Paul's new Super Beetle, the Last was 48 years ago

[DesignBuild]

The last time I owned a Volkswagen Beetle was in 1971, when I purchased a co-worker's 1960 Beetle. I kept it only for a year.

I found and purchased a 1972 Super Beetle that seems to have very low mileage. When I looked at it first it had only about 52,000 km on the odometer. The car was an original German Super Beetle. I even have the original registration. The original owner was an Electrical Engineer at the Volkswagen Assembly Plant in Wolfsburg. The car was assembled on the 11th of May 1972 and registered the following day, 12 Mai 1972.

Registration Information:
Serial#: 112 2 820 442
Engine#: AB 588564
PS bei U/min: 44 bei 4100
Engine Size (cm3): 1276 cc with dual-port cylinder heads
Original or First Owner: Kurt Ulherr, Nurnberg.

Unlike 1972 Type 1 Sedans built for America (North America) be they Beetles or Super Beetles, the European cars didn't have the high-back seats. The seat in my car don't have any type of head rest and are just the low back seats that many prefer. If you look at the pictures you may notice that the seat have cloth upholstery. The material is a 10 or 11 wale dark blue corduroy. It doesn't look dark blue in the pictures but if you look at hidden areas, the upholstery is much darker there.

Will continue with the story that confirms the low kilometer reading.

[Tim Donahoe]

Looks great. Show some photos of the exterior and engine.

Tim
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Let's do the Time Warp again!

Richard O'Brien

[Tom K.]

Looks like an awesome survivor. I would have to change the seats cushions - they appear to clash with the marina blue. More pics!. And how did this car get to the US and when?
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'91 Vanagon Westfalia
'70 Beetle Convertible
'71 Super Beetle Semi-Automatic: https://www.thesamba.com/vw/forum/viewtopic.php?t=714131&highlight=
'65 Ghia: https://www.thesamba.com/vw/forum/viewtopic.php?t=762478&highlight=

[[email protected]]

If you have to use the original registration paperwork to obtain your new registration, make sure you document the original with precise color copies to have as record to keep with the vehicle.

[TK-CS]

[DesignBuild]

The original registration paperwork is in German and here in the states the DMV offices don't care about any previous registration. I couldn't even get the TX DMV to certify the odometer reading. No one gives a damn if the car is more than 20 years of age.

I have asked the American serviceman that got the car out of storage in Germany about any repaint of the car. He claims it was not repainted. If that is true then why replace the fender welt/bead when the original was body color as can be seen in one of the pictures taken from the rear.

[DesignBuild]

Here are additional photos. I have a wiring diagram for this model and it shows the parking lights projecting through the headlight reflector. I am also colorizing the wiring diagram. For those of you that are curious, the wiring diagram is very much like the diagram for the UK 1302 models. The incandescent bulbs for the parking lights are only 4W but if you substitute the LED base equivalent bulbs you can just about drive the car at night or use them for day-time running lights. The LEDs are significantly brighter and draw less current than the incandescent bulbs.

There are lots of things I have discovered. The tail light bodies are the same as those found on the 1968 models as are the front directional signals. The rear or tail lights use the same bezel from 1968 to 1972. This means that the lenses were the same physical dimensions from 1968 to 1972. The different lens part numbers are for the various color combinations. The European tail lights are commonly yellow on top and the rest of the lens is red. The clear bottom was only available in Europe as an accessory item. Many European Type 1s had a backup light or two that mounted to the bumper or bumper support arms. The Super Beetles also had as an option, red rear fog lights and round yellow lens fog lights for the front. I managed to find an Owner's Manual on TheSamba that shows all the different available models of Beetle for 1972. The manual also has a great picture of the available interior colors and the combinations they were used in. Cars painted Marina Blue (L54D) were only available with Lapis Blue seating or Dogstooth Black/Gray fabric. Unlike the 1971 Beetles, Dogstooth was a special order fabric in 1972.

For those of you with 1302 and 1303 models, there is a parts book online where you can lookup parts specific to the Super Beetles. Note too that only in 1973 and later is a "3" in the second numerical place designating it a Super Beetle. My serial number is 112 2 820 442 and the engine number begins with AB, but my car has MacPherson struts and a flat spare tire compartment and the pan that matches the Super Beetle construction. I have been told by the American serviceman that he was told by the German club members that his car was not a "real" Super Beetle. I think he is referring to the serial number. I have cousins in Germany, Switzerland, and the Netherlands with the same last name and same ancestry. One of my cousins has confirmed from a phone call that my particular car's serial number doesn't have a "3" in the number because of a screw-up in the serial number sequence, but my car isn't the only one with this number discrepancy.

Parts Book Link: https://www.volkswagen-classic-parts.de/catalogues/Kaefer-1302-1303/html5.html#/886

You will have to use a German to English translator. I have saved the various groupings with the Illustrations and the Part Number Pages so when I make a translation I can put it into the parts listing pages. Also you may have some access issues if you have a slow internet connection.

[DesignBuild]

More Pictures. I was going to post more previously but I lost track of the ones I had already posted. I am looking for the odometer readings from May 2019 and October 2019.

[DesignBuild]

More pictures.

[DesignBuild]

Some mechanical things I am working on is replacing the heater control wires, replacing the shift rod bushing cracked due to age, replacing the front springs to drop the front about an inch or so, replacing the front ATE disc pads (squeaking) and putting some material on the back of the pads to stop the squeaking, and repainting the area immediately around and under the headlight rings.

Sometime in January I am going to ask Henry Manger to assist me with taking my engine out to replace the transmission and bell housing mounts; the rubber is going bad after all these years. It may be contributing to the poor shifting. The original rubber joint at the transmission is in almost like new condition; the rubber is solid and firm.

[Maddel]

[vamram]

Beautiful Super!

[randayn]

I wonder, what is the purpose of the red line on the speedometer @ 50 k ?

[randayn]

I wonder, what is the purpose of the red line on the speedometer @ 50 k ?

[Maddel]

[vamram]

[hitest]

Good looking example of care- nice car!

A couple points to clarify- Your VIN (Not serial number per se) is supposed to start with "112"- it's a type one beetle built in '72. The VINs on hard roofed bugs don't designate the more specific model of VW-built beetle- think simply that they were sequential through model year stamped to all T1 pans. Verts got a 5 in the Vin's 2nd position- but I don't know exactly when through the 70s.

The odometer lacks a 6th digit- so I do look forward to a little provenance that back up the claim of only 33,000 miles. But so far it looks believable.

A quick way to tell about aftermarket fenders on the car- even if they look like dead on matches, is if the drain holes are absolutely identical. It will be easy to tell the RR and FL fenders that way.
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[Nessy]

[DesignBuild]

Nessy, the backup light for my car, which is a 1302, was an accessory item. I am not trying to describe everything for the 1972 Beetles, only my 1302. The tail light that came on the 1302 Super Beetle was yellow on top and red below in Germany.

[DesignBuild]

Volkswagen didn't dictate the equipment that car received in various markets, but the governments governing the countries VW exported to dictated the equipment. You can see that in the Parts Book for the 1302 and 1303 cars. Cars going to Japan and Austria had very much different lighting equipment as well as braking equipment. Some equipment choices were quite arbitrary.

My 1300 has front disc brakes from the factory and it is only the smaller, but not the smallest engine available in 1972 in the standard models. In Germany in 1972 you could still purchase a 1200 that looked much like some of the earlier models with the same bumpers and over-rider bars; a picture is in the 1972 owners manual describing the 1200 and 1300 Standards along with pictures.