If you were putting together a UK 67

[AntLockyer]

Would you build it with uprights US 67 style wings/lights or UK style slopers?

This is something I've battled with for years. My 67 has uprights but part of me feels like it's a little like putting early wings and a long bonnet on a 70s bug.

UK 67

[pupjoint]

depends on the condition and history of the car when you got it? i have always wanted a Cal Look US Spec 67 RHD with steel roof. however they only exist in 2 countries that i know of, maybe more i am not sure.

when i got mine, i couldnt bear myself to modify it, due to the condition it was in and the owner has had it since 1968 - gift from late hubby. also original cars are getting harder to come by in my place. condition wasn't that great, but for my climate it is considered damn good.
















67 meets my 66













this is where the car has lived since original owner bought it in 1968 from an expat in Taiping. the lady's husband was a doctor and those days only profesionals can afford a european car like this.
















this tyre should be from 1967






now who says VWs need to change their floorpans?  :evil:





ashtray looked brand new LOL





http://www.thesamba.com/vw/forum/viewtopic.php?t=483020&highlight=fontana+gray+grey

[Steve67]

I faced the same decision and went for the us look
The original fenders were rubbish anyway because of a crash many years ago
If I do not like it anymore one day I can still buy european fenders...
Best regards

[Rick Meredith]

I'd go with the Euro Fenders. US Spec fenders are expensive even over here for the OE German steel ones and the repops will never look "right."
The repops have the horn grilles in the wrong location and the buckets are higher in the fenders.

If I didn't have the right fenders, I'd have no problem putting the Euro/Early spec fenders on my car.

[AntLockyer]

It was more a philosophical question rather than what I'm doing with my car. I'm leaving it as it is for the time being as I'm trying to get up and running as quickly and cheaply as possible. Although who knows what the future holds I have a brand new pair of sloping Hella lights but I just sold the 911 lenses I had.

My car's been cut about so much, I've no idea what parts are on it.

[Garrick Clark]

Hi.I think the us spec 67 with the uprights looks just right.I've just bought 1 like yesterday,savanna beige,never welded,ratty looking,narrowed,ex us turbo racer from the states,no engine and box tho. boo

[beetletom]

they look hard with us spec front wings!

[hotrodsurplus]

It was more a philosophical question rather than what I'm doing with my car. I'm leaving it as it is for the time being as I'm trying to get up and running as quickly and cheaply as possible.

What fenders do you have now?

[AntLockyer]

It was more a philosophical question rather than what I'm doing with my car. I'm leaving it as it is for the time being as I'm trying to get up and running as quickly and cheaply as possible.

What fenders do you have now?

The ones in that picture above the satin black one. They are uprights, I'm guessing pattern parts. It's also got holes in the front valance for US spec bumpers which it probably didn't have from new as it's a standard model.

[pupjoint]

My car's been cut about so much, I've no idea what parts are on it.

i would keep it a us spec if that is the case.

[hotrodsurplus]

What fenders do you have now?

The ones in that picture above the satin black one.

Those are my favorites for a '67.

Of course I would've said the same about covered lights if you had them. 

My point: build it with what you have. You can't go wrong either way but with vertical lights the car would look like an authentic California car...which is sort of the point if you think about it.

Here's another reason to run the vertical lights. You can run real H4 lights and it will still look 'pure.' You can use H4s in an early light assembly as well but then you have to run the non-fluted lenses...which aren't as cool. The fluted ones look neat but they aren't near as good as true H4 lights. And to make Porsche lenses work properly I'm almost positive that you have to run the Porsche reflectors. The 911 housing looks like the early Beetle housing but the reflectors mount to tabs in the bucket and not in the bolt-in housing (a bitch to swap but possible). The people who do it any other way are likely losing the benefit of the Porsche beam pattern.

[Dyno-Don]

The heck with all that - I just love the way that flatbed tow truck lifts the front wheels instead of a sloped or sliding ramp!

[Zach Gomulka]

It was more a philosophical question rather than what I'm doing with my car. I'm leaving it as it is for the time being as I'm trying to get up and running as quickly and cheaply as possible. Although who knows what the future holds I have a brand new pair of sloping Hella lights but I just sold the 911 lenses I had.

My car's been cut about so much, I've no idea what parts are on it.

Those aren't German fenders. Like Rick said, they're getting harder to come by.

I swapped to slopers on my '67 years ago, I was also going to ad a ragtop for the euro standard sunroof look. I never liked them, they didn't look as "brutal" to me as the upright lights.

[karl h]

i went for the US spec because one of the front fernders was missing on my 67. i did have fenders with the later headlights, one of them NOS, so i used them to be a little different. these are original german fenders from a later standard model (where the horngrills are moved out), no repops. since i wanted a standard type sliding sunroof too it wont be anything you could get from the factory anyway.....

[Steve67]

I'd go with the Euro Fenders. US Spec fenders are expensive even over here for the OE German steel ones and the repops will never look "right."
The repops have the horn grilles in the wrong location and the buckets are higher in the fenders.

If I didn't have the right fenders, I'd have no problem putting the Euro/Early spec fenders on my car.

The fenders with the wrong horn grill position are not always repops...
The german standart modell had fenders like that for a few years as well, so my car has original Volkswagen fenders but unfortunately also the wrong horn grill positions.
Best regards
Steve
Edit:
I see, Karl was a little faster with that imformation :-)

[Rick Meredith]

I'd go with the Euro Fenders. US Spec fenders are expensive even over here for the OE German steel ones and the repops will never look "right."
The repops have the horn grilles in the wrong location and the buckets are higher in the fenders.

