vdm horn ring differences and restore it?

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ThibautBoey
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vdm horn ring differences and restore it?

#1 Post by ThibautBoey »

Hi,

When i bought my 356 there was a broken horn ring with it, i purchase a nice one and se now when i switch them there is a difference between both.
The broken one has a extra ring around the horn button opposite the other one without this ring.
I suppose it have to do with the 400mm or 425mm diameters steering wheel or the production periode?

Could someone determinate the difference?

Is it also possible to restore the broken ring with the missing cirkel?

thanks!

Thibaut
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Thibaut,

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Chuck House
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Re: vdm horn ring differences and restore it?

#2 Post by Chuck House »

The raised ridge around the horn button (or more properly called - the headlight flasher button) occurred in the T2 time frame. The face of the ridge was unpainted.
Last edited by Chuck House on Sun Jul 30, 2017 8:28 am, edited 1 time in total.
Chuck House
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ThibautBoey
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Re: vdm horn ring differences and restore it?

#3 Post by ThibautBoey »

Chuck House wrote:The raised ring around the horn (or more properly called - the headlight flasher button) occurred in the T2 time frame. The face of the ring was unpainted.
Thanks for your explanation, now i know. I have a t2 coupe and it belongs to it.

I suppose it is difficult to restore it without the rest of the horning?
Thibaut,

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Alan Hall
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Re: vdm horn ring differences and restore it?

#4 Post by Alan Hall »

Chuck House wrote:The raised ridge around the horn button (or more properly called - the headlight flasher button) occurred in the T2 time frame. The face of the ridge was unpainted.
I know that conventional wisdom says the face of the raised ridge is unpainted but I question if this is really correct. I have two T2 horn rings that were on cars that my father bought in the mid 1960's, and have never been restored or painted. One was on a '59 convertible D that he bought as a totaled wreck and parted out and one on a '59 cabriolet. The ring on the cabriolet still has remnants of paint on the face of the ridge, while the other, while it has no paint on the ridge, has cracks in the paint all around the ridge. Photos of both are attached, the one with the horn button is the cab and the one without is the conv. D. Frankly it seems odd that they would not have painted the whole ring and it is hard to imagine a production operation the would have involved either masking or removing paint from the face.

I strongly suspect that the rings were painted in their entirety but that the paint on the face quickly chipped off in service.

Alan
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Chuck House
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Re: vdm horn ring differences and restore it?

#5 Post by Chuck House »

Alan,

The unrestored T2 horn rings that I have seen have had the ridge face unpainted. However, if you have an original, unrestored ring with it painted, I certainly would not doubt it. There were sometimes exceptions to some of these details or perhaps the factory started painting the ridge later in the T2 run since yours is a '59. Here are some photos of unrestored cars/rings with the unpainted ridge.
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Unrestored Convertible D
Unrestored Convertible D
Unrestored Convertible D
Unrestored Convertible D
Speedster
Speedster
Last edited by Chuck House on Wed Aug 02, 2017 12:17 am, edited 1 time in total.
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Chuck House
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Re: vdm horn ring differences and restore it?

#6 Post by Chuck House »

Here is another one which belongs to Speedster 84357. Does anyone else have a later '59 car with an unrestored horn ring?
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Joris Koning
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Re: vdm horn ring differences and restore it?

#7 Post by Joris Koning »

A cab #152414 produced when B production had already begun has the unpainted lip also.
'56 Coupe
'57 Coupe
'59 Cab 
'60 Coupe

Dennis Wellner
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Re: vdm horn ring differences and restore it?

#8 Post by Dennis Wellner »

59 T2 108229 unpainted and has a bit of a sheen.
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Peter Silten
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Re: vdm horn ring differences and restore it?

#9 Post by Peter Silten »

This subject was discussed in an earlier thread started by yours truly:

viewtopic.php?f=1&t=39909&hilit=horn+ring

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ThibautBoey
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Re: vdm horn ring differences and restore it?

#10 Post by ThibautBoey »

Wish to thank everyone for the reply