Aircooled VW South Africa

Does anyone know if there is any truth in the story that VW fitted 2 different lenses to their busses during the 60's.According to the story they fitted a different lense to the left side for the sake of pedestrians.

most cars are different on the drivers side so as not to blind oncoming cars...

HI,
I also thought left and right are different. Reflection of the beam different, ie.lines on the glass are different. But are the split bus head lights the same as the old type beatles (interchangable ???)

Thanks
baron

The light housing and the trim is the same,but the lenses are different.Combi lights are horizontal and the beetle lights are vertical.

Chris wrote:The light housing and the trim is the same,but the lenses are different.Combi lights are horizontal and the beetle lights are vertical.

But if you put the Beetle lights on a Kombi, they would appear horizontal also

hmmmm.......had to think about that one for a second,and you are right.The kombi light makes a "Y" type split towards the outer side of the light but the beetle light stays straight through-out the entire lense.Some beettle lense is also distinguishable by a round cut in the cenrte of the lense.

Afraid the answer is not that simple
Prior to about 64 busses had a round indentation in the center of the lense and beetles had an oval indentation with the advent of lights that had dipping to one side there were variations on this theme (slashes out of the oval) and eventually a totally different lens evolved. these were different for left and right hand drive cars as wellsome lenses were totally clear for sealed beams as well
Armand

But all this still leaves me with the question.Did VW fit different lenses on the left and right hand sides.

Nope. You either had a set for LHD or RHD. I've seen a VW sticker, something like 'fur linksverkehr' (for traffic on the left side of the road) several times on SA Beetle/Bus headlights. THose lenses from the old Mercedes-Benz trucks will also fit a split bus, and I believe they are still available new?

The kombi lights have a totally different pattern than beetle lenses. And the kombi lenses differ left and right where beetles are the same for left and right. Even the chrome trim is different for kombi and beetle. Technically beetle lights will fit onto a kombi. Light beams will shine the wrong way. Both sets of lenses can differ for righthand drive and lefthand drive. You can look at the lens to see where the word ""TOP"" appears. See pics attached.

Set of kombi lights 60''s


Beetle 60''s


I have 2 different lens patterns for a 58 bus, willing to swop one to get a complete set. Thats the one with the circle in the middle.

I can get new lights (complete)for around R350@.If anybody wants let me know.I will send it to you any where in SA.Islanders need not apply.

Are they genuine? I will have a set if they are, but I know there are also fakes aroung which my mate put on his merc tuck, but the chroming didnt last a year...

These are the hella ones.

For the different lenses also check website dropgates, also plenty other info