Just picked up a '58 Beetle. It is very original and has no rust. Seriously, no rust. Original 1200cc engine that goes great. Was owned by an 80 yo gent since 1960 and then sold to the person I bought it off about a year ago. It has had a respray a long time ago, the early one sided hinge for the bonnet was replaced with the later dual springs, it is properly rewired 12v but still has working semaphores that actually flash, the seats were recovered sometime in the past, blinkers were 'added' in the past but have been now removed, all running gear, brakes, suspension are original other than the addition of a front sway bar.
- other than that, it's original.
I've done some research on Aussie bugs on the club VW site and I have some questions that need clarification......
It says that '58 models were still CKD. My Beetle has the Wolfburg crest on the bonnet and 'made in Western Germany' factory plate. Is it still an Aussie assembled CKD or imported from Germany?
Second, I've checked the available colours for the '58 year model (and 56, 57, 59) but can't seem to find one that matches the 'beige' colour of mine.
Any other insight or comments from Beetle gurus welcome 😊
Nice Car!
Have you checked this? The car may have been re-sprayed in a slightly different colour ?
http://www.thesamba.com/vw/archives/info/paintcodestype1.phpVery nice 👍
All the best with it, Rob.
"The best trophies are stone chips"
1969 1500 Beetle "Otis"
2008 Golf GTI
I did check on the Samba but it seems they had mostly different colours than Aussie VW's - or at least that's the case with splitties. Also, when I clicked on the colour it didn't really come up very well on a computer screen. Most if the beiges look grey.
It seems to have beige everywhere, including all the hidden, fiddly areas so if it was previously a different colour, they did a good job of changing it.....
Anyone got an idea regarding origin? CKD or fully imported?
Looks like Boronia Brown to me...an Aussie car.
Nice looking car. 👍
I'd rather wear a Beetle out by racing it than by polishing it!
I found this photo there of this '59 bug. It has German number plates, so not a U.S. Colour. Kalahari Beige L343..... Looks like the right colour??!!
I'll re phrase the question - did all Aussie assembled German CKD kits come with the 'Made in Western Germany' plate?
KombiMadness wrote:
I found this photo there of this '59 bug. It has German number plates, so not a U.S. Colour. Kalahari Beige L343..... Looks like the right colour??!!
KombiMadness wrote:I'll re phrase the question - did all Aussie assembled German CKD kits come with the 'Made in Western Germany' plate?
Hey that looks pretty right!!
We need Phil to comment on the above question!
Cheers and all the best!
Real nice car you got there, enjoy driving it mate who cares what colour it is.
bitten by the bug..........several times
It's made in Germany and has been imported out here at some stage, probably quite early on judging by the excellent condition. Most probably destined for the UK & brought out from there.
It's not Aussie made or CKD. Very nice car btw. I hope you are stoked with it.
DOKA Dave wrote:It's made in Germany and has been imported out here at some stage. Most probably from the UK.
It's not Aussie made or CKD.
OK, thanks for that info. Must've been imported from the UK a long time ago. The old guy who had it for all those years, bought it in 1960 when it was 2 years old. Also the fact that it is completely rust free backs that up - no old car could survive rust free after years on UK roads.
It could have even been brought out by VW for the motor shows & motoring press at the time if it's a 58. it's really not that unusual to find German made VWs out here. I grew up in Canberra and have owned lots of German made ex embassy VWs. They seem to have been the car of choice for lots of the European embassies based on how many (both RHD & LHD) used to frequent the roads & carparks & come up for sale during the 70s 80s & 90s when I was living there.
My current Kombi is a German built 70 model, it has a different build plate to the Australian ones, a European colour, (Neptune Blue) a made in West Germany plate and a seperate plate for M codes as well.
The German VWs had their bodies immersed in a tank of primer, making them a little better at coping with rust from the areas you can't see. They usually seem to cope a little better than the Clayton built ones because of this imho.
Excellent info.........
My chassis number and 36hp engine number are both May, 1958 which would pretty much confirm this bug has its original engine.
Nice bug Markus, are you bringing it to the nationals or have you still got the yoot and bringing that.
Hi Adam,
No, it's still up north in my nephew's garage unfortunately. I will probably go to the Nationals in the split yoot if the weather behaves. Otherwise, I'm coming in a 'normal' car.....
This is awesome. Great find!!
