Questions on my 67 beetle

[gorillasnacks]

Hello, I had a couple of questions on my 67 beetle, I hope this is the right place to post this, I'm new to the forum and to classic beetles.
My first question is about the headlights. What are the period correct headlights for the 67? My beetle has the 66 style headlights and the guy I bought the car from said that the first couple of months in production on the 67 had the earlier headlights. Is this accurate? I have found nothing on the internet to support this, and I was hoping you guys could help.
The second is about the electrical system. I do not have brake lights, rear turn signals, or reverse lights. I have replaced all fuses and that did not change anything, I found a wire in the engine bay that has a missing in line fuse. Would this have anything to do with the rear lights? I also checked all of the bulbs too, they appear to be in good shape.
I hope you guys can help, I would love to start driving this car regularly but I need brake lights first. Lol

[sjbartnik]

Wiring diagrams are available in the Technical section at the top of the page, get out your voltmeter and start troubleshooting.

The inline fuse in the engine compartment should be for the reverse lights, it's an 8 amp fuse.
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1965 Volkswagen 1500 Variant S
2000 Kawasaki W650

[wcfvw69]

My understanding is the European and maybe Canada 67 bugs still had the earlier style headlights but in the USA, they were the late style. Does the bug look like the front fenders were changed? Many people did that to 67 bugs because they preferred the earlier style headlights. Is this bug 12 volt or 6 volt?

As for your lights, use the electrical diagram as mentioned under the technical tab. You need to get a test light and start tracing where your problem is.
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[rockerarm]

Hi and WELCOME.
I agree on the previous statements about the front fender/headlight housings.

In addition to a standard test light, get or make yourself some test/jumper leads. I have a few at different lengths, from 12" to 8' long.
A DVOM (digital volt ohm meter) will help you also. You don't need a Fluke, but a basic function unit from $10 (harbor freight) to $20-25 (sears or electronic store). YouTube will show some basic testing with it.

A simple diagnosis for the stop lights is to jump across the wire ends at on of the two switches on the master cyl, with key on.

Hope this helps, Bill.

[Sharp64]

Brake light switches are infamously crappy these days. I had a "name brand" one fail after only 10 months. But since other things are out may be a ground issue as well. Make sure all your grounds are clean and tight.
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1960 Indigo Blue Ragtop (Blue Barry)
1967 Ghia
1985 Westy Money Pit
“...some men aren't looking for anything logical, like money. They can't be bought, bullied, reasoned, or negotiated with. Some men just want to watch the world burn.” - Michael Caine

[gorillasnacks]

Thanks for the replies, I played a little bit with it today. I noticed that if I wiggle the bulbs in the tail light around and get them setting just right I have rear turn signals! There is power in the in line fuse in the engine bay for the reverse lights, I installed a fuse but nothing happened and still no brake lights to speak of yet.
I will get more involved with it when I have some time to really spend on it. I just poked around with my test light today and fiddled with the rear bulb sockets a bit.
The front fenders look all original, I'm just confused by the earlier style headlights. Is there a way to tell by the vin number if it's a Canadian or Mexican made beetle? Maybe that could help explain the headlights.

[gorillasnacks]

Yes Bill, it is a 12v system. I have no way of knowing if the front fenders have been changed or not, this is my very first Bug and I'm just now learning all of this stuff. Later tomorrow I will try and post a couple of pictures so you can see what the fenders and lights look like, I'm sure you guys could tell if they have been swapped.

[Slow 1200]

welcome!

post some pictures of your car (inside and outside), that will help.

A US-spec 67 would be 12v, upright headlights, 1500 (H prefix) engine, 5 bolt wheels with drum brakes all around, hazard flashers, ignition on dash

A euro-spec 67 would have slanted headlights, 6 volts, a choice of 1200, 1300 or 1500 engine. 1500 engined ones had disc brakes with 4 bolt wheels, 1200 and 1300 stayed with 5 bolt drums. More often than not they came with ignition on the column (but not always)

[Sharp64]

European models are somewhat rare to find in the U.S. Most likely, at some point someone simply swapped to the earlier style front fenders as many found them more appealing. Pretty common occurrence actually.
_________________
1960 Indigo Blue Ragtop (Blue Barry)
1967 Ghia
1985 Westy Money Pit
“...some men aren't looking for anything logical, like money. They can't be bought, bullied, reasoned, or negotiated with. Some men just want to watch the world burn.” - Michael Caine

[gorillasnacks]

Hey Slow1200.
I would say that it's a US version with different fenders then. It has a 12v electrical system, drum brakes, 1500 engine, ignition switch on the dash, and 5 lug wheels. I'll try to get a few pictures up so everyone can check it out. The only thing it doesn't have are the emergency flashers. I think it probably did originally but someone removed the hazard knob and installed a toggle switch for fog lights.The previous owner said it had the big yellow fog lights mounted on the front bumper but he took them off and kept them for himself. He said he wanted to mount them on his current car. Lol

[Sharp64]

Post the vin up of the body and the pan or check them against the chart at the top of the forum to give you and idea of when exactly yours was made. The ease of swapping things around on these little cars made a lot of things easy and/or possible so there are a lot of them rolling around with a hodgepodge of parts. Mine is a 64, but has a 63 front clip and fenders and a later decklid. Someday I may decide to change it back to "Correct" but as good solid OG parts get harder to find and more expensive that may never happen. Drive it and enjoy it.
_________________
1960 Indigo Blue Ragtop (Blue Barry)
1967 Ghia
1985 Westy Money Pit
“...some men aren't looking for anything logical, like money. They can't be bought, bullied, reasoned, or negotiated with. Some men just want to watch the world burn.” - Michael Caine

[gorillasnacks]

Hey Sharp 64,
I will definitely check out the vin on the chart. That's one thing that I was told to check was that it had to have the front vin plate and matching vin numbers under the backseat, and it does. I've heard a lot of people say that if it didn't have the front vin plate and matching numbers under the backseat it wasn't a good car to buy.
But, in all honesty that's probably not even that important because I don't have the time and money to completely restore this car and make everything 100 percent perfect and period correct. As long as it's solid and driveable, then I will maintain her and keep her running.
If I had unlimited time and money though, I would have the car completely 100 percent restored and perfect, but for now, I'll have to settle for overall ok condition and driveable. Lol
My dream for this car would be to have the electrical completely redone, disc brakes installed, floor pans and heater channels replaced, and have working heat. If I can one day get all those things done I will drive it forever with the faded old paint and be really happy.

[Bug-nut]

Hi and welcome to the Samba! 1967s are one of my favorites. If I may ask, whereabouts in East Tn are you? Im in south Knoxville.
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1959 Fjord Blue Volkswagen Beetle
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1962 Austin-Healey Sprite