differences of wheel arches....early and late

hi, can anyone tell me if there is a difference in the height of the wheel arch of early and late beetle?
What i mean by this , is that if i took a superbug and measured the height of the top of the wheel arch from the ground, then removed the guard and put on a early guard
(yes, i know it wont fit exactly) would the height be the same? in other words do the early guards come down further over the wheel than the late ones?
thankyou.

anyone??

Mate I'm surprised that you haven't had an answer. I have never measured them but I would say there is a difference and it happened in stages. I am only speaking from observation of our past 4 Beetles, and there would be other differences i.e. provision for lights, mounting bolts, bumper brackets etc.
What do you want to do?
Rob.

I believe them to be the same, eg. the rear guard never changed until the late tail light, only light mounting and bumper holes changed

Found this;
http://www.thesamba.com/vw/forum/viewtopic.php?t=326464

and;


Don't know if it helps, Rob.

Going by the radius of the wheel opening on the guard, I would consider that all the opening heights would be similar.

That being said, there is nothing the same between an early Australian guard and an Australian Superbug guard other than the shape inspiration. Nothing is interchangeable other than the top indicator.

However there are 'hybrid' guards out there from models that have early shaped fenders with late headlights, and several other varieties based on country, date, model of manufacture.

What is it you are wishing to achieve? There may be an answer more relevant.

ok....im building a 75 superbug, im widening the guards, to me the superbug wheel arch looks taller than beam front guards look, plus i hate the front edge shape of the superbug guard, so i was thinking about splicing an old guard outer edge onto the superbug guard to get a wider guard with a better look....

That VW ad above is misleading, the panels might fit but there is lots of differences over the years including even on the ones they say.
Nothing looks worse than sitting behind a bug with wock eyed tail lights at different heights or front indicators in different spots.


No one has mentioned it but the 73 and later back guards with elephants feet tail lights have the same height wheel arch but the actual guard in the middle at the top is about an inch higher.

dude72 wrote:ok....im building a 75 superbug, im widening the guards, to me the superbug wheel arch looks taller than beam front guards look, plus i hate the front edge shape of the superbug guard, so i was thinking about splicing an old guard outer edge onto the superbug guard to get a wider guard with a better look....

It is only metal. Cut, shape, weld and make exeactly what you want. It is easy, it just takes time. If you can make shapes in panels and weld with no slag or bumps, it will be something you can do easy with a lot of time.