I have an august 61 build beetle RHD for u.k.market. 3 questions:
The car is Gulf Blue, would it have come with Satin Blue running board mats as standard or were these an option?
Gulf Blue wing beading or Black?
Wheel paint,would the lighter of the 2 colours be on the inner or outer part?
Thankyou
Mark

Welcome to the forum Mark.

I'm not sure about the running board mats (Prof Oakley will confirm) but the wing beading would have been Gulf Blue. As to the wheels, I'm pretty sure the inner part of the wheel would have been painted Gulf Blue.

Hope this helps. Post some pics of your car.

I love '61 model Beetles. They are so odd. Different colour cars had differing unique features.

As Martin says, your car would have had Gulf Blue wing beading. The steering wheel, steering column and handbrake would have been L467 Basalt Grey. Running board covers should be Satin Blue (not optional, they were standard). Wheel Rim should be L392 Misty Grey, hub should be L393 King's Blue. Thankfully, if my memory serves me correctly, the Gulf Blue '61s had 'standard issue' grab handles, floor mats, grab straps, kick boards, gearshift and handbrake boots. Some '61 colour cars had these parts in unique colours.

---

tell me about it my 60/61 turks is all specil colours and im looking for a rhd green rubber floor mats for my bug as the idiot in me when striping the car threw them away as they were ripped doh!!!!!!!!

I'll eat my hat and several other people's hats if you can find a good set of RHD Green floormats. Good luck with your search!

---

Thanks for the info guys
Here are some pics, the steering column, wheel and seat frames are all the same colour. you can just make out the gearlever in one pic it's dark grey.



I bought the car last summer took it to a couple of shows and then decided over the winter to spruce it up a bit.
My initial plan was to build an old school cal looker ,big engine ,lowered,brm's you know the deal so I started collecting bits ,engine parts ,front disc conversion etc etc.

But then I had a change of heart ,lowered cars/lookers are ten a penny how many standard beetles do you see? not many! and the fact that the car has this provenance of the old magazine picture I thought I can't mess with it too much!

But this led to another dilemma! restore it as it appears in the magazine picture(incorrect running boards and wing beading ,thanks again:d ) or as it left the factory, and what about the parts i've bought !!!

So I have reached a decision: I want it as it was in 61 when delivered to Warriner builders LTD of Romford,hence my initial questions but retain the stripe and renew the Volkswagen script from 76 and have a bigger engine and the brakes to match,a bit of a hotch potch and not one for the purists? but a good compromise I think.

So a spruce up has turned into a body off !!!!

Lovely car. Admired it at Southsea last year and hadn't seen it for years before that.

Isn't it a '62 model though? It has a fuel gauge and push-button washer switch??? What month was it built and/or registered? What's the first few digits of the chassis no?

---

Cheers Rich
I believe it was built in August 61 .i have the original registration book and the date of first reg is 10th November 61. chassis no:4037623.would a U.K. car have been delivered with towel rail bumpers?

Correct decision :beer:

---

Looks like a great buy. Looking forward to seeing it finished. By the way, my dad bought the magazine in 76:wink:

I'd say to restore it as it was in the magazine photo! That's a great piece of history and I think the stripe looks cool.

Of course, you could always put the "correct" running boards, wing beading, etc on. But I vote to keep the stripe :d

Good move on keeping it stock. I went to Beach Bugging in Portsmouth two years running where there were only two or three stock cars. They always got the most comments from the people walking about the show 🙂

---

Don't worry the stripe is staying and I will restore the script on the side.

after a bit of research I believe I found the idea behind the stripe, it's a SP1600 edition built by VW South Africa in 1975
Too similar to be a coincidence? they got pretty close since they were probably working from photos?



Sorry to ask again but would my car have had towel rail bumpers from new? Rich? :lol:

It doesn't look like it did, since there are no holes for the supports that go through the front valance / rear wings to the bumper irons..

---

It's a '62 model then, not a '61 so you don't have to worry about all the unusual '61-only features. Towel Rail bumpers were an M-code option so it could well have had them from new.

---

Hi thought I'd give you an update

over the past few months I have been collecting parts (thanks 55 Kab for brake advice)and working lots of overtime to pay for them!!
and have removed all the under seal and tar board from the floorpan:



This revealed nasty repairs and corrosion on both rear corners:



So I bought a welder, taught myself to use it and attacked the pan:



Both sides are now finished it's not brilliant but it's better than it was,the pan should be off to powder coat next week, whether i'll have the balls to weld the shell is another matter:?


All the suspension was stripped down and is now powder coated:



Started stripping under seal off the shell at the weekend, amazing what you find!:



Todays job was tear down steering box which showed some severe wear on the worm shaft




So I have a few questions :

1 Anyone have a spare worm shaft?

2 Are the seals for the steering box still available?

3 The short track rod ,as the ends appear to be swaged on, I assume they cannot be replaced? what do you do for new ones?

Just found this


Who needs a socket when a chisel is equally as good!!!:shock:

2 Presents arrived today:

Pedals returned after restoration by Pedalwerks


And Floorpan back from powdercoat


:d

Update....
Due to putting our house on the market I've had to change the plan and get the car back on it's wheels ready to move incase of a quick sale (fat chance)
So the gearbox and front and rear suspension has been rebuilt, added to the pan and all bolted back to the unrestored shell,luckily I had finally finished removing the old soundproofing and glue from the interior so no more mess, of the time I've spent on the car so far I'm guessing over half of it has been spent scraping and cleaning off old underseal,glue,soundproofing etc, I'm sure most people on here can relate to that,awful task,thank god it's done:d

cleaned up interior,which shows some solid if somewhat ugly repairs:




restored steering box,good used worm drive,powder coat,zinc plating,new seals and fasteners and NOS cover, really pleased with this:



rebuilt gearbox with with camber compensator(which I had re powder coated as the finish was crap:( )again all new stainless or zinc plated fasteners or originals zinc plated, I also added some stainless straps to the CC because if the securing nuts came loose it could fall of the bottom of the gearbox!:


and all bolted back up ( Rat look anyone?:wink: ):

Does anyone remember a topic on here about bumper iron colours? and which years should be silver and which black. I can't remember if the guys discussing it came to a final conclusion :?

Just noticed in the old picture that the car has a clear plastic stone guard on the front.
you can see the light hitting it and the clamps holding it to the bumper also the badge is attached to it. anyone seen one of theese before? is the badge from a motoring club in the 70's?