1957 Oval Ragtop - the sympathy purchase

[nmshaikh]

I have decided to start putting the things that I can, myself, at home instead of taking the car to the workshop where she is going to be rubbing shoulders and accumulating nicks and scratches from people squeezing past and metal objects being bumped into carelessly. It is time to dig into my collection of NOS parts that I have collected over the years. The first part to go on the car would be the Blue wolfsburg crest that goes on the bonnet near the hood handle.
The Ovals came with a Wolfsburg crest that was predominantly blue and had the castle and the wolf. Now all the blue crests look almost the same except that there is a difference between the crests that went on early Ovals and the ones that went on later. Here is a picture of the crest I pulled off the net.

[lazeez]

How about a side by side comparison of early and late oval crests?

[nmshaikh]

How about a side by side comparison of early and late oval crests?

I have both the crests - early as well as for late ovals. I just need to take some good pictures using my DSLR so I can point out the differences. One of these came with Ovals from early 50's to mid and the other came from mid to about 1958 (57 was the last year for ovals but the crest continued in 1958 and in some might say on 1959 model year cars. For now here is a picture of the one that I took this morning.

[nmshaikh]

Ok here are the two different crests. The differences are minute but that is what makes them correct or otherwise for your car if you want to do it right.

You can look and try to spot the differences in the two. I will help you in the next few pictures.

[nmshaikh]

The back of one made by Lauer

[nmshaikh]

A little on the history of these crests. VW had (has) the right to the wolfsburg crest ot allow and they did not (still don't) allow aftermarket manufacturers to use the VW crest. China was a wee bit too off the scene in those days to worry about copyright infringements. The crests were on the hoods of cars produced up until early 63 (a different design from 1958 on)

The crests were stamped (NOT cast) and then the colours were probably hand filled. The finished product was then baked for the colours to fix. At the time VW was producing close to 2000 cars a day so the production of these was outsourced to KSP (K. Schwager Pforzheim), Lauer NBG (Nurnberg), and Lange. I have seen crests produced by a few other makers but I cannot recall their names. All I can say is that they would have to be officially licenced parts if VW put them on their cars. While the crests themselves are almost identical regardless of who produced them there are minute differences that are more time related. e.g if you looked closely at the second line of bricks from the bottom on the castle itself you will find that the early castles had four bricks as opposed to three in the later models. The tip of wolf's tail points left in the pre 55 crests and right in the later years. The waves at the bottom of the castle are thinner in the pre 55 crests and thicker in later years. There may be other differences that I am not aware of but the above mentioned few differences are easier to spot.


As my car is a 1957 model year therefore I am putting a 3 brick, right pointing wolves tail and thick waved crest on it.

[lazeez]

Wow. If the entire car is fixed up to this much detail my head will explode.

[NaveedRizvi]

Hahaha!!!

[nmshaikh]

Wow. If the entire car is fixed up to this much detail my head will explode.

Details are always there...All my restoration projects receive the same attention to details. This is a special project so I decided to share and point out:D

[Xulfiqar]

Wow. If the entire car is fixed up to this much detail my head will explode.

This is what differentiates boys from men.

[parapilot]

Finally she got the attention she deserved

Great going Nasir, can't wait to see the finished product.

[nmshaikh]

The bonnet on the oval is a 4 tab type. The term '4 tab' refers to the 4 slots for the fitting of the VW emblem which itself is a special one. The 4 tab hoods for the oval are different in the early oval beetles (I believe upto 1955) and then continued till about early 1960. It was then discontinued and a three pin emblem was introduced which was the same as the area where the emblem was fixed was not raised but flat as in the ovals. In about 63 the area where the emblem was fixed was raised a few mm. I will share the pictures of the changed design as when I get a chance to photograph one.

