Aircooled VW South Africa

hi guys how do i id a real sp i know some of the things bu what
on sp can really confirm its a real one...

New from the showroom floor, the 1600SP had 14 inch Rostyle wheels, blacked-out bumpers, side trim and door handles (no chrome), additional VDO gauges on both side of the speedo, blocked pattern cloth on the seats, a 3-spoke VW steering wheel, factory tinted windows, an unique exhaust system with the cutouts in the rear apron covered by a special fibreglass cover, a front spoiler, and of course the rare twin Solex carbs with the plastic rain catcher under the rear lid. They were available in red, white, yellow, silver (all with a black 'SP' Kamei stripe over the roof), and a limited edition (only 50 made) black version with a silver stripe. The VW1600SP badge on the rear was plastic, and it had no VW badge on the bonnet.

That's about it. No official production numbers are available, and there is no way to determine a 'genuine' SP from a chassis or VIN number.

The trim rings on the wheels of the car in the picture below was a popular accessory, normally added by the dealers for buyers at their request.

at first glance from a stones throw away considering that all the below could have been removed over time: the livery. Should have the sp stripes. Sp only colours. (metallic )14 inch rostyles and wheel trims. Black trim. 3 spoke steering. Rev counter and 2 extra vdo gauges. 2 tone check velour and vynil seats with head rests. Flat h 4 head lights. Engine with dual solex carbs and lastly the 1600 sp deck lid badge

Pine thos twin solex carbs yoy may b know were i can get a set of manifolds 4 a set of them. ? (sory 4 hijacking)

From the SP brochure:

thanx guys might be buying one tomorrow needing some tlc and it seems some bits...thanx for the info guys....

Bought one of those yellow SP's EXACTLY like in the pics new in 1975....
MAN what a great beetle!

Ya , they ran like a bird - Its just a real pity that people were so impatient with the twin carb setups and often junked them in favour of the standard beetle single carb setup, as they were relatively maintainance intensive

To find GOOD sets of those carbs is very difficult these days, as they used to suffer from choke system and linkage wear and the top aircleaner mounting stirrup used to break out from overtightening the aircleaner nut. Also, these days , the airfilter elements cost about R80-00 each and dont last that long either.

But with the standard aircleaner elements it is still a very good set-up, and makes a really good difference to a standard Bugs performance!
-Especially at the coast

Wade has always run a set of these carbs and even with the slightly rich (bugs need to run slightly richer than w/c cars) standard jetting , has always found it to been more economical than a standard 1600 bug

Correct me if I'm wrong but aren't they supposed to have headlight rims made of brass with only one screw at the bottom instead of those chromed plastic ones on the others?
It was mentioned that there were 50 built were these the ones that were made for the top of the world rally with 5 speed gearboxes that are mentioned in : http://www.sebeetles.com/sp_bug.htm
Where are these gearboxes? Where can I get one? was there any change made to the chassis or the body to accomodate this gearbox? They have to be somewhere

they were fitted with hewland mk 5 five speed gearboxes there is the one in my car . one in the car in japan which is in the hands of a private collector . one has been modified and fitted in a 1303 also in the uk after the car was scrapped over there and the gearbox came over as a vw gearbox and vw relecs realised wtf it was , so you have two to find ,
best of luck . if you do find one i will buy it as a spare and will fly out and collect in person.

There were 50 black SP's built, all with a numbered certificate. This is the only one I have ever seen with my own eyes

god the black looks sexy as feck , will keep mine glow in the dark white tho

Sorry about this cos it's got nothing 2 do with the SP but are those louvres still made and available in South Africa?

5 Speed ey?
I had no idea... But I would love a 5 spd box for my bug.

VW1600S wrote:Sorry about this cos it's got nothing 2 do with the SP but are those louvres still made and available in South Africa?

Correct me if I'm wrong, but aren't those louvres by Perana, the same guys (headed by Basil Green) who built high performance Ford Corsairs, Cortina's, Escorts, Sierras etc?

I doubt that they will be available new, but finding one at a swop meet shouldn't be too difficult.