Hi Everyone,

I was wondering if anyone could tell me
if the 71 Bug had reverse lights when it
came out? I had my bug rewired today
but I wasn't sure if I should have reverse
lights or not. The light casing on my bug
has a reverse light though.

Hope that makes sense lol
Have to go to work will check back later

Thanks in advance

Reverse lights first came out in 72 as far as I know

Not sure if it was out then but worthwhile having them anyway. Just check that you also have the ability to fit a reversing light bulb as well. Just because the lens has the clear section, doesn't mean you can fit a bulb under that. You will need to take off the lens and look at the silver fitting underneath to check if there is a plug position underneath the brake light bulb.

Yogie

as above reverse lights didnt start till 72
the 68-71 lenses with no reverse light arent availble new so thats the reason so many have reverse light lenses fitted

they can be fitted but it takes some wiring and parts.
the switch needs to be fitted to the gearbox and although the light housings have the mounting hole for the reverse lights they dont have the actual bulb holder

i wouldnt bother honestly its not like they throw out usable light anyway

My 69 has an external reversing light fitted to the rear bar. It is wired to a switch in the gearbox but requires the car to be moving reverse before the light activates rather than working off the gear lever position.

It is kinda strange when you start reversing the light comes on but if you stop and change gears to 1st the light is still on untill the car starts moving forward then it extinguishes.

Because it is an external light it does light up area you are reversing into which is good.

Ours do light up behind the rear when you are reversing but I think the more important things is that it lets others now you are about to reverse. Could save a lot of grief in the car park.

Yogie

Quote:

Originally posted by Sherbie Hi Everyone, I was wondering if anyone could tell me if the 71 Bug had reverse lights when it came out? I had my bug rewired today but I wasn't sure if I should have reverse lights or not. The light casing on my bug has a reverse light though. Hope that makes sense lol Have to go to work will check back later Thanks in advance

Hi

I agree they are good as an indication to other drivers that your about to reverse a freind had really bad incident when he was waiting to reverse in his 1500 bug with another driver, he defused by saying to other guy,"well show where the reverse light are supposed to be on this car".

We have a 100 metre long driveway that we sometimes have to reverse up, I fitted some 50 watt halogen bulbs to my sons bug, these are made by Phillips (pn# 795XB1) and are about $15 each.

I just bought another 4, 2 for my sons Skyline and 2 for my bug, the misses can buy her own.

Steve

The bulbs in my sons car

those halogen lights get VERY Hot Steve...

I think they may melt My lenses..??

I suppose it depends on how long they are on for...

and the 1303 lamps are much bigger in area too
for the heat to disperse...

LEE

dangerous dave will be able to confirm when it started but most gearboxes before 72 just have a blank bung in the nose cose that can be swapped for a reverse light switch

definately all the 68 on ones atleast

Hi Lee

The Phillips tech guy said don't use them when you go camping to set up your tent by, no issues so far, put them in last July.

Steve

Thanks everyone for the great replies.

I didn't think 71's came out with reverse
lights.

For now I am happy just to have high & low
beam I have been driving on my high beams
for a few weeks. The reason I got her re-wired
was due to the headlight situation & she was
cutting out all together when I put my brakes on.

I have ordered some new tail-lights so will get
them back out to wire up some reverse lights once
we put them in.

I am just happy to have a car that works properly now lol.

Hi

I saw an interesting reverse light switch on bug once, it was a door contact switch on a special bracket on the shift coupling, when reverse was selected the switch made contact with the chassis.

I used to have one of those reverse light switches on speedo cable on my Beetle rally car, if I made a mistake and had to reverse in a forest it was pretty scary waiting for the light to come on.

Steve

Not a good thing for Rallying Steve...

I had a Mitsubishi Galant years ago.... [chysler badged]

and you are only supposed to go forwards... lol
in Rallying...

LEE

talking about lights Steve,

I used 4 Big Hellas [cibie too expensive..lol]

but the normal Hi/Lo beam in My galant I bought Cibie headlamps

with spotlamps built in...

I should have kept them... but they were 5 3/4...

Never seen any 7 inch of those...

that was back in the 70s..

cheers

LEE


My Beetles lights

Hi Lee

Still have the Cibies, I sometimes fit them to my son Davids car.

There was some Cibie Biodes 7 inch headlights like you described on Ebay a while back, they went for silly money, around $400.

I wish I had kept some bits of my old rally car, it had many VW works team bits on it that were scrounged by the previous owner, I sold the car with a Halda twinmaster and all sorts of goodeis for $600 with rego.

The car was a 30th birthday present from my wife, she bought from an old friend of mine, when I started doing shift work I couldn't compete anymore so I sold it.

Steve

Hi
I rewired My beetle during its restoration..

and its new Hella H4s are excellent headlights...

You wouldn't be able to drive towards Me.. lol

Lee