Aircooled VW South Africa

This might be the first time ever that this article appears on the web - straight from the horse's mouth, a full-page promotion I scanned tonight from the CAR magazine of November, 1976. That is almost 32 years ago.

The SP was indeed a special model - VWSA's only attempt to give the humble Beetle some official street credit. It was the R32 of its time, envied by many but owned by few. Finding one today for restoration is almost impossible, yet one should be able to build a fairly original replica using a standard '76 Beetle and some imagination. I am not sure about the exact number built, but it shouldn't be too many. (Oom) Chris from Lichtenburg owns a very rare black SP, with a VWSA numbered certificate - one of only 50 black ones built, not even mentioned in the article below. The article also doesn't have a pic of the SP interior.

When rebuilding HW1 (the colour change from blue to orange which turned into a complete restoration), I bought a battered old SP Beetle as donor vehicle. All the 'special' parts like the twin carbs, front spoiler and gauges were long gone, but I used the gearbox, and front suspension. (Sorry, not pics - it was before the days of digital cameras and ACVWSA) The rest of the SP was given to Danie in Bloemfontein, and he used the chassis to build his replica Kubelwagen.

So here goes, enjoy!

There was an original but taty silver one at Piston Rng the other day, had round tubing for bumpers but had all the other original bits with the SP stripes & all, could even still be original paint, but it realy was crying out for a make over, but yes not too many originals around anymore.
Was there ever a SP with the curved windscreen? Just wondering, as they ran at more or less the same time.

The front scoop on the SP? I bought a scoop mould from a swap meet some time ago, and would say that it is the same thing. Will look tomorrow and take a pic. The guy I bought I bought it from said he does not know where it came from only it is a VW scoop.
The more I look at the SP the more I start to like them.

I got a question on the SP, I read in a websight about a 'Special" SP that was build by VW? Any info on this? Look under SP and at bottom of page
http://www.sebeetles.com/sp_bug.htm

I have the 1977 road test from CAR magazine. Will scan it tonight and post it here...

I dismantled an original sp engine
it had smaller valves than a normal 1600 (same size as 1300 beetle)
the carbs and distrubutor came from brazil where they were used on the alcohol powered brazilia and a special Super Fusca edition.
The exhaust was designed in SA and built here
no special cams or flow work

Did they come with Resolit dizzies???
I have found several later 1600cc motors that had 043 castings came with the smaller valves too.

Watercool wrote:I got a question on the SP, I read in a websight about a 'Special" SP that was build by VW? Any info on this? Look under SP and at bottom of page
http://www.sebeetles.com/sp_bug.htm

I think that is a kind of a modern-day urban legend. Does anyone know anything about this quote below?

50 revised cars were produced by VW to enable them to take part in the South African 'Top of the World' rally. The race cars featured 1900 engines and 5 speed gearbox.

Information and pictures from 'Der Kafer IV' , Hans-Rudiger Etzold, 1995, and Kevin Chown

The only 5 speed tranny I know of belonged to Dave Engle in CT and is now owned by a dude in Edenvale. It's apparently a Gene Berg special never seen it but it's what the "new " owner told me.

In the tech section there is some info on the 5 speed mod....

The dizzy is an alu casting with cast mounts for the clips i dont remember ofhand whether the resolit name is part of it.
I think those smaller valves were to aleviate the cracking problem.
I want an old resolit for my Puma if any is around>
A

The dizzy is an alu casting with cast mounts for the clips i dont remember ofhand whether the resolit name is part of it.
I think those smaller valves were to aleviate the cracking problem.
I want an old resolit for my Puma if any is around>
A

From a 1977 VWSA Beetle brochure on thesamba.com:

http://www.thesamba.com/vw/archives/lit ... africa.php

What is different on an SP
front spoiler fitted with a piece of fender welt and pop rivits (painted body colour)
spare 5.5x14 rostyle supplied deflated
canister to inflate spare supplied under bonnet
all trim de chromed and painted black
no trim in window rubbers
sport bug steering wheel (quite common even overseas)
Kamei stripe kit with SP in place of Kamei logo
fibreglass rear valance to disguise exhaist cut outs
center console with gear lever boot (imitation leather)
Black door panels
late model headrest seats with black sides and tartan cloth inserts colour keyed to the exterior
padded dash
extra instruments oil pressure (0-5 kpa)
Volt meter
tachometer
185x14 radial tyres on rostyle wheels with chrome centercaps and trim rings
1600SP badge on rear deck lid
tail light besel and numberplate light housing painted satin black
Green tinted windows
shaded windshield
the engine featured two solex 32 34 Solex carburators
a different distrubutor
A sports exhaust with chrome tips
the cars were available in Yellow, Red, Silver, white and a few black cars. all colours except black had black stripes and the black cars had silver stripes
The bumpers were painted mat black with a semi reflective strip

Were the 14 inch Rostyles only fitted to the SP models?