International Vintage Volkswagen Forums

I know Gerson does "early" Oval front wings - are they much different to late ones?

Where can I source correct ones (front and back) for my car?

At present it is wearing a repro set of pre '67 (but not Oval!) wings...

I have not seen many photos of the gerson wings but they seem popular on the Samba forums .i know the Beetle got a new body in 56 but not sure that included the wings.The American spec wings do look different around the headlight area .Slightly less defined but the other details look the same.i have looked at so many wings over the years and have struggled to find consistansy in the headlight area .All in all you will do well to find any originals from the Oval era.

Mike

You say that the Beetle got a 'new' body in 1956 Mike. How do you mean 'new':?

I'd always thought that changes were made for August 1955 on, and as far as the main shell was concerned things remained the same. Most of us are aware of the plain (non-ribbed) doors being a new feature for example.

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When I was measuring panels on my 53 to either make replacements or to compare to a panel I had bought there were dimensional differences and some parts I had that came from a late 56 were completely different .the area under the back seat and behind it is different and some parts in the spare wheel area are the main ones .Sunroof cars got a smaller opening etc and I am sure there are others..
The response from several Samba forum users was that in 56 the presses were replaced and the Beetle efectively got a new body .It would explain why many panels are different .

Mike.

That's very interesting Mike, and shows how we can be wrong to just assume that changes widely catalogued are only those made.:smile:

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The wings you need are Aug 1955 to Jul 1957 wings. You are correct, the profile of the earlier oval wings is different. Earlier wings are slightly wider from what I recall, with a more pronounced hump over the headlamp. Very difficult to tell unless you have examples side by side!

Search for Mike Peckham or Dave Ball (Bally) on this forum. They both had spare late oval wings at one point, but I think Mike sold his recently.

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rich is correct,early 53-55 oval wings are 3/4" wider,the area around the headlamp is more sharper/pronounced and the rear running board hump/buldge is larger/more pronounced and the sweep/curve of the front face of the wing is different.

best way to get a correct matching pair is to put a piece of card board behind the front face of the wing from the first lower valance bolt hole up to the top edge of the wing and draw around it and cut it out then flip the template over and fit it up to the other side wing.alot will be different in shape due to incorrect wings I.e early/late and there is the chance of rust/damage repairs being done in this area and not to the correct shape! the amount of ovals/bugs including some high profile build cars I see with miss matched front wings is crazy once you know the difference it stands out a mile from seeing the car head on

how many after reading this post will draw that template on there car wings and be surprised the shape is way off! due to incorrect wings or repairs to the wings :wink:

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My wings are both the same shape - but are later wings which have been modified (the rears in the same manner) by cutting the bottom edge off to accommodate the running board (which is also a later item!)

I noticed (the rears) were wrong after buying some NOS Oval-era gravel guards... they don't fit as the wing is around 2 inches too wide!

Rich - I must be going daft - I can't seem to find those people you mention on here...