My new early Feb '55. I love this car already! Far from perfect and quite dented even the roof but still a very happy little car. A few jobs to do and new crossplies and a matching logo windscreen to find before it can go for an MOT as it has been laid up since the 60's.
103,000kms original engine & L275 Light Beige paint. I will not use the car very often at all so dont worry, the paint will be ok :wink:
I am repairing the front seats at the moment ( torn on the tops) And if anyone has the correct code for the wheel hubs (copper red?) to make matching a bit easier for me to paint 2 I would love to know!

"Love is"..my first oval 😃

A week of cut & polishing has never been so satisfying!

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These light beige Ovals are becoming ten-a-penny now aren't they?!?!

Stunning find, congratualtions!

Its superb to see how well the paint has come up with some tlc. Caledfryn - your right! these light beige ovals are getting a bit common. Mine is a November 54 in the same colour, but not as good in condition as yours and Anna's.



I read that Caledfryn is not taking his to Lavenham, but will your 55 be there Anna? Were taking the Kombi and very much look forward to catching up with both of you.

Great work Mrs Herbie- inspiring!

Phill Thomas.

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sweet

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Nice one Anna- love it! 😉

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I might come down to Lavenham in mine. Just trying to work out the logisitics of where to stay really.

Any other details Anna? e.g. wheels and interior ?

My '54 seems to have cream centres on the wheels and light beige rims. Also, the logo on the hubcaps has been picked out in a light blue colour. They would seem to be the originals and I wondered whether they were colour coded to match the interior which was the slate blue leatherette.

Great looking car!

I believe the red is sealing wax red. That is what it was on early splits, etc. and I'm pretty sure that lasted into 54/55.

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Its not sealing wax red - my last van was that colour; these look more like coral red to me. This was the colour i had in mind to restore the centre of my wheels too. There appear to be many variations of interior colour and material types - could you describe yours in more detail please Anna. I have a brown vinyl running up the B posts which is original, but have had to buy a nice and 'sympathetic' interior in a rich wine coloured vinyl. See you soon.


Phill.

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Wow Anna looks just as nice as you described it to me at Stanford Hall, I have looked up the wheel colour for you in Bob Wilsons book, I know this is not 100% accurate but it states:-

54 model year up to March 55
L275 Light Beige, deluxe hub colour L87 Pearl White

The Red hub was a bit earlier from March 53 - 54 model year
L272 Sahara Beige, deluxe hub colour L53 Sealing wax red

and Oct 52 - Mar 53
L90 Sand Beige, deluxe hub colour L53 Sealing wax red

Still think your car would like nice with Sealing wax red hubs though 😃

Yes it is.

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You got me there!

Keep us informed of your choice Anna - I have plenty of sealing wax red for you to try.

Phill.

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That's dead nice, that is...

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I've a beige oval too :lol: , and my Sahara beige Sept '53 car also has red hubs.
All the wheels are dated 3/53 and they appear to be original paint, have scraped some red off and there are no other layers of red paint.
I know that many of the authenticity books get details incorrect for these early cars but am wondering if the hubs on mine are Tile Red?
My wheels look like a terracotta colour, would sealing wax red oxidise/fade to this colour after 50+ years?
Haven't tried t-cutting the wheels yet and have a feeling I may have to get them colour-matched, but sure would like to solve this red wheel colour mystery! :lol:

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Reds (and yellows/oranges) tend to fade a lot. Have you taken a look at the red under the hubcap, I'd imagine it will be a lot less washed out?

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Use G 6 To polish the car , Rob nows where you can get it !
You'll be surprised of the result !
The best polish I ever had !
BTW Rob I could use one also !

Guido

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Its sealing wax red.

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Hi Ovalbug - as I mentioned earlier , i had a sealing wax red splitty which was the same colour as your wheels when I bought it!

It was good to bump in to you today - hope you found even more illusive parts than those you had accumalated when we had a chat.

Phill Thomas.

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Hi!
Sorry I posted the car up then got busy doing something else..

Yes I looked it up in that book too. Conflicking information also to the samba though where it also says my hubs are copper red. I think that book is not accurate on this.

I know my wheels are original to my car as nothing at all on the car appears to have been changed from original. I have searched for other light beige ovals, but only found 1 other and Philmore's (that have not lost their wheels to alloys!) with the white/beige rims ( it seems correct to their cars) But Owen has had another completely original paint light beige late 54 over 10 years ago with the same original paint copper wheels, and also 1 other car I know is owned by Thomas Goerlitz and has been painted but is 100% correct in spec to mine ( bar headlights):




This is my hubcap close (the wheels are still in Sweden at the mo) I know they might be seen to look like SWRed but I can assure you they are nothing like it, in fact very orange by comparison, much more obvious on the actual wheels where there is more of it :


I know that sand beige definitely had Sealing wax red.
I am not sure about ovalbug's Sahara car, the wheel hubs do look a lot like faded SWRed which goes pink with fading ( our SWRed samba looks exactly the same on the original paint parts) But getting them tinted to match from SWRed start colour is probably the best option.

While it seems odd that Sahara & Light beige appear to be incredibly similar colours?! Ovalbug and my cars og paint dash's look the same in photos! ( Why change a beige so slightly in such a short time gap anyway?)

It also seems odd that they used an odd colour on my hubs for just 1 yr?! Was this colour used on anything else vw non beetle?
But it also appears logical that not everyone would want an all beige car inside and out, with just glaring red hubs & caps logo! so maybe most got ordered by dealers with a plainer wheel combo?

Hence, Philmore's car is most certainly correct too with the white/beige wheels! But just to a slightly different spec. My interior is the usual standard beige rib cloth, and although I love cloth interiors to use/sit on, the vinyl spec interior is one of UK rhd oval's most interesting features!

I guess the 1 thing all 3 of our beige cars have in common is the 'honey brown' carpet?! I know ovalbug has it, do you Philmore?



Anyway, so this is what I have been 'too busy' doing for the last 2 weeks solid, our other '55, (un)lovingly known (so far) as 'Pork chop'. But now at least with a new improved complete shiny belly :roll:
As shiny as the oval's floor but of course not remotely original paint ..but then not everything in life is as well built as a volkswagen... (really!) :evil: :wink: 😃

Right I am off now I have to fit the rest of the carpet today!

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My car has spent all its life in a tiny village at the very top tip of Sweden, a very tough but at least unsalted life. Both your and ovalbug's cars are exceptionally good indeed for british climate cars! God love us Brits and concrete garages! :lol:

No, I doubt I will take the oval out this year at all, I want a matching correct screen for it which will take a while to find for one. I am sure we will be going to Lavenham but not in anything old, too busy now this year with new house & non vw things. Stanford Hall I expect :oops: :lol:
But if either of you are ever down nr Portsmouth you are welcome to drop in.

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So, there are 3 of us so far... in the 'hearing aid BEIGE BEETLE club'

:D

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