First off, I would like to mention that I have some kind of weird infection in the top digit of my right index finger and it’s swollen and filled with pus and hurts constantly. It’s driving me bizzonkers, like having a constant annoying sound playing in the background, only instead of sound, it’s pain, and I want to chew my finger off but I suspect I’d regret that. Anyway, I’m on antibiotics, and I have an urgent care appointment happening soon to hopefully drain all the revolting material from in the finger.
Do you want to see the finger? I’m warning you, it’s gross aigh eff, but I know some of you kind of like seeing gross body horror stuff, and my job is to inform and entertain, so far be it from me to keep you from that. Anyway, if you want to see a gross finger, click here, and if not, stay the hell away from that hyperlink, for the love of all that’s holy.
Okay, now that that’s out of the way, let’s dig into something more interesting: the taillights on this Volkswagen Beetle that was photographed during a huge traffic jam around Atlanta in 1967:
A friend of mine sent me this image which was used in a Hagerty article but actually comes from the collection of the Georgia State University Library. It’s an image of a huge traffic jam on the I-75/I-85 connector, and my friend sent me the image because he knew exactly what would catch my attention: that VW Beetle in the lower right corner.
Let’s get a closer look at that Beetle. Computer! Zoom in section I7 and enhance!
There’s two Beetles here, of course, which is actually useful for our discussion. The one I’m interested is the one on the bottom, which I think is a 1956 Beetle, the last year of the oval window. It’s also the first year Beetles had those bumper “towel rail” overriders, and also seems to feature the “heart” style taillights that incorporated an extra brake light window atop the taillight housing.
What makes this Beetle interesting is that the owner seems to have added some auxiliary taillights high on the rear fenders:
I’m not sure what that is on the left there; I thought it was another add-on taillight, but I think it may be something else? I showed this picture to some friends at a new local taillight bar, Randy’s Red Rear Rec Room, and was met with a lot of impressed looks and low whistles of approval, but not much else, because it was half-off shots Thursday and everybody was pretty liquored up. One woman puked on my shoes, but she said it wasn’t because of the added taillights. At least not directly.
Anyway, I find this all fascinating because it highlights a real problem with late ’50s and (very) early ’60s Beetle taillights: they were too damn small, and positioned in a really absurd way, when you think about it.
Just look at that picture; the ’56 taillights are almost completely obscured by the bumper overriders from the vantage point of a car behind the Beetle. The other Beetle in front of the one we’re focused on seems to be a ’62 to ’65 or so (I can’t quite see enough to tell) and has larger, higher taillights introduced in 1962.
Here, let’s look at the basic issue: the old, small, low-mounted Beetle taillights were okay when combined with the pre-’56 or Euro-style bumpers that lacked overriders. But once the extra bumper hardware appeared, the lights were effectively blocked:
I don’t really understand why it took VW so long to enlarge and raise the height of these lights, but they did, finally, in 1962, as you can see here in this press photo:
Finally, the lights are above the bumpers and fully visible to the cars behind you! Let’s look back at those add-on taillights:
I suspect that these lights act as – at least – added brake lamps, and maybe even duplicate the turn indicator and basic taillight functionality, too. I salute this Beetle owner, because from a safety perspective, this is a great idea: the high location of those added lights should make them visible to almost anything driving behind you.
I wish I could tell exactly what those lights are from, but I can’t quite tell. They may be off-the-shelf trailer lights from some auto parts store, but they seem well-mounted on those fenders. I wonder if these were added out of caution, or as a result of a previous rear-end collision of some kind? Or maybe the driver having trouble seeing the taillights on other Beetles? We may never truly know.
So, whoever you are or were, Atlanta-area Beetle owner who actually gave a crap about not getting rear-ended and taillight visibility, I salute you and your effective taillight modification work! I hope those things helped!
Anytime JT schools us on bugs, buses, and/or taillights is perfectly fine w/ me even if he…gives us the finger. Ha ha
I think I count 7 Beetles – have I missed any?
Straight from the JC Whitney catalog?
1957 was the last year for ovals.
Good eye there Torch, with the lights there it looks like it’s ready for the Baja fender mod.
When I was a kid in England the over-riders and “towel” bars were referred to as American bumpers.
In Canada where my parents acquired a 1967 “Beetle” they were part of the “Deluxe” package.
I wonder how common the towel bars (not the drinking club) actually were in global Type 1 markets?
My grandfather regarded the US-style bumpers on his Beetle as a prized possession and was still angry decades after they actually got stolen one night. After that, he immediately rented a garage and the days (and especially nights) of curbside parking were over.
Re: Why would VW do this??
The laws back then were far different. Almost anything, including options, could be imported as-is and making it “road legal” would be up to you and your local dealer.
An Austin dealer near me used to import their cars with semaphores but they’d disable them and add N.A. spec signal lamps before the customer ever saw the car.
Decades later I bought one of those old Austins, found the cut wires and reconnected them. Those 40 year old semaphores popped right up and the lights inside them still worked too. Semaphores fascinate people for some reason.
That’s also when I found out girls really dig cute unique cars, and mostly view hotrods as a male ego trip.
I was thinking along the same lines. In Germany, the Ovali was sold with trafficators exclusively. Maybe somebody wanted flashing indicators on their imported Beetle and put them in a weird place?
On the other hand, I’ve never seen a European Ovali with the big bumpers. It’s really a mystery.
Car requirements are based on the minimum usually nothing is said about additional details. Too sad
Meh. Had a similar issue in my big toes which eventually required the surgical removal of both toenails. Big toes with scar tissue instead of nails look pretty gross, but are nothing compared to the feeling of peeling off socks that are stuck to your toes with dried, congealed pus!
Oh yes the puss blister I get those frequently I depuss them with a needle and go about my day. I’ll email you a picture.