Correct 40 hp Ghia Air Cleaner Decal

[Sebastian Gaeta]

Greetings,

I have been trying to determine which decal is correct for my '64/40 hp Ghia's air cleaner. I have done much searching and cannot find a definitive answer and am curious if anyone knows for sure. Obviously there could be more than one decal that was originally used and I am looking to see if someone has a 100% original engine that can shed some light on this.

Here is what is in my owners manual, it is obviously air brushed clean along with the data tag on the distributor and the coil sticker. VW was not going to promote any other company even if they were a supplier.

Here is the image from the model year '63 owner's manual. I lightened it quite a bit in photoshop and it revealed a decal on the side of the canister, but I do not recognize it. It seems that in '63 they darkened the images to hide the branding and in '64 they just air brushed it out, probably because the pictures were too dark before that.

But then I just saw this ad in the classifieds for "early '60's Ghia Air cleaners" and here are two different decals. My apologies to JeffL for using the image!

Does anyone have solid info on this?

Any help is much appreciated.
_________________
Sebastian Gaeta

'57 Swiss Delivery Oval Agave Green
'63 Beetle Turkis
‘64 Karmann Ghia Coupe Manila Yellow/Black Roof
'64 356C Cabriolet Signalrot
'65 356C Coupe Rubinrot
'66 Single Cab Velvet Green
'67 Ghia convertible Lotus White

[sputnick60]

Hi Seb,
Have you found this thread of use....
https://www.thesamba.com/vw/forum/viewtopic.php?t=497253
Nicholas
_________________
'66 Karmann Ghia Cabriolet...
'65 Porsche 356C Coupe...
2005 Mecedes Benz C180 Kompressor Estate
Stop dead photo links! Post your photos to The Samba Gallery!

[Sebastian Gaeta]

[ELFRIED]

i have a 63 ghia mine is exactly as the right one on the last picture

[Sebastian Gaeta]

[ELFRIED]

Sure,here you go.

[macdweal]

1/65 original paint and decals. Part number 261 129 613A. "Model year 1965" 06-1964 to 06-1965

9/63 original paint and decals. Part number 261 129 613A. "Model year 1964" 06-1963 to 06-1964

[Sebastian Gaeta]

ELFRIED and macdweal,

Thanks so much for posting images, they have been very helpful. It appears that the decals were changed on a fairly regular basis by VW....OR...the decals were different based on air cleaner manufacturer, or both.

Here is the image from ELFRIED (lightened) from his '63, and I am "assuming" it is original. Note the position of the decal on top of the filter housing:

Here is the model year 1964 from macdweal, note the decal on the side of the cannister and the position of the air tube:

And here is the model year '65 from macdweal with the decal on top of the snout:

Please note that macdweal's air cleaners are both Mann brand cannisters. ELFRIED's is unknown. Mine is a Knecht, is a 1964 model year but has the air tube on the side just where macdweal's is on his 1964. By that I have narrowed it down to the one on macdweal's 1964 cannister and looked for the reproduction decal. The ones available are not really close to what is on macdweal's so I mocked one up in InDesign and will have it made from vinyl. I'll post pictures when that happens if anyone cares to see it.

Here is my air cleaner

Here is the decal I quickly mocked up with the original one right below it, it still needs quite a bit of cleaning up and color correction.

Here is the available reproduction, you can see how the font is justified center instead of left as on the original plus a few punctuation errors, not to mention the orange background and black type when the original is the opposite.

Tanks again to all for the responses and the help!
_________________
Sebastian Gaeta

'57 Swiss Delivery Oval Agave Green
'63 Beetle Turkis
‘64 Karmann Ghia Coupe Manila Yellow/Black Roof
'64 356C Cabriolet Signalrot
'65 356C Coupe Rubinrot
'66 Single Cab Velvet Green
'67 Ghia convertible Lotus White

[ELFRIED]

Thanx Sebastian,again something cleared out.
Mine has the original vw sign and number but indeed I can't trace a brand...

