| [ Total Views: 1376 | Total Replies: 10 | Thread Id: 107464 ] |
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 Phil74Camper
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| posted on October 23rd, 2014 at 11:50 AM |
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1965 changes - nope we didn't get these
This is a news item from the Sydney Sun-Herald newspaper from 30 August 1964. It reports on the 1965 changes for the European Beetle.
As it turned out, no the Australian 1965 did NOT get the Euro model's bigger windows. The costs of changing all the Melbourne factory's press
tooling made it impossible. But the Aussie '65 did get a flat folding rear seat!
Interesting also that they compare the Aussie standard with the German standard Beetle. Ours indeed did have the Deluxe's all-synchro gearbox.
We didn't get the bigger window body shell until Australian manufacturing ended in 1968 and we got the German 1968 model (later CKD-assembled here).
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 vw54
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| posted on October 23rd, 2014 at 06:20 PM |
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NOPE we had to wait till 68
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56oval resto
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| posted on October 23rd, 2014 at 06:57 PM |
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i was lucky to source one of these a couple of years back , was imported - Canberra car - solid - will be a full resto , bahama blue , 1200cc ........
, last weekend hit the rear panels with some L519 bahama blue - just too see...
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vw54
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| posted on October 23rd, 2014 at 07:26 PM |
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looks like great project
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silver
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| posted on October 23rd, 2014 at 08:47 PM |
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Bahama Blue is my favourite colour My Spliity is painted that colour
Keeping it real !
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Phil74Camper
Son of Jim - Creator of Good
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| posted on October 24th, 2014 at 08:37 AM |
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Nice German Beetle! Ex-UK? No extra holes in the guards for the deluxe towel-rail bumpers. 99% of people would never pick it from an Aussie one (or
even know there were Aussie ones) but of course we should.
Note the horn bar - US/Euro Beetles in '64-'65 lost the usual chrome half-ring and just went with the cross bar. Then they went back to a half ring.
Aussie Beetles had the half-ring all the way through.
Also the wiper switch - see the push-button in the switch for the washers. Our Beetles didn't have that, it was the same solid switch until '68 and
the washers were operated by pulling on the switch.
The US/Euro fuel gauge is not electric like ours were, but rather just a float and cable. The gauge reads the level at all times, not just when the
ignition is on.
At least resto parts for Euro/US Beetles are easy to get!
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mactaylor
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| posted on October 24th, 2014 at 10:23 AM |
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Its like the 67 one year only model that we never got!
EVERLAST CONCRETE TANKS
1800 552 123
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Sunset Garage
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| posted on November 3rd, 2014 at 02:45 PM |
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It's only similar to the 67 beetles from Europe & the US with its window size. Other than that and a few minor changes like the 65 steering wheel
horn ring & 65-66 push button rear decklid, the 65 imported is pretty much the same. 66 imported has a lot more differences, and a 67 has an
absolute shitload.... hundreds of one year only parts.
The reason most of them are from Canberra, is because the embassies had their own cars brought over from their respective countries, and a lot of them
chose VWs. I've owned 3 ex embassy Beetles & knew the whereabouts of many others, as I grew up there. Most have disappeared now though.
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Phil74Camper
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| posted on November 6th, 2014 at 07:56 AM |
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Here's a slightly later news report from the Sydney Sun-Herald, 1 August 1965. The German Beetle had just been upped to 1300cc, while the Type 3
1600TL Fastback had just been released there. It was thought that both models would soon debut in Australia.
The Australian Deluxe Beetle did indeed go up to 1300 six months later, in early 1966, but was still the 1958-64 small window body shell. As the
article said, VW Australasia had invested too much money in local tooling to change to the new Euro body shell, and it was never stamped here at
all.
The 1600TL also debuted in Australia in 1966, but was sold here with a slight name change as the 1600TS. It was fully imported, unlike the 1500 sedan,
station wagon and panel van that were Aussie-built.
1964-65 marked the period where VW's Australian sales began to slide, and the company lost considerable market share to the Mini, Valiant and the
many new Japanese models. Local VW manufacture eventually had to cease in 1968 due to dropping sales and crippling losses.
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Joel
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| posted on November 6th, 2014 at 12:06 PM |
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| Quote: | Originally
posted by Phil74Camper
99% of people would never pick it from an Aussie one (or even know there were Aussie ones) but of course we should.
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It's frustrating when cars like that end up in the hands of the average Joe public who've got no idea what they have.
I've got a real soft spot for the 68 and later Euro Sparkafers.
theres only a handful of them privately imported here and many people have got them over the years just thinking they are late bugs fitted with early
parts.
There has been a couple on ebay/gumtree recently, one had a pretty solid body and was fairly complete but to the wheeler dealer that had it it was
just another old bug with no engine so he was only interested making money by parting it out.
the other I saw on the Gold Coast had been turned into a convertible.
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Phil74Camper
Son of Jim - Creator of Good
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| posted on November 21st, 2014 at 12:50 PM |
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This was how things panned out for VW in Australia in 1964-65, when they could not afford to update to all the Euro '65 improvements.
Look at the left graph of vehicle sales. From the start of 1964, the VW 1200 was the third-best selling car in Australia after the EH Holden and
Morris Mini, and well ahead of the Falcon and Valiant. But VW sales dropped steadily until September, when the Falcon and Valiant caught up. A sudden
surge to the end of 1964 saw the VW still in 3rd place - just.
But in 1965 it was all downhill. The VW was quickly passed by the Vailiant, and then the Falcon, and by March 1965 the VW was 5th where it stayed the
rest of the year. In fact, the text says the VW was also passed by the Ford Cortina in November 1965.
Note - see how unpopular the HD Holden was compared with the earlier EH.
Market share (right graph) tells a similar story. VW was third throughout 1964, but dropped to 5th in 1965.
And no, there would no improvement in the years following, as VW was later passed by Toyota, then Datsun, Mazda and Hillman by 1970. And by many more
by 1980.
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