You know what I haven’t done in a while? Geeked out about some minor footnote in Volkswagen history! I mean, I guess it hasn’t exactly been a while, but I guess the fact that this time I’m going to be talking about mirrors and weird radios and speedometers is a bit novel, right? Look, I’m just trying to justify to myself that my constant returning to topics that, were they the dead horse noted in the famous idiom, I have by now beaten into what is effectively horse pâté, is somehow just fine.
And you know what? I say it is fine, and I’m going to take that horse pâté and slather it on some mothercrunching crackers and go to town. That’s right, my friends, we’re going to explore two minor artifacts from the vintage Volkswagen accessory world that delight me, and a particular speedometer that confuses me. I’m pretty sure that I’ve noted before that delight and confusion are some of my favorite emotions, and the combination of the two, which I call befuddelightment, is a true joy to feel, so I hope you’re able to join me in this.
The first thing that I encountered that delighted me I saw in this Brazilian Instagram reel:
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Okay, so what are we looking at here? It’s a ’60s-era VW Beetle side view mirror, made by an aftermarket company named Hagus. The mirror itself looks pretty much like the factory mirror, at least for the external part, which is significant, as original factory VW mirrors were only an external part.
The box notes that the mirror is only for Beetles made after September 1967 – the start of the 1968 model year, and when the side mirror’s mount point moved from a threaded socket in the door hinge to a special threaded hole in the door itself.
I found a Facebook post from whom I believe is the same person, and that’s where I sourced these photographs. As you can see, this aftermarket side mirror has what appears to be a control arm and knob! That means this is an accessory internally adjustable side view mirror! Holy crap; this is a level of luxury I have never thought possible in a Beetle.
I accepted decades ago that, when driving my Beetle, if I need to adjust the mirror and it’s raining outside, then my arm is going to be wet. The idea that one could be driving a Beetle and adjust the mirror without rolling down the window and shoving your hand outside to physically grab the mirror itself, and instead could just use fingertips to control a small, elegant plastic knob like a king or emperor or sultan would, my lord, that’s a lot to take in.
I had no idea these existed. I’ve never seen one in person, and I’ve been to innumerable VW shows and the VW Foundation Museum in Wolfsburg. I’m thrilled just knowing this is a thing.
Bur we’re not done! There’s another surprise hidden in these pictures, and it’s not even noted in the post; it’s just hanging out in the background there. I’ve noted it with a little arrow for you, so you know what I’m talking about. See that little box with a dial, knob, and switch? It’s a radio. But not the usual kind of old VW radio!
No, this fascinating little thing is a radio designed to fit into a Beetle’s dashboard ashtray. Yes, it’s an ashtray replacement radio! These seem to be significantly more common than the internally-controlled side mirror, but they’re still not that common, at least as far as I can tell, as I’ve never seen one before. From what I can gather, these were Mexican made, FM only, and that switch on the front let you choose between 6V and 12V operation.
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I’m not sure what the big screw is for on the face of the radio, and I’m not clear how you adjust the volume and the tuning with that one knob? Maybe the inner and outer sections of the knob are independent? Maybe that screw does something?
I’m also not clear why you’d choose one of these over having a normal sized radio in the usual slot in the dashboard? Maybe it’s for setups where the normal radio slot is taken up with something like a CB radio? Or a dashboard toaster or something? Maybe you just want two concurrently-operable radios for just that right level of auditory chaos? Whatever the reason, I think it’s really cool, even if it’s a bit confusing.
Okay, since we’re at the confusing part of things, I have a little speedometer-based puzzle to ponder. I saw this Beetle speedometer for sale:
The site says this speedometer is from October of 1969. And the typeface used here fits that. But! There’s something big missing here: the fuel gauge.
You see, ever since 1968, VW inset the fuel gauge into the speedo dial, moving it from the separate location it enjoyed since 1962. As far as I know, no Beetle made in 1969 had a separate fuel gauge! Well, that’s not exactly true; Brazilian Fuscas did, but they didn’t seem to use this type of typography, and besides, the ad notes that this speedometer is from Germany.
Here, let me break it down for you:
Okay, so, Beetle gauges without an inset fuel gauge had that old-style typography with the 10, 20, 80 and 90 numerals upside-down compared to the rest of the dial, and with that almost 1940s-looking typeface. The last year of this style was 1968, and that was the first year of the inset fuel gauge.
In 1969 that narrow san-serif font was used, along with VW finally agreeing to label just what the hell the little warning lights in the gauge cluster were. As far as I know – or thought I knew – there were no (non-Brazilian) speedos without fuel gauges after 1968! Especially not ones that had the 1969-1972 narrow san-serif typography!
So what is this? Was VW still building ultra-low-spec Beetles? Hold on, I need to find out.
Wait wait wait wait. Holy shit. Are you kidding me? Was Volkswagen actually making a low-spec Beetle 1200 in the year of our lord 1969 that did not include a gas gauge? Holy crap were they cheapskates. And I’m not even sure how it makes sense, financially? Because they had to design a completely different instrument cluster with no fuel gauge and – did the Beetle 1200 include a reserve fuel tap, like the pre-fuel gauge Beetles had prior to 1962? If so, that feels like it would all cost more than just putting the damn fuel gauge in the car. If not, well, again, holy crap, VW, really?
Most customers seem to have opted for a fuel gauge, or added one later, as I’ve been trying to find pictures of a 1969 VW 1200 with the no-fuel-gauge instrument cluster, and this picture from one for sale is the closest I think I’ve found, and it’s not even 100% clear here:
I wish they’d have turned that wheel a bit so I could really see, but maybe they weren’t eager to show that this Beetle comes with no fuel gauge, or, depending on how you think about it, it does come with extra fuel management excitement. It’s definitely a low-spec Beetle, as it only has one sun visor, no dash padding, and the smaller headliner. Who else was selling new cars in 1969 with no fuel gauge? Even the cheapest Citroën 2CVs came with one!
Look at that! Once again, I’m befuddazzled! Befuddelighted, I mean. Confazzled, maybe.
An FM-only radio with a switch on the face for selecting 6- or 12-volt. That’s…boy, that’s different.
On the speedo – what’s the red cutout section at 50 kph for? Low fuel warning?
I have thought on the radio: maybe it only needed one dial and the volume is always at max.
It’s been a very long times since I manually tuned an AM radio, but I seem to remember the static between radio stations being fairly quiet, and the radio would get louder the closer you got to tuning to the station’s exact frequency. If you want it a little quieter, you just tune it a little off. Afterall, the Beetle wasn’t a quiet car and I doubt these had a lot of power, so something this simple might have worked.
I see the 1968 speedo is a VDO, my old employer. The rest aren’t marked as far as I can see. Did any other company make their instruments and gauges?
That screw on the radio might – and we’d need an image from the screw side to confirm – push out a wedge or something to lock the radio in place. That’s my guess anyway.