TheSamba.com :: View topic - For inquiring minds. Bubble, egg taillights, 55 facts &

Wed Aug 18, 2004 9:36 pm

The first late 55 car I ever saw we found in Norcal had bullets, three fold rag, ribbed doors etc. but this car had egg taillights. This car was faded orig. paint and did not look to be altered in anyway. Stupid as I was back in the late 80's I really wanted a 54 so I didn't think twice about this car, then. Thats why it seems to be so confusing as vw seemed to have used different combinations. Anyways now that I now have a late 55 Rag with bullets, correct or not its getting eggs as I just like the look of the combination. Nothing with VW's ever seems 100% certain as to what they always used to a point that is.

Wed Aug 18, 2004 9:42 pm

my august of 54 has overrider holes in the front apron and it looks like its never been replaced also on the option codes it has #107 ram protection thats what they list on the birth certificate

Thu Aug 19, 2004 12:09 am

I just finished reading this thread and I must say there are either some serious misleading comments or some seriously mistyped posts. Lets just stop all the discussion here.

Here is the skinny on Eggshell(55 only) taillights.

In October of 1954, on beetles distined for the U.S. and North American market only, tail and brake lighting function were joined(meaning all rear veiwed lighting, turn signals included, thus 1955 beetles without semaphores). The cut-out in the lens housing(heart) was eliminated and all the rear lighting was done through the taillight lens. .

These new lenses, agian only for the U.S. and North American beetles , were made of dark red plastic and curved outward slightly. Priviouly, the rear facing lenses had been made of viloet red glass and were flat(heart taillights). The new taillights had a dual filament bulb and had a water drain hole at the bottom of the housing. The tail light lens was surrounded by a bright metal trim ring.

In may of 1955, more dramatic changges occured to the U.S. market rear lights. The tail light lenses were changed in size and appearance. The size of the lens was increaded so that it was taller, more oval(Snow flake, baby tail lights). This new lens was beveled at its edges, had a flat surface and was made of glass. The curved look was out. A single 6 volt two filament bulb was put in use. The dual filament bulb signalled stop and turns, since the semaphores had been discontinued on U.S. Beetles. Same as the above egg shell. Since that is the reason for the difference in Eggshells and hearts. The U.S. out lawed the semaphore. Other wise what was the purposed of the US market getting different taillights at all. Much like Bullets being added to US destoned busses.

In August of 1955, Beetles throughout the world recieved the newer style tail lights that were install on US market beetles in may of 1955. At the same time, the tail lights were moved up the rear fenders 60mm(2.4 inches). The tail lights had to be moved to be seen over the newer introduced overrider style bumpers install on US spec cars.

Ever noticed that a true 1955 US spec beetles taillights are hard to see behind the American style bumpers???

Listen 1955 beetles are a strainge bird. Ive seen cars with grooved doors no semaphores, batwing steering wheel, and bullets front turnsignals. Doesnt look like it makes any kind of sence. But one thing is for certain, if you have a 1955 beetle(meaning it has grooved doors, flat seat rails, and a heater knob BETWEEN THE SEATS) without semaphores, you should have EGG SHELL tail lights, unless it is an export beetle made between may of 1955 to August of 1955 then is should have the "snow flake" lights, that three months is where it gets tricky. But remember that April of 1955 was the start of production for the 1956 model cars. If you have a 1955 made before April with semaphores you should have heart period, there is no need to have a tail light with a dual filament bulb, what would be the point in that??? You cannot run flashing rear turnsignal and semaphores at the same time. Again that was the point in the different taillights added to the US spec cars.

Are you all confused yet????

texasbrown54 wrote: my august of 54 has overrider holes in the front apron and it looks like its never been replaced also on the option codes it has #107 ram protection thats what they list on the birth certificate

Do you know what an anachronism is bro??? All my literature says that American style bumpers were introduced in LATE April of 1955 on US spec cars. Thats 8 months after the birth date of your car. It is my understanding that overrider style bumpers were very fashionable in Europe and were often added to cars after the purchase, and making overrider holes in a apron/fender would be very easy. I have a uni-bit that does do it with a quickness.

Thu Aug 19, 2004 12:26 am

Know it all. J/K :lol:

Good info. Makes more sense broken down like that.