Greetings

[Rome]

Seb, a good friend recently bought a "mid-production" '64 Ghia Cabrio from a US collector; VIN 5132xxx. It has the documented original engine, and most likely also the air cleaner. I saw the car in person in October. The air cleaner looks just like this one from ELFRIED, with the semi-circular decal on the top section of the bowl and the crank breather hose going into the nipple from "due east". Intake snout is pointing back to the "7:00" position. I don't know the air cleaner brand.

My '64 Ghia Cabrio (VIN 6265xxx) had a stale-air 40 hp engine when I bought it in '83. Just checked a photo of it from then, and it had an OG air cleaner with the breather port. No evidence of any decal, after lightening up the photo. I sold the engine at the Litchfield, Connecticut Bug-In in the early '90's. I still have a Ghia (maybe Type 2?) air cleaner, but I had refinished it many years ago and there's no evidence of any decal. It's an earlier one than '64 because it does not have any breather pipe nipple. Part number (P/N) stamped into the top of the bowl ends with 611c; Knecht. The flat surface on the top of the intake snout is not perfectly flat; there are two slight upward pressings to the left and right of the snout longitudinal parting line. VW would not have applied a maintenance decal to that snout on that P/N due to the protrusions. Later air cleaners appeared to have that upper surface perfectly flat, making them suitable for a flat decal like in one of the previous photos.

On your decal mock-up-
1. There are no commas on the Spanish (last) line of the original.
2. English: Sentence ends with a period after "daily". Cap O on Otherwise.

[Sebastian Gaeta]

[Rome]

Seb, I asked my CT friend for some more info on his '64 Ghia's air cleaner (AC). The (original, still in car) 40 hp engine # is 8385556, and the AC supplier is Mann.

[bnam]

[Sebastian Gaeta]

[bnam]

Please do go ahead and use it. I'll share the font - I should have noted it and the color so you can refine it. I did this version very simplistically in Powerpoint - you may have better tools. For instance, I would have liked to make the box a bit tighter - the original is pretty tight vs. line 3.

If you do make your own version - do note that there is a period only at the end of line 2, not on every line in the original.

Font - Twentieth Century MT Condensed
Color - RGB 222/111/0

btw, my 65KG is the same color as yours (originally - now a diff shade of yellow but planning to go back).

This thread made me realize I had the 63 style original decal on my Air Filter (which I bought on Samba). I will plan to make a 65 style one. I had created the correct style decals (the cleaning instructions and the part number decal) for my 71 Beetle as the decal sold is incorrect and part number one is not sold.
_________________
1971 1302LS Convertible (RHD) owned since '74
Click to view image
1965 Karmann Ghia Coupe - under restoration
1966 Fiat 1500 Cabrio (with 1600 Twin cam)
1952 Citroen TA 11BL

[ELFRIED]

It's still a bit strange

At my decal. The 3 th line is Spanish and the 4th French.
Just opposit as with yours...???

[Sebastian Gaeta]

bnam,

How is this? I think the line spacing might be just a bit too much, I can get that down a bit.

_________________
Sebastian Gaeta

'57 Swiss Delivery Oval Agave Green
'63 Beetle Turkis
‘64 Karmann Ghia Coupe Manila Yellow/Black Roof
'64 356C Cabriolet Signalrot
'65 356C Coupe Rubinrot
'66 Single Cab Velvet Green
'67 Ghia convertible Lotus White

[mikrobi67]

1964

[Sebastian Gaeta]

mikrobi67,

Excellent, thanks for posting!

Do you know the brand of the cannister?

I redid the decal mockup yet again based on your picture with the line spacing made a bit closer together, between you and bnam this is really getting good.

_________________
Sebastian Gaeta

'57 Swiss Delivery Oval Agave Green
'63 Beetle Turkis
‘64 Karmann Ghia Coupe Manila Yellow/Black Roof
'64 356C Cabriolet Signalrot
'65 356C Coupe Rubinrot
'66 Single Cab Velvet Green
'67 Ghia convertible Lotus White

[theghiagirl]

My 1964 (built August 1963) Pacific blue Karmann Ghia cabriolet has the decal on the side of canister with the orange background and black letters. This is an original unrestored Karmann Ghia with its original engine.

My 1964 (built October 1963) Anthracite coupe has the decal on the side of the canister with the black background and orange letters. This is the original engine to this car.