There is also a difference in the design of the inside top corners of the bonnet but those went unchanged from 1955 to about 1958. As the correct bonnets for early cars are getting harder to find, one can fit a later (upto 1963) bonnet and no one would notice the difference unless they popped the hood. Wolfsburg west sells a German emblem that looks like the pressed 4 tab one but fits like a later one with three pins. I was however lucky to find a period correct 4 tab hood in the US which was almost rust free and never dented or repaired. The same went on the Oval with minor metal work.

The 4 tab emblem went on the car today. I would like to do a lot more and sooner but my professional commitments prevent me from gaining the pace I would like. This is about to change. Come Friday and you will see some major leaps in that direction.

[msabbasi]

Irfan has yet again worked his magic. Love the reflection of the trees in the paint

[nmshaikh]

I start the day with fitting the fender beadings. I am using a soft neoprene beading made by Wolfsburgwest that should bend along the curve nicely. I am using all original hardware wherever possible. The car came with bolts made by Kamax and I had them cleaned professionally and phosphated to preserve and rust protect them. Before fitting I am applying copper grease lubricant so they don't seize up in the years to come.

[margallar]

great attention to detail

[Xulfiqar]

I start the day with fitting the fender beadings. I am using a soft neoprene beading made by Wolfsburgwest that should bend along the curve nicely. I am using all original hardware wherever possible. The car came with bolts made by Kamax and I had them cleaned professionally and phosphated to preserve and rust protect them. Before fitting I am applying copper grease lubricant so they don't seize up in the years to come.

The good thing about german manufacturers are that they proudly use branded fasteners, these kamax ones are fantastic just look at the hex - its literally chunky and not bitten by tools..

[nmshaikh]

The good thing about german manufacturers are that they proudly use branded fasteners, these kamax ones are fantastic just look at the hex - its literally chunky and not bitten by tools..

I totally agree. I had a large collection of these when they were available aplenty as the kabarias were parting the VW's at a dizzying pace. They were happy to sell me Dalda tin-loads for as little as Rs.100 and were happy to earn some extra cash as nobody would buy the hardware and the mechanics usually picked what they needed for free. I am almost at the end of my collection and while they are still available freely with VW wreckers in the US, it is a task to get them over. Imagine going thru the customs with a box of used nuts, bolts and washers.

[Xulfiqar]

I totally agree. I had a large collection of these when they were available aplenty as the kabarias were parting the VW's at a dizzying pace. They were happy to sell me Dalda tin-loads for as little as Rs.100 and were happy to earn some extra cash as nobody would buy the hardware and the mechanics usually picked what they needed for free. I am almost at the end of my collection and while they are still available freely with VW wreckers in the US, it is a task to get them over. Imagine going thru the customs with a box of used nuts, bolts and washers.

lol,,, I used to buy same tin loads in Karachi, from lawrence road - a few shops knew what I wanted and kept aside these for me, same in shershah scrap market. Usually exchanged for Rs 100/- to Rs 500/- depending on what was there.

while most people wanted the "jenyan japani style" bolts n nuts with material hard as cheese I would buy these.

hmm - customs declaration on used fasteners would really raise some eyebrows,, specially our customs who are smart as a pack of ciggies.

[nmshaikh]

A lot of progress over the last two days. I now have all side trim installed, front glass fitted, rear oval window installed complete with trim, one side quarter window installed complete with trim, both door locks installed, door seals fitted, One of the vent windows installed, door trim frame fitted, and a host of other small parts fitted back to start making the car look like a car again. I will be sharing the pictures soon. Meanwhile the focus is going to be on the engine. I need to get the car moving on her own so I can drive to the workshop for some fittings that I cannot do on my own without risking my back.

I am quite pleased with what I see parked in my driveway right now.

[msabbasi]

Nasir Sb. I came across this circuit on Team-BHP website that is a converter for 12V to 6V ref your radio:

The interesting thing about this circuit is the component that looks like a transistor is actually voltage regulator. Good for small current duty. Might come in handy at a later stage.