Pre-A SWF washer pumps taxonomy

[James Davies]

SWF push-type hand pumps were included by the factory on many coupes and cabs produced between 1953 and 1955 as part of the windshield washer systems. I'm interested in finding out the details of these little items, and I'm hoping you can help!

All pumps were the push-type with a brass check valve at the bottom of the pump mounted via a figure-8 bracket to the defroster tube next to the front lid release pull knob. A pull-type SWF pump with check valve at the top of the pump body exists from the era, but these were used on VWs, not Porsches.

As far as I know, there were two styles used on Porsches, both made by SWF. Photos below with date codes.

A) Beer keg pumps (Jan-Jun 1953)
AE, CE, FE

beer keg pump, date code AE (Jan 1953)

beer keg pump, date code AE (Jan 1953)

B) Cylindrical pumps (Jan 1954 - Jun 1955)
AF, EF, FF, GF, KF
AG, CG, DG, EG, FG

cylindrical pump, date code CG (Mar 1955)

cylindrical pump, unknown date code

It seems the beer keg pumps were used through at least mid-1953 and cylindrical pumps were later, certainly by early 1954.

So my questions are:

1) If you have a pump like A or B above, can you provide a date code on the back and let us know what type it is, beer keg or cylindrical? Date codes are two letters stamped on the bottom of the pump next to the check valve as shown above.

2) If your pump is original to your car, it would be nice to know what type of knob it had as well. Early (A) beer keg pumps seemed to have aluminum knobs attached via a set screw. There are pumps of both styles that had an ivory bakelite knob with or without a "W" on it. Later cylindrical pumps had the standard pre-A Porsche knobs which started being used on cars in the spring 1954. Is yours like one of these or different?

I'll update this post as information comes in.

Many thanks!

[Scott Loraas]

Hi James,

This is a pump I purchased from the Registry classifieds a few months ago.

As the attached pictures show, it's a cylindrical pump, with a brass knob, and FG stamped on the bottom.

[Scott Loraas]

And ... to make it easy to match the SWF code with a date, this is from Paul Hatfield's "Manufacturing Date Codes on Porsche 356 Parts" article in Volume 31 Number 5 of the 356Registry Magazine:

[James Davies]

Very cool Scott! I've never seen a brass knob on these before. And nice find on the pump, which includes the bracket too. How's your bulb? Usually original bulbs are pretty busted up. The rubber gets brittle, and the plunger puts a hole through the top.

[Scott Loraas]

My bulb isn't perforated, but is very dry and brittle. Curt Dansby offers a replacement, and asks almost nothing for it.

Since we all love pictures ....

[Jim Liberty]

I believe the knob should be the large Ivory "Tulip" from '53 on. It would be the VW knob with "W" on the face from '52 back.Curt Dansby has everything you need to restore the guts. His parts are superior.

.........................................Jim.

[James Davies]

Thanks Jim. Early-to-mid '53 cars definitely had an aluminum knob on a beer keg-shaped pump body as shown above. Four very original, unmolested Supers from that period indicate this.

Which knob is the large Ivory tulip?

And I've definitely seen the "W" knob on '54-ish pumps, but I don't know if they are original. I suspect they are. Do you think '52 pumps also had the "W" knob? I'd love to see photos! As you can see above, it's easy to date the pumps. Are the '52 pumps the beer keg type?

The '53 aluminum knobs on the beer keg pumps are not screwed on. They are attached via a set screw. So it would be difficult to swap knobs from those to the other types.

[Alan Hall]

This discussion prompted me to check the pump on my early '53 super cab. I don't think it has ever been out of the car. Aluminum knob like James describes. Photos attached.
Alan

[Jim Liberty]

I stand corrected. My '55 had an Ivory knob like to one for the hood pull. My '52 had a VW knobs. Totally different from Porsche. I have a couple of them around here an "H" for heater, and "W" for washers.

Thanks for the education guys. ...................................Jim.

[Steve Harrison]

55 choices,...ivory, beige,...or greenishgreyishsnotyellowbrownish,..ish.

[James Davies]

Yeah, my '53 has many ivory VW knobs too. I would have thought they would have extended that to the washer pump, but I guess since it was under the dash, they figured they didn't need to. Also, not all cars had washer setups.

Jim, if your '52s hand pump is original to the car, do you know if it is keg-shaped or cylindrical? I don't have any information on '52 models.

[Jim Liberty]

James, is was original to the car. I was the second owner and bought it out of a fifty year storage in Scottsdale, AZ. It is the car on the Home page of my web site. My favorite 356 of all time. The pump was cylindrical.

................................Jim.

[Dennis Molnar]

The washer pump on my 1955 car which I believe is original is date coded FF June 1954 . The car was built in June 1955. The knob is the plastic one with the W. I also had another early 1955 car with the same knob.

Dennis

[James Davies]

Thanks Dennis. And that pump was a cylindrical pump like Scott's above?

Interesting that some of the 54/55 pumps came with the "W" knob and some came with Porsche knobs. Seems to be all over the map.

[Dennis Molnar]

The washer pumps on my present car and the other 1955 car I had were cylindrical.
Dennis