Thu Aug 19, 2004 12:31 am

That's why in my statement I have the ??? after '55 only. When I bought it I thought the same thing, "semaphores AND dual filament tail lights?" Obviously something was wrong, so the eggs had to go...

mr. warehouse to you wrote: My '55 came with semaphores and US only '55 tail lights ?? I swapped the '55 only ones out for hearts.

Thu Aug 19, 2004 12:58 am

Dave wrote: Skim, my '55 was painted a color called Nile Beige, code L-370. They didn't use it for very long, it was superceded by Prairie Beige (L-378, I think) very quickly. The Nile Beige is a kinda "creamier" Beige, I gave the paint mixer fits trying to match the color...

Nile Beige(L 370) was used from March of 1955 to march of 1956. Prairie Biege (L 378) only being used from April-July of 1956 and 1957 model year.

Sahara Beige (L 272) was the replacement for Sand Beige (L 90) in March of 1953 and was replaced by Light beige (L 275) in 1954(no date given)

No new biege was added in 1958. But in 1959 Kalahari Beige (L 343) was added.

Thu Aug 19, 2004 5:33 am

Yep, that's what my Progressive Refinements book, and The Car of the Century book, have to say, as well. I agree with trayle, Late '55's are a strange bird and it can get confusing.
Can't believe nobody has PM'ed me about the NOS Egg light housings. (Guess there aren't that many late '54/early '55 guys out there.)

Thu Aug 19, 2004 6:36 am

SuperSkim wrote: texasbrown54 wrote: do you know the production date on the Penty

If I remember correctly it was around april of 1955

April and May of 55 is the craziest months to figure out for ovals. All kinds of crazy shit going on.

Thu Aug 19, 2004 6:38 am

texasbrown54 wrote: my august of 54 has overrider holes in the front apron and it looks like its never been replaced also on the option codes it has #107 ram protection thats what they list on the birth certificate

#107 was for overriders.

Thu Aug 19, 2004 7:03 am

Hold up...I totally disagree with you Trayle. If you are saying what I think you are saying then, well, your wrong. US cars with eggs had semaphores. Period. The reason for the egg taillights was to incorporate the brake light with the taillight because nobody could see the brake light on top of the heart housing. The snowflakes were introducted with the front bullets in May (or optional in April of 55) to incorporate the blinking turnsignals so the semaphores could be dropped. Again, in April you could have gotten a factory option to get bullets and snowflakes instead of the eggs if you wanted or if mandated by state law.

Shit, check it out right here, what explains this?

http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?Vi...otohosting

Sorry, but when you say that semaphores were dropped in the US in 54, I disagree. Every original 55 with eggs I have seen has had semaphores. Every one. They were dropped in May 55 with the intro of bullets and snowflakes. If the eggs were used so that turn signal function was in the taillights, why were bullets not introducted until later in 55?

Eggs do not function as a blinker, I just modified my 55 taillights two months ago when finishing my April 55 vert because nobody can see the vert semaphores when I go to turn, so I wanted the egg taillights to blink.

Regarding the overriders, I know for a fact they were factory options before they were introduced to all North American cars in 55. So to call the guy out saying he shouldn't have overriders is a bit premature.

Regarding the ragtops, all 55 model years were 3 fold. Since ribbed doors were dropped during the 55 model year, you can have a 55 with a 3 fold and without ribbed doors.

Kevin

Thu Aug 19, 2004 7:42 am

mr. warehouse to you wrote: That's why in my statement I have the ??? after '55 only. When I bought it I thought the same thing, "semaphores AND dual filament tail lights?" Obviously something was wrong, so the eggs had to go...

mr. warehouse to you wrote: My '55 came with semaphores and US only '55 tail lights ?? I swapped the '55 only ones out for hearts.

Dual filaments were for brake function, NOT signal function.

Thu Aug 19, 2004 9:07 am

I agree, egg cars do have semaphores, I know where there is a ALL original '55 that was the 1st car sold at a northwest dealership. it holds it original agave green paint and has 23K original miles WITH eggs and semaphores. garaged and untuched since new.

