Outy versus innie engine vents

[miscreantgnomie]

What was the logic of switching from outtie versus innie engine vents ?

Was it cosmetic and did not want the lines of vehicle sticking out or was it for a reason such as to better air flow or negative pressure.
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[malachai]

It was so that the new sliding door option would work without dents or swearing.
It probably also made a deluxe very slightly cheaper to manufacture as I don't think there is any trim on inny vents, I doubt that was the reason though.
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[WallysRiviera]

Innie vents more streamlined....less wind resistance.

[57palm]

I recall reading the vents were changed to innie as well as the bullet signals turned to flat for safety reasons. Imagine a slow speed collision with a pedestrian and they hit the bullet signal...ouch or get cut but the vents........ouch again.

RM

[zozo]

[jeffff]

[Anchovy]

[House]

And high hinge to low hinge cargo doors.

[Mr Mike]

Anchovy, House, and 57 Palm are pretty much right on with the safety issue answer. I was in the Navy returning from a tour of duty in Japan in late 1963 and recall reading an article in the auto section of the Pacific edition of Stars and Stripes (the military newspaper)
Ralph Nader and his people known as "Naders Raiders" had been after
the Corvair by Chevy as well as Volkswagen for some time. They claimed the rear engine Corvair and the bug would "tuck under" rear
axle wise and roll thus should not be sold. They also did some "tests" with a number of cars, Cadillac and Oldsmobile were two I remember, that supposedly did bad things to folks in a low speed, car / pedestrian
collision. Eventualy Corvairs went out of production.
VW wasn't specificaly called out on the car/ pedestrian thing, although Nader tried to claim the vent trim could puncture the skin of a person hit by a bus or catch their clothes and possibly drag them. VW got the message and changed what they could. A number of ads came out showing bugs with cars and other heavy weights on them that didn't crush the car. The article I read in Stars and Stripes had to do with an independent survey that showed the "VW Bug" was much more manueverable in traffic and thus safer in avoiding head on collisions. Sounded good to me! I bought a new one in '66 while stationed in San Diego and 43 years later still own it.

[malachai]

it was so that the sliding door would work, sliding doors became available a couple of weeks after inny vents, bullets were still around for another 5 months until they made the rear hatch bigger for the 64 year model.
high hinges ended a couple of years before all of this and ice picks ended a few months before inny vents were started
I can't imagine pedestrians were ever really hurt by outty vents
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[Riff Raff]

Low hinges were adopted immediately after semaphores were discontinued (on Euro buses).

No co-incidence there.
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[AlteWagen]

[BarryL]

I had read and heard that changes like those were body contact safety issues which always struck me as strange (pun intended). In the US, for example, spinner hubcaps were considered outlaw: much like a Ben Hur effect. You could get them on a '63 Falcon or the later Mustang for a premium price, of course. Allstate insurance wouldn't allow you to drive with them in California.

[57palm]

Please make the "sliding door" idea go away. If you look at any sliding door it easily clears the 1/2 inch the vents would stick out. The only area that might come close is the sliding rear mount bracket under the belt line.

RM

[EverettB]

[malachai]

[EverettB]

Here's a sliding door announcement from the USA but it has no date:
http://www.thesamba.com/vw/forum/album_page.php?pic_id=243669

The date of the magazine was September 1, 1963.
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[BarryL]

I was under the impression the sliding door itself was considered safer as it didn't require the operator to be as far from the vehicle and could operate in close quarters of curbs and traffic.

[Thomas Pedigo]

[///Mink]