If I didn't have the right fenders, I'd have no problem putting the Euro/Early spec fenders on my car.

The fenders with the wrong horn grill position are not always repops...
The german standart modell had fenders like that for a few years as well, so my car has original Volkswagen fenders but unfortunately also the wrong horn grill positions.
Best regards
Steve
Edit:
I see, Karl was a little faster with that imformation :-)

But still those would not be proper for a US '67

[Rick Meredith]

My point: build it with what you have. You can't go wrong either way but with vertical lights the car would look like an authentic California car...which is sort of the point if you think about it.

Yes but the Californians were trying to make their cars more European. 

[AntLockyer]

Those aren't German fenders. Like Rick said, they're getting harder to come by.

I swapped to slopers on my '67 years ago, I was also going to ad a ragtop for the euro standard sunroof look. I never liked them, they didn't look as "brutal" to me as the upright lights.

I agree about the brutality

It's not just the horn grills that are on the wrong place is it? The curve around he lights isn't quite right. I think this car was converted in the late 80s or early 90s the panels were obviously nicer back then as they have a real solidity to them.

[Rick Meredith]

Those aren't German fenders. Like Rick said, they're getting harder to come by.

I swapped to slopers on my '67 years ago, I was also going to ad a ragtop for the euro standard sunroof look. I never liked them, they didn't look as "brutal" to me as the upright lights.

I agree about the brutality

It's not just the horn grills that are on the wrong place is it? The curve around he lights isn't quite right. I think this car was converted in the late 80s or early 90s the panels were obviously nicer back then as they have a real solidity to them.

Yes. The fenders we got as replacements in the US were 68 and ups that were punched with horn grille holes and didn't have the holes for the bumpers punched. The headlight buckets on those were higher than on a "true" US '67 fender.

[thehanz DVK]

couldn't decide either so painted both style's and at the moment it goes with european style and 911 glass , maybe later change to us style....

[hotrodsurplus]

Yes but the Californians were trying to make their cars more European. 

I agree that most VW enthusiasts emphasize the continental styling of their cars. However, they weren't doing it to the extent that they were swapping vertical-light fenders for earlier ones on '67s. I have HVWs in binders back when it was Dune Buggies the Fun Car Journal and I can't remember a single cal-look '67 with earlier fenders. That doesn't mean it didn't happen; it merely means it wasn't very popular.

If anything the earlier cars were updated with vertical lights and IRS pans. You probably remember that for a while there flat headlight lenses were a popular upgrade for early cars there in the mid '70s. As for back-dating later cars, that got more frequent in the mid '80s.

[hotrodsurplus]

Yes. The fenders we got as replacements in the US were 68 and ups that were punched with horn grille holes and didn't have the holes for the bumpers punched. The headlight buckets on those were higher than on a "true" US '67 fender.

Are you SURE that a '68-up fender had a different headlight location? We have to be careful because this may well be an urban legend. 

[Rick Meredith]

Yes but the Californians were trying to make their cars more European.  

I agree that most VW enthusiasts emphasize the continental styling of their cars. However, they weren't doing it to the extent that they were swapping vertical-light fenders for earlier ones on '67s. I have HVWs in binders back when it was Dune Buggies the Fun Car Journal and I can't remember a single cal-look '67 with earlier fenders. That doesn't mean it didn't happen; it merely means it wasn't very popular.

If anything the earlier cars were updated with vertical lights and IRS pans. You probably remember that for a while there flat headlight lenses were a popular upgrade for early cars there in the mid '70s. As for back-dating later cars, that got more frequent in the mid '80s.

Bug-In 31

I guess I was out of the loop.  

[Rick Meredith]

Yes. The fenders we got as replacements in the US were 68 and ups that were punched with horn grille holes and didn't have the holes for the bumpers punched. The headlight buckets on those were higher than on a "true" US '67 fender.

Are you SURE that a '68-up fender had a different headlight location? We have to be careful because this may well be an urban legend. 

I've never measured them.

[hotrodsurplus]

That doesn't mean it didn't happen; it merely means it wasn't very popular.

and...

As for back-dating later cars, that got more frequent in the mid '80s.

Bug-In 31

And when was Bug In 31? 1983.

I guess I was out of the loop.  

No, you were just ahead of the curve. 

[hotrodsurplus]

I've never measured them.

Neither have I...until now. I have a gennie '71-'73 fender in original Yukon ('Yukky' as my ex called it) Yellow. I dragged it and a square and tape out and made some quick measurements. I'd like to photograph how I measured and start a new thread on the subject so others with OEM '67 fenders can post their findings based on the same measuring process.

This could be a real benefit for people who can better justify carving an inexpensive later fender than spending bigger bucks for a true '67 fender.

[javabug]

Post it. There's more than one of us here with OEM '67 fenders to measure.

[hotrodsurplus]

Post it. There's more than one of us here with OEM '67 fenders to measure.

Man, why's it always gotta be about YOU?! Sheesh! 

[Rick Meredith]

That doesn't mean it didn't happen; it merely means it wasn't very popular.

and...

As for back-dating later cars, that got more frequent in the mid '80s.

Bug-In 31

And when was Bug In 31? 1983.

I guess I was out of the loop.  

No, you were just ahead of the curve. 

Yep Oct 1983.

[javabug]

Man, why's it always gotta be about YOU?! Sheesh! 

Because I'm pretty cool?    That's what my mom says.