keeping historic plates for now, may rego it if we feel it is not being used enough. the roof and some other panels (not touched up) are quite thin paint wise and are resisting a entire respray, but will still put some miles on it though (123,000 to date)
photos are flattering, the boot,bonnet and 2 guards only have been sprayed after ding repairs, the rest is 1954 and thin as, will need a respray at some point but resisted that.
Now thats not the way to influence people particularly when reference material covering 1954 is not abundant.
During 1954 there were actually three different engines available so it all comes back to production date.
The last 25hp engine was produced on 20/12/53 was numbered 1-0695281. A few of these would have carried over to January 1954 production but records stated the the 30hp 1192 cc engine commenced from 1/1/54 through to end of August 1954. Engine numbers were 1-0692282 to 1-0849904. First chassis number was 1-0575415
From September 1954 the 1st 36hp 1192 cc was available in Chassis # 1-0702742. This engine number was
1-0849905. The last 36hp engine produced in 1954 was 1-0945526 on the 31st December 1954 in Chassis Number 1-0781885.
Not having an idea what the Chassis # of your vehicle is I cannot suggest which ios the correct motor but there is suffiecient detail above for you to identify.
Hope this assists.
This information is taken from an US publication specifically for the US market but as Wolfsburg were not making US specific vehicles until 1955 the above facts will relate.
countrybuggybill
Bill, thanks for the information, very well explained. I did hear of quite a bit of conflicting material around so your info appreciated. That would make mine a 36hp.
"Now thats not the way to influence people" of course you are right, but I was just showing a little black humour/sarcasm in context of some posts already on this thread. I loved the comment about fitting a Subaru engine! Thats quite funny to me. thanks again Bill
The 30hp and the 36hp were the same engine, the 30hp is DIN and the 36hp is SAE.
The April 56 Wheels magazine lists both 30hp and 36 SAE hp as the power of the 56 Beetle in their road test.
OK, maybe not exactly the same engine - the pistons were now flat instead of domed which raised the compression ratio from 6.1 to 6.6:1 and the dizzy changed to the BR8 with less advance than the BR3 it replaced (which had less than the BR2 which was before the BR3)
