All you ever wanted to know about the SP Beetle

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Re: All you ever wanted to know about the SP Beetle

Post by IMPI »

Yes
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Re: All you ever wanted to know about the SP Beetle

Post by fig »

There were lots of aftermarket 14in Rostyles, though, so not too hard to find.
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Re: All you ever wanted to know about the SP Beetle

Post by Blitzkrieg »

I have 14 inch Rostyles on my ride, was wondering if they are original Vw or aftermarket...
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Re: All you ever wanted to know about the SP Beetle

Post by Dawie »

Rostyles 14x 5.5 were available from the VW spares department. Bought a set for my first car, (beetle)from them, they were R18. each,and there were no vat in those days,(late seventies).

There was a rumour that SP beetles had a taller 4th gear to compensate for the low profile 14inch tyres.
This proved to be false, as you can see in the specs on the previous page. Went to several scrapyards as i was desperately looking for one. Found several SP's with the gearbox still in the car. Turned the input shafts and counted the turns of the brake drums.
All had the same 0.93 fourth as with the normal late 1600 AS code gearbox.

Maybe a handful of the first SP's had a different ratio?

Would be interesting to see the 1977 Car road test that Blitzkrieg promised.
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Re: All you ever wanted to know about the SP Beetle

Post by Blitzkrieg »

Yes I will post it in the next day or so...

A lot of people reckon that it was the best Beetle ever from an SA perspective. The only part that I don't like on the SP (Or any late '70's Beetle for that matter) are the rear light spacers....
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Re: All you ever wanted to know about the SP Beetle

Post by IMPI »

Further useless info
Solex carbs
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Re: All you ever wanted to know about the SP Beetle

Post by beesbal »

The easy st way to spot the difference between a Sp and normal bug is to look at the spare wheel compartment.
The spare in the sp will lay flat and the spare in the standard stands up
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Re: All you ever wanted to know about the SP Beetle

Post by Pine »

No, the spare wheel in an SP looks exactly the same as any other Beetle. Only the 1302 and 1303 has a spare wheel well that lies flat.
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Re: All you ever wanted to know about the SP Beetle

Post by beesbal »

Pine wrote:No, the spare wheel in an SP looks exactly the same as any other Beetle. Only the 1302 and 1303 has a spare wheel well that lies flat.
See what happens if you believe all the KAK that people talk,Thanks Pine wasnt aware of that.
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Re: All you ever wanted to know about the SP Beetle

Post by Pine »

There is a lot of misinformation about the SP - it was basically a standard SA Beetle with a few accessories, as mentioned by IMPI
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Re: All you ever wanted to know about the SP Beetle

Post by beesbal »

like the extra clocks and so on
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Re: All you ever wanted to know about the SP Beetle

Post by Pine »

And some stripes over the roof and door. And so on.. :wink:
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Re: All you ever wanted to know about the SP Beetle

Post by beesbal »

And some dual carbs and so on :D
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Re: All you ever wanted to know about the SP Beetle

Post by Pine »

And some coloured square weave pattern on the seats. And so on..
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Re: All you ever wanted to know about the SP Beetle

Post by Blitzkrieg »

As promised, here is the 1977 road test by CAR. They reckoned that they would rather take the 1600S :roll:

Image Image

Image

Image

These are very interesting cars, would prefer this over an Oval any day :P :twisted: :finger4u:
If it's too low, you're too old :twisted:
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