeklark
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Joined: December 04, 2007
Posts: 624
Location: Stockholm, Sweden
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| Posted: Tue Sep 02, 2008 12:47 am Post subject: |
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Are the seats themselves the same as the '58/'59 model? Meaning, if I change the upholstry to green/green, will it be correct for my car then?
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HerrrKafer
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Joined: June 02, 2004
Posts: 1465
Location: East Fishkill, NY
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| Posted: Tue Sep 02, 2008 1:02 am Post subject: |
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| rainierdeklark wrote: |
Now I think about it, it is probably under the sticker with the color number. I will look there soon.
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I would just leave the sticker be, there shouldn't be a number under there. They stopped stamping the bodies before the '59 model year started.
| rainierdeklark wrote: |
| Are the seats themselves the same as the '58/'59 model? Meaning, if I change the upholstry to green/green, will it be correct for my car then? |
I'm no seat expert, but they look like the right seat frames to me.
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Evan H.
| EverettB wrote: |
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IN2VWS
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Joined: January 29, 2006
Posts: 2521
Location: Australia
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| Posted: Tue Sep 02, 2008 1:23 am Post subject: |
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L243 Diamond Grey cars had brown-grey seats for the 1958 model year, and greenish grey for the 1959 model year.
from progressive refinements.......note when the model year changed
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rainierdeklark
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Joined: December 04, 2007
Posts: 624
Location: Stockholm, Sweden
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| Posted: Tue Sep 02, 2008 1:51 am Post subject: |
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| IN2VWS wrote: |
L243 Diamond Grey cars had brown-grey seats for the 1958 model year, and greenish grey for the 1959 model year.
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Although my car is JUST a 1959 model (appr. 4 Sept. 1958), could it be the correct interior if they used seats that were fitted up untill 5 weeks earlier (end of July 1958)?
Maybe the factory had some previous model seats left over? Is that possible?
And if it would be grey/brown, is it those seats that are in my car now, or another type of cloth? And would brown/grey seats be combined with grey/green door panels then?
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IN2VWS
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Joined: January 29, 2006
Posts: 2521
Location: Australia
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| Posted: Tue Sep 02, 2008 2:04 am Post subject: |
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Was your car originally delivered to Sweden, or could it have been a car for the German market?
The model year for the German market started in November 1958.
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HerrrKafer
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Joined: June 02, 2004
Posts: 1465
Location: East Fishkill, NY
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| Posted: Tue Sep 02, 2008 2:07 am Post subject: |
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| IN2VWS wrote: |
from progressive refinements.......note when the model year changed
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Holy misconception, Batman! 1 Nov 58  
And yet the color chips show the changes at the conventional July  August cutoff, so rainier's questions regarding the upholstery remain perfectly valid. Did all the model years in this era "officially" start in Nov, or did something different happen for '59?? Too weird.
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IN2VWS
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Joined: January 29, 2006
Posts: 2521
Location: Australia
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| Posted: Tue Sep 02, 2008 2:10 am Post subject: |
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Maybe you have a big window Zwitter........some bits from 1958 and some bits from 1959.... 
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rainierdeklark
Samba Member
Joined: December 04, 2007
Posts: 624
Location: Stockholm, Sweden
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| Posted: Tue Sep 02, 2008 2:42 am Post subject: |
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Normally there is a model year cut off in July/August.
But the '58 and '59 model year didn't have any significant changes in August 1958. And also during the rest of the year, changes have been introduced. So the change of upholstry doesn't neccesarely had to have been in August. It's not impossible that that was later, for instrance in November.
That could explain the grey brown seats in my Beetle. What do you think guys?
And then my other question; do those grey/brown seats belong to the grey/green door panels?
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bill may
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rainierdeklark
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Joined: December 04, 2007
Posts: 624
Location: Stockholm, Sweden
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| Posted: Tue Sep 02, 2008 6:14 am Post subject: |
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| bill may wrote: |
| how could 1964 seats be left over for a 58/59 beetle? those seats could be recovered with correct upholstery as 58-64 are same except for covering material. |
Uh, IN2VWS just showed a list which mentioned that '58 had grey/brown seats.......
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