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AlteWagen
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Joined: February 23, 2007
Posts: 8501
Location: PNW
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 Posted: Mon Jun 01, 2009 7:46 pm Post subject: Non snowflake tail lights |
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Saw these for sale in the classifieds.
I have seen the chevron style lens but not this one. Which market or years does this come from? Are they factory or safety add ons?
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RareAir
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Joined: May 11, 2002
Posts: 14576
Location: 18 miles North of the border
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| Posted: Mon Jun 01, 2009 8:07 pm Post subject: |
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| Swedish market |
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AlteWagen
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Joined: February 23, 2007
Posts: 8501
Location: PNW
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| Posted: Mon Jun 01, 2009 8:55 pm Post subject: |
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were the chevron style a euro market or country specific? Did Aussie VWs get standard snow flakes or different as well??
Were these just style changes or mandated for safety? More reflectors?? |
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Undis
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Joined: October 24, 2006
Posts: 1396
Location: Riga, Latvia & Sydney, Australia
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| Posted: Tue Jun 02, 2009 12:25 am Post subject: |
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Yep, those are Swedish market lenses.
Australian market got the regular snowflakes. The only exception there was for 1961 they had a strange combined plastic taillight lense - smaller in size than later plastic lenses.
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JorgeDavidson
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Joined: August 31, 2008
Posts: 358
Location: Buenos Aires, Argentina
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| Posted: Thu Jun 04, 2009 5:19 am Post subject: |
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Great info! Now I know there are at least two tail light glass diffusor design... 
Does anybody have any more data about non-snowflake lights (markets, countries, aftermarkets patterns..)?
Thanks!
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2008 VW Suran Trendline |
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noheb
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Joined: October 25, 2005
Posts: 168
Location: Denmark, Europe
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| Posted: Thu Jun 04, 2009 6:11 pm Post subject: |
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This type taillight lens is plastic, not glass. We throw them away and install glass snowflake instead.
Hella snowflake lenses come in three different script-variations.
What are chevron lenses?
Kind regards,
Ken. |
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AlteWagen
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Joined: February 23, 2007
Posts: 8501
Location: PNW
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| Posted: Fri Jun 05, 2009 1:41 am Post subject: |
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Here is a pic of the chevron from the gallery. Euro market? I have seen two semaphore cars with these lights, not sure what year though.
I have seen two different Hella snowflakes, one with a K partnumber on the bottom with the hella logo and a later version with more numbers that "wrap around" both sides of the top of the lens.
There are hassia snowflakes as well.
As far as diffusers (the plastic on the inside that makes the color a deep blood red) I have seen two types as well. One with dots and another with horizontal lines. I usually take them out to make the brake lights as bright as possible.
Anyone know which diffusers go to what year or type?
T |
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noheb
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Joined: October 25, 2005
Posts: 168
Location: Denmark, Europe
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| Posted: Fri Jun 05, 2009 12:47 pm Post subject: |
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| derluftwagen wrote: |
As far as diffusers (the plastic on the inside that makes the color a deep blood red) I have seen two types as well. One with dots and another with horizontal lines.
...
Anyone know which diffusers go to what year or type? |
There is also a smooth "diffuser"-plastic lens of the same (or atleast similar) material as the plastic used in heart taillights and earlier.
The smooth type is the earliest and goes with the Hella-logo-only lens (no wave or K1564, till late 1955/early 1956) and probably the very first of the wave+K1564 lenses.
The diffusers with the horizontal lines goes with most of the wave+K1564 lenses end the lenses with text wrapped around along the edge of the lens (late 1960 to april 1961).
The diffusers with the dots, I'm not sure but I think they came with the latest of the swedish taillights? Or could be some later (mid 60's) spare part diffuser? At least my late 1960 model still had the horizontal lines diffuser.
Ken.
Last edited by noheb on Sat Jun 06, 2009 8:01 am; edited 1 time in total |
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AlteWagen
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Joined: February 23, 2007
Posts: 8501
Location: PNW
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| Posted: Fri Jun 05, 2009 1:42 pm Post subject: |
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| noheb wrote: |
| The diffusers with the dots, I'm not sure but I think they came with the latest of the swedish taillights? Or could be some later (mid 60's) spare part diffuser? At least my late 1960 model still had the horizontal lines diffuser.Ken. |
Makes sense, the dot diffusers I had were from a NOS replacement set with the late 60-61 type glass lenses. I wish I had not thrown them away  |
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noheb
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Joined: October 25, 2005
Posts: 168
Location: Denmark, Europe
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| Posted: Sat Jun 06, 2009 8:04 am Post subject: |
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Actually, I just found 3 different smooth diffusers, the one on the left is much more soft in the edges/pressings, maybe that's just because it has been warm, I don't know.
