Author Topic: 55 Ragtop Oval, Semaphores (Read 2797 times)

ehos · « **on:** August 07, 2004, 01:48:27 PM »

http://u2qt.com/?gal=11

For all the pictures.
It's got a ton of cool accessories on it, Visor, neat wipers, washer, cigar lighter, roberi (og) garuds and scratch gaurds, mudflaps (but they fell off, just the holders are there).

VERY complete, very original. Lots of surface rust and drivers side heater channel and under window is rusty! Even has OG bosch battery!

Drivers pan, battery area needs to be replaced. The other wheel wells are very nice.

silas · « **Reply #1 on:** August 07, 2004, 06:35:07 PM »

hey, no dissrespect, but are you sure it's a 55?

where are the ribbed doors? and the rag looks like a square rear corner/round front corner 56 only rag. shouldnt the heat outlets at the front of the heater channels be round, not rectangular? and did 55's also have the round heater knob?

i'm not baggin on you or the car or the sale. just curious, thats all.

Hoosier Daddy · « **Reply #2 on:** August 07, 2004, 08:17:30 PM »

I thought 54 was the last year for ribbed doors?

Wish I had the cash, would be a nice addition to my Ratt collection!

ehos · « **Reply #3 on:** August 07, 2004, 08:19:16 PM »

Good questions!

Vin # is 113293, so Muir says it's a 55.

I don't know when the switch happened, but that's the Vin if you can shed more info. It's built in Nov 55 with the wierd Square/Round sunroof.

It might a 56 Model year.

ehos · « **Reply #4 on:** August 07, 2004, 08:20:04 PM »

Also, shipping to Vancouver is $300 by rail I believe.

silas · « **Reply #5 on:** August 07, 2004, 09:39:17 PM »

according to the book i have, chassis # 929 746 to # 1 394 118 cars were built between august 1955 and july 1956 and were sold as 1956 beetles. it's the whole early vw factory "built in 55 but called a 56" dealio. my car is chassis # 1 052 403 and it was built on december 17th 1955, delivered to canada on december 20th 1955, and sold as a 56. so that right there would make your car a 56 model. actually, our cars are very close in chassis #'s. they were probably made a couple days apart.

and hoosier. i believe that 55 models were the last year for ribbed doors.

regardless, the rusty patina on that oval is pretty cool lookin. i'd drop it and roll it brad purser style.

splitwindowman · « **Reply #6 on:** August 07, 2004, 09:42:09 PM »

August was always the month for the new model year. If it was buit in November of 1955, then it's definitely a 1956 model. Ribbed doors were used up to 1955. The two fold sunroof with the round corners up front and the square corners in the back were only used in 1956. This Beetle also has the 56-59 deluxe steering wheel. A 1955 model would still have a "batwing" steering wheel.
Jason.

splitwindowman · « **Reply #7 on:** August 07, 2004, 10:21:46 PM »

And to answer the question asked by Silas "and did 55's also have the round heater knob?" - 1955's did have a round heater knob (round with knobby edges). The same heater knob was used from 1954 up to 1964. The splits and ovals from October 1952 up to 1953 used the "AZ" pattern knob which look very similar to the 54-64 style. The pre '52 splits with the dual glove boxes had a much smaller rounded knob without any knobby edges and it was connected directly to the cables much like a hood release cable.
Jason.

ehos · « **Reply #8 on:** August 07, 2004, 10:51:25 PM »

Cool, that's what I got from thesamba as well. It missed out on being a 'real' 55 by few months.

It's built in 55, but it's a 56 Model.

It has the Square/Round sunroof acording to it's chassis # (and a few books I have here). The 'rust' on the car is mostly surface, except under the drivers side window where it's a big hole!

I was going to put an engine in it, slam it and roll it, but I figure it wouldn't be fair to my split

Mike Scott · « **Reply #9 on:** August 09, 2004, 12:00:40 PM »

Cool information,

I also have a car built during "late '55" months. I'll grab the VIN number tonight off it. My car is somewhere in between, the heater knob is mounted between the front seats farther back on the tunnel and there is no exhaust cutouts in the rear apron. However, it has overriders and bullet signals.

I'm kind of excited to pin point when it was built.

I'll check back in tomorrow

Mike

Mike Scott · « **Reply #10 on:** August 12, 2004, 08:02:37 AM »

Silas,

Checked the VIN # on my '55, 10915302, I guess it's actually a '56 as well. Where is the heater knob on your car? mine is located near the back of the tunnel (between the front seats)

Just curious

splitwindowman · « **Reply #11 on:** August 12, 2004, 08:25:11 AM »

Hey Mike,
I think you're reading your chassis info wrong. Your chassis number should be 1-915 302. This would still make it a 1955. Since you have the heater knob behind the e-brake and no cut outs in the rerar apron, that also definitely makes it a '55 as well - not a '56. There's nothing unusual about it having overriders and bullet signals. 1955 was the first year for both of these.
Jason.

silas · « **Reply #12 on:** August 12, 2004, 05:09:27 PM »

mike, that chassis # is a little funky. like splitwindowman said, if it's 1-915 302, its a 55 that was built in july of 55. is it possible you read the # wrong or added an extra # by mistake?

however. 56 was THE FIRST year for bullet turn signals and over-riders on the bumpers on imported beetles. all imported beetles in 56 were required to have them to meet north american safety standards. the headlights are also mounted 2" higher, the heater control was moved forward, and the seats had 3 position backrests.

