Posted by: SplitPersonality - 30 September 2010 13:16:44
When did the Beetle door hinge change from the early "5-finger" door hinges to the common "3-finger"? April 1949?

Posted by: ovals4ever - 30 September 2010 20:29:20
My March 31st Split has the '3 finger' style door hinges...

Posted by: axelstruwe - 23 October 2010 08:31:50
I think in the beginning/middle of 1946. My old november 1946 beetle has 3 fingers hings. The 5 fingers hings are typical for kdf beetles and the very earlyst postwar beetles in 1945/46

Posted by: bruce - 30 October 2010 20:14:37
A friend has an Apr 47 with the 5 finger doors. Here's a pic: [url=https://www.flickr.com/photos/22746410@N00/3265250877/]https://www.flickr.com/photos/22746410@N00/3265250877/[/url]

Posted by: SplitPersonality - 25 November 2010 09:31:21
Interesting comments - yet confusing... Bjorn Schewe also says early 46 was the changeover. Axel and Bruce: How absolutely certain are you that your respective cars have the original hinges/doors on them? It seems strange that there was paralell useages of old and new for a period of up to 2 years...

Posted by: Rattletrap - 28 November 2010 13:50:42
[quote=SplitPersonality]Bjorn Schewe also says early 46 was the changeover. It seems strange that there was paralell useages of old and new for a period of up to 2 years... [/quote] My unretored 1947 has 3 section hinges on the drivers door and 5 section hinges on the passenger door:? Paralell usage for 1946/47 therefore seems to be the answer. Early days of production, and what was available was used to get the car built I'd think:wink:

Posted by: bruce - 04 December 2010 08:51:01
Maybe for a while in 46-47 there were two suppliers of hinges.