Thu Aug 19, 2004 12:19 pm

Dave wrote: Skim, to the best of my knowledge and research, yes, that is correct, the "Egg" lights were US-only lights. The Hearts were used on non-US cars up until the late 50's/ early 60's, along with the semaphores. The thinking in the US was people were getting hit all the time, because no one was looking for non-flashing turn signals mounted up between the door and quarter windows, and they weren't looking for (almost) horizontally-mounted brake lights, either. I haven't found the documentation to support this, but I understand that the US told Volkswagenwerk that if they wanted to continue selling Type 1's in the States, then they had to make flashing turn signals and brake lights that could be seen more easily. The "Egg" lights were a temporary measure, until VW could design and manufacture something else, which makes me wonder- did they buy the "Egg" lights from a non-VW factory manufacturer, and if they did, who were they, and do they still have the stamping and molds to re-make them, and did they make them for other cars as well as the VW and if so which car and.... :?:

All this proves that the "chicken" came before the "egg." :lol:

Thu Aug 19, 2004 2:36 pm

2splits wrote: Regarding the ragtops, all 55 model years were 3 fold. Since ribbed doors were dropped during the 55 model year, you can have a 55 with a 3 fold and without ribbed doors.

Kevin

Ive never seen a 3 fold roof clip on a non ribbed door car. The semaphore post / pillar is different without the notches for the rubber door buffers. It would have an early square edged 56 style rag assembly. Who knows.

All 1954's came with semaphores. And also I have heard thet the 55 bubble / egg lenses were a north american thing not just an american thing explaining why camerod has seen them for sale at the canadian shows.

Thu Aug 19, 2004 3:11 pm

SuperSkim wrote: 2splits wrote: Regarding the ragtops, all 55 model years were 3 fold. Since ribbed doors were dropped during the 55 model year, you can have a 55 with a 3 fold and without ribbed doors.

Kevin

Ive never seen a 3 fold roof clip on a non ribbed door car. The semaphore post / pillar is different without the notches for the rubber door buffers. It would have an early square edged 56 style rag assembly. Who knows.

All 1954's came with semaphores. And also I have heard thet the 55 bubble / egg lenses were a north american thing not just an american thing explaining why camerod has seen them for sale at the canadian shows.

I agree. Those taillights went to the US, Canada and Guam.

Regarding the sunroof, the 2 fold was introduced on August 4, 1955 on chassis number 929746 making it a 1956 model year change (55 model year ended on chassis number 929512). So if ribbed doors went out DURING the 55 model year (did they?), then you could have a 3 fold with non-ribbed doors.

Trayle, look in progressive refinements page E-12, the "Flashing Direction Indicator System" was introduced on May 3-12 of 55".

Thu Aug 19, 2004 3:19 pm

2splits wrote: mr. warehouse to you wrote: That's why in my statement I have the ??? after '55 only. When I bought it I thought the same thing, "semaphores AND dual filament tail lights?" Obviously something was wrong, so the eggs had to go...

mr. warehouse to you wrote: My '55 came with semaphores and US only '55 tail lights ?? I swapped the '55 only ones out for hearts.

Dual filaments were for brake function, NOT signal function.

Right.
Now that I'm thinking about it, the reason I switched the tail lights was I wanted to make it look Euro spec. I traded the OG over rider bumpers to a guy for a set of sweet Brazilian euro blades (dumb dumb dumb).

Here's a better picture where you can see the over rider holes in the rear.

The being said look how low the tail lights are, they would have definitely been hidden behind the over riders.

Thu Aug 19, 2004 3:30 pm

Here's the 55 next to my 56 and 57 at the time. Notice the difference in the height of the lights between the 55 and 56..

Thu Aug 19, 2004 3:51 pm

so i guess on my birth certificate vw is wrong by listing option #107 ram protection, Trayle do you know what that option #107 is then thanks for any help

Thu Aug 19, 2004 4:05 pm

If I gave the impression that they dont have semaphores with eggs, thats not what I meant. I thought what I said was that the three month period where the "snow flake" tail lights were added was when semaphores were deleted on US spec cars.... LOL.. I told you this gets confusing.

Thu Aug 19, 2004 4:46 pm

Trayle D. the real oggfk wrote: If I gave the impression that they dont have semaphores with eggs, thats not what I meant. I thought what I said was that the three month period where the "snow flake" tail lights were added was when semaphores were deleted on US spec cars.... LOL.. I told you this gets confusing.

LOL. Thats why I hedged myself when I said, "if I understand what you are saying." Confusing as hell is what it is. 55 is the craziest year for this shit. Anybody know when ribbed doors were dropped?