55 was the last year for a rear apron with no exhaust cutouts.

how are the heater channels? do they have the mesh screen or the slots at the front for heat? 55 = mesh. 56 = slots.

do you have the og motor? if you do grab the # and we'll check it out for you.

do you have seat rails or clamps to hold the seats in? if there are clamps, i figure it may be some sort of weird cross bred canadian standard with a mix of whatever part they could find at the factory thrown on.

how long have you had the car and who did you buy it off of? did they do any body mods that you know of?

Mike Scott · « **Reply #13 on:** August 12, 2004, 05:36:31 PM »

Silas

I've owned the car for 4 years, I'm pretty confident the body is original.

I read the chassis number off my insurance papers, I'll take at the look at the actual number tonight, I think splitwindowman is right.

I'll give you some more details. I have heard of cars built in this configuration before, the '55 and '56 "hybird", even one featured in VW Trends once. Basically a '55 with a few of the features the '56s came with.

55 stuff

The heater channels have circular screens on them, heater knob located near the back, funky e-brake setup like early ovals, early oval door handles, no exhaust cutouts

56 stuff

Overriders, bullet signals, 56-59 steering wheel

I'll confirm the VIN number tonight, thanks for the info. Oh yeah, Its got seat rails as well.

silas · « **Reply #14 on:** August 12, 2004, 05:47:40 PM »

check the # on the tunnel under the back seat. match that with the # on the tag behind your spare under the bonnet, and you'll nail it for sure.

i've never heard of an earlier car having later parts on it though. sounds ass backwards to me. seems like if anything it would make more sense for a later car to have some left over parts from an earlier car on it.

who knows what those germans where smokin at the plant that day. maybe they were doing lead paint bong hits.

regardless, i really enjoy this. hearing about cars and trying to pinpoint when they were made and what standard equipment they came with.

keep us posted mike.

splitwindowman · « **Reply #15 on:** August 12, 2004, 10:28:03 PM »

Well we're certainly getting off topic here. I though this thread was about Ehos' oval that's for sale. Anyways, this is fun so what the heck. There's no confusion here, sick-d-three's car is a '55 - plain and simple. There's nothing odd ball about it.
I don't know where you are getting your info from but 1955 was the first year for the over rider bumpers, not 1956. I even own a '55 that came with overiders. Same thing with the bullets - 1955 not 1956. These changes were made half way through the 1955 model year.
The headlights weren't raised, it was the tail lights and this happened in 1956.
The fact that his car is equipped with a non-batwing steering wheel isn't a mystery. That wheel was actually introduced very late in the 1955 production run.
All standards had wing nut seats and all deluxes had sliding seat rails.
Jason.

silas · « **Reply #16 on:** August 12, 2004, 11:40:05 PM »

the two books i have, one by kieth seume, both state that in august 55 both bullet turn signals and bumper over riders where added to export models. we all know that august was the month of change at the vw factory, so it would make sense that vw's made in aug 55 were 56 models with bullets and over-riders destined for north america.

we need bruce tweddle in here. that dude is the frikkin vw encyclopedia.

hey jason. i'm curious as to where you get your info. i'm always interested in collecting literature on the history of vw's. are there some books you recommend?

splitwindowman · « **Reply #17 on:** August 13, 2004, 12:13:47 AM »

Where do I get my info you ask? Ancient Chinese secret ! Actually, 20 years of being a vintage VW nut has helped a whole lot. It's all in my head. I also once had a collection of well over 250 pre 1968 factory parts books, workshop manuals and unusual VW manuals printed up by VW.
According to Progressive Refinements, the signals were changed from Semaphores to "flashing" bullets on April 1955 with chassis number
1-0847 967. They make no mention of the bumper change over from blades to North American spec ones. None of my parts books list a change over date either. The problem with printed literature is that there's always mistakes floating around out there.
Jason.

Mike Scott · « **Reply #18 on:** August 13, 2004, 07:05:17 AM »

VIN number confirmed 1-915 302. Sounds like its produced in July of 1955. Again thanks for the info. I guess its not an oddball, but the steering wheel and bullets were introduced late in the '55 model year. If the steering wheel was introduced in july '55 and august is the month for new model years, then that confirms I own one rusty July 1955 oval!

Thanks Again
Mike

ehos · « **Reply #19 on:** August 13, 2004, 08:21:53 AM »

THREAD JACKERS!

$2200 obo

bwaz · « **Reply #20 on:** August 13, 2004, 10:29:18 AM »

jason,
didn't 55 have the heater knob at the front, and 56 at the back between the seats?
Brian

splitwindowman · « **Reply #21 on:** August 13, 2004, 12:01:37 PM »

You got that a little backwards Brian. 52-55 had the heater knob directly behind the hand brake and 56-64 had the heater knob up by the shifter.
Anyone want to step up and make an offer on the oval for sale here??? That's what this thread is suppose to be about.
By the way Ehos, sell me what's left of that horn ring for a good price!
Jason.

ehos · « **Reply #22 on:** August 14, 2004, 10:37:21 PM »

The horn ring is already sold for 150 American.

That's why I dropped the price. The car is CRAZY loaded with accessories. Why restore your average run of the mill Oval?

This is Semaphores and ragtop + tons of accessories!

silas · « **Reply #23 on:** August 16, 2004, 04:10:32 PM »

someone buy ehos' oval.

and on another note. thank you jason for all the usefull information. i had been struggling to find out more about the changes in ovals over the years and you helped out bigtime.

and here is a little more info on 55's. pay particular attention to dave (cormacks) post. pretty cool.

http://www.thesamba.com/vw/forum/viewtopic.php?t=82127