Hey guys as stated i need some info on factory beetle convertibles.
Mainly how many were produced and if they were classed as a production vehicle.
As I believe they were manufactured by Karmann.
Cheers
Michael
You will find plenty of information on Karmann Cabriolets on http://www.thesamba.com
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Thanks for the info.
I'm looking into it to see if a beetle cabriolet silhouette Offroad race car will be legal in one of our classes to compete in the Australian Offroad
championship.
The class is currently dominated by front engined space frame Offroad trophy trucks from the United States.
One of the class requirements is the vehicle has to be based on a production vehicle. I need to determine what the term "production" vehicle means
in the eyes of the CAMS rule book.
Cheers
Michael
I have a australian delivered 69 beetle convertable, they are definetly a production vehicle with thousands built.
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LNC Industries (actually Larke, Neave and Carter in those days) and their subsidiary Lanock Motors displayed a Cabriolet for VW's NSW launch at the
Royal Easter Show in 1954. I'm not aware that they sold any more after that.
Apparently there was a Beetle Cabriolet on display at the Melbourne Motor Show in 1961, probably one of the first of the batch of 50 Phill mentioned.
Wheels Magazine tested a Beetle Cabriolet in 1963, so they may have imported a few more in dribs and drabs. They would have been available on the
European Deleivery Scheme - for Australians wanting to buy a new VW while on holidays in Europe and shipping it home; you applied through a VW
dealership. But not very many, and the FCAI's sales data from those times doesn't ever list Cabriolets as a separate model so we can't know how
many.
In Germany Volkswagen made the mechanicals and Karmann made the bodies. Between 1949 and 1980 the total production was 330,251. So yes, they were
certainly a 'production' model! They were a Volkswagen Type 151 (LHD) or 152 (RHD), when the normal Beetle sedan was a Type 111 or 112. In fact the
Beetle Cabrio is the third-largest selling cabriolet of all time, after the Mazda MX5 (~900,000) and the Golf Cabriolet (~680,000).
Wheels magazine also tested the cabriolet in the August 1961 edition priced at 1294 pounds.
Modern motor magazine also tested it in there August 1961 edition.
Cheers Jason
A good place to check for everything cab is http://www.Typ15.com the convertible register. Production figures for each year etc.
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Thanks again for the info. I think I have all I need to move forward on this.
And Matt a lot has changed in the sport since they made Bob Mowbray run his car in class 1.
Class 4 has been opened up to extreme 2wd which basically means anything goes as long as it resembles a production 2wd vehicle and as long as the
engine and transmission are in the same location as the production vehicle it resembles then u comply. At the moment the class is dominated by trophy
trucks with front engines and live axles but that might just change soon.