Ken. |
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AlteWagen
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Joined: February 23, 2007
Posts: 8501
Location: PNW
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| Posted: Sat Jun 06, 2009 9:59 am Post subject: |
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| I forgot about the pink ones, I had a reproduction set of snowflakes from KDF back in the late 80s and they had the flimsy diffuser. It actually melted from the heat of the bulb!! I ended up taking them out as well. |
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Jack-Fatboy
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Joined: September 28, 2007
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Location: POLAND
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RENOWIL
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Joined: March 11, 2005
Posts: 61
Location: Cincinnati, OH
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| Posted: Fri Feb 19, 2021 12:23 pm Post subject: Re: Non snowflake tail lights |
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I have a set of nearly NOS Chromed Chevrons on my 1961 Convertible Beetle. My research on these is that they were produced in 1953 for the Chech market. There were two variation of these lenses ( I have had them both)
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56Cabrio
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Joined: May 22, 2008
Posts: 1899
Location: San Fernando Valley, CA
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| Posted: Fri Feb 19, 2021 12:29 pm Post subject: Re: Non snowflake tail lights |
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| RENOWIL wrote: |
| I have a set of nearly NOS Chromed Chevrons on my 1961 Convertible Beetle. My research on these is that they were produced in 1953 for the Chech market. There were two variation of these lenses ( I have had them both) |
Is 1953 a typo ?I always thought they used heart taillights in 53, late 1955 is when they came out with the bigger version taillight (aka snowflakes)
What was the difference between the two variations on the chevron lights?
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RENOWIL
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Joined: March 11, 2005
Posts: 61
Location: Cincinnati, OH
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| Posted: Fri Feb 19, 2021 12:55 pm Post subject: Re: Non snowflake tail lights |
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| As I stated...ONE Country....One Year. 1953 Czechoslovakia. In other Global markets the 1953 / Zwitter would have had either snowflakes or hearts |
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pastellgreen
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Joined: January 06, 2012
Posts: 1048
Location: Germany
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| Posted: Fri Feb 19, 2021 2:09 pm Post subject: Re: Non snowflake tail lights |
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| AlteWagen wrote: |
Saw these for sale in the classifieds.
I have seen the chevron style lens but not this one. Which market or years does this come from? Are they factory or safety add ons?
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Are these not M18 "larger reflector for taillights"? |
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56Cabrio
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Joined: May 22, 2008
Posts: 1899
Location: San Fernando Valley, CA
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| Posted: Fri Feb 19, 2021 2:51 pm Post subject: Re: Non snowflake tail lights |
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| RENOWIL wrote: |
| As I stated...ONE Country....One Year. 1953 Czechoslovakia. In other Global markets the 1953 / Zwitter would have had either snowflakes or hearts |
Zwittwers never had snowflakes.
Not to start an argument but i highly doubt your (chromed snowflake/chevron style taillights) are from 1953 no matter what country they were for.
BTW nice vert...
| RENOWIL wrote: |
I have a set of nearly NOS Chromed Chevrons on my 1961 Convertible Beetle. My research on these is that they were produced in 1953 for the Chech market. There were two variation of these lenses ( I have had them both)
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1956 Rag Top owned since 1988
1956 Convertible owned since 2000
1963 Hard Top
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David
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Joined: June 29, 2004
Posts: 2027
Location: Raleigh, NC
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| Posted: Wed Feb 24, 2021 2:03 am Post subject: Re: Non snowflake tail lights |
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| RENOWIL wrote: |
| I have a set of nearly NOS Chromed Chevrons on my 1961 Convertible Beetle. My research on these is that they were produced in 1953 for the Chech market. There were two variation of these lenses ( I have had them both) |
I've never heard of anything like this before. Progressive Refinements did a great job of compiling the data of when the multitude of changes happened over the years.
http://wiki.oacdp.org/pdfs/progref4061-09.pdf
| Progressive Refinements wrote: |
Page 3: - Date Introduced: 1 Oct. 52 - Chassis No. 1-0397 023 - Modification: Stop lights - Now: two lateral lamps combined with tail light and rear reflectors Formerly: one lamp in center of rear lid
Page 6: - Date Introduced: 1 Oct. 54 - Chassis No. 1-0722 916 - Modification: Stop and tail light casing - Now: stop light window no longer provided Now: bifilament bulb (USA, Canada, Guam) |
| RENOWIL wrote: |
| As I stated...ONE Country....One Year. 1953 Czechoslovakia. In other Global markets the 1953 / Zwitter would have had either snowflakes or hearts |
I dunno man, it doesn't seem to hold up.
https://www.wolfsburgwest.com/wired/wired_08_01/wired_08_01.htm
| Wolfsburg West wrote: |
Oct'52-1955 European models, Oct'52-Sep'54 (chassis #1-0722915) U.S., Guam, and Canadian models.
VW incorporates the brakes light operation within the taillights, and will remain throughout the production run of the Beetle. This taillight uses two lenses, one upper and one lower. The upper lens is red plastic (some versions are amber) and functions as the brake light, while the lower lens is glass and serves as the running light. The lower lens is surrounded by a chrome-plated bezel. The original version did not have a provision for water drainage. As a result, many of these units rusted from the inside out. Starting on October 18, 1954, chassis # 1-0734000, a weep hole is drilled into the bottom portion of the housing to allow for water drainage. Hella and Hassia produced these taillights interchangeably. |
I'm sure the VW community would like to know if there is a unique circumstance where VW used a set of tail lights before they were released to the general European market.
Please share the research you've found.
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Dave
*October '54 Ragtop
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