Which year is this metal battery cover belong to?

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Ibrahim Kuzu
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Which year is this metal battery cover belong to?

#1 Post by Ibrahim Kuzu »

Got this metal battery cover with one of pre A purchase came with many parts long ago.
Know that 58~59 A's and T5's have fiberboard battery cover.
And Pre A metal cover is different than this one.
Is this for an early A's
If it is,
What was the final vin # this metal battery box used before fiberboard cover started.
Another word is ,Is this T1 battery cover?
Thank you for the info.
IK
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Brad Ripley
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Re: Which year is this metal battery cover belong to?

#2 Post by Brad Ripley »

For discussion of various metal battery covers, see Brett Johnson's book, page 78. Beyond his discussion, I have never come across any documentation about when the metal covers changed over to the final fiberboard version. Perhaps it had to do with the larger battery being adopted for the Speedster plus the fact the metal rusting around the battery wasn't a good thing.

Brad Ripley
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Re: Which year is this metal battery cover belong to?

#3 Post by Brad Ripley »

Anybody have anything more to add about which battery cover (steel or cardboard) was used in which model?
Experts where are you ...... Rick Albro, James Davies

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Ibrahim Kuzu
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Re: Which year is this metal battery cover belong to?

#4 Post by Ibrahim Kuzu »

Brad,
Thank you for the note.
Here is the Pre A Bend Window Battery box cover...A style difference is on the top design.

Any one can put a light on this issue....when they stopped this metal A covers ?

any original A out there has exact same battery cover in the picture ?
Thank you,
IK
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Rick Albro
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Re: Which year is this metal battery cover belong to?

#5 Post by Rick Albro »

Perhaps Brad has previously presented answer to this dilemma.... I believe there were two versions of the metal cover which seems to be consistent with previous registry discussions:
viewtopic.php?f=1&t=16787

viewtopic.php?f=1&t=22535
There was a big and a small battery which would also imply a big and small cover. Since the part number for the small battery cover has an .01 the cover for the small battery would be for the newer car.
Brad Ripley wrote:Earliest battery covers were steel in a similar shape to the later fiber version. Part number: 540 70 111 1 . See for a photo http://www.thesamba.com/vw/classifieds/ ... ?id=823978

For the early Speedster, two wood blocks were inside to accomdate the smaller 66 aHr battery. I do not have the part number for the wood blocks; you can see the blocks illustrated in the Pre-A book.

At some point, the metal cover became fiber and the later part numbers started. Old price lists show the following part numbers:
644 611 015 00 probably the metal one for the large battery
644 611 015 01 probably the metl one for the small battery
644 611 015 02 certainly the fiber one for the large (and only) battery except for below
644 611 015 10 certainly the fiber one for the larger 12 volt battery.

Check Brett Johnson's book for other details.


and Charlie white responded:
In the A parts book, there are three different battery covers:

1. 644.611.015.01 - For Coupe, Cab, Speedster
2. 644.611.015.02 - For Coupe, Cab, Speedster for Bosch battery
3. 644.611.015.10 - For Carreras Coupes with 12 volt batteries

Perhaps therein is the difference

Another person to get input from would be Alfred Haeffner!
Jeff Moody wrote:Hi
My battery cover is steel.
'56 coupe #56175 (no kardex-prob'ly built mar-may '56)
"#81109 had a steel cover when I got it in '71, but I can't swear it was original.

Thanks,
Ron LaDow"
"My 56 Speedster # 82361 has the steel cover .

Thank You
Jim Stephenson"

I am not sure that I can add much to the previous posts... I would add that it is not trivial to add more than one quote from the same string???

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James Davies
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Re: Which year is this metal battery cover belong to?

#6 Post by James Davies »

Ibrahim, I believe that's a bent-window battery cover. There were ~3 versions of that pre-A metal battery cover that I've seen, used from April 1952 through the end of pre-A production. I would say that's an earlier one (before early '53). All 3 covers are basically the same, the only difference being the top leading edge.

The pre-A Speedsters used the same battery cover, but instead of having rubber strips inside on the small ledges to hold the battery in place, it had wood blocks, as the Speedster battery was smaller than the coupe and cab battery.

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Ibrahim Kuzu
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Re: Which year is this metal battery cover belong to?

#7 Post by Ibrahim Kuzu »

Thank You James...That clears the air ...
Appreciated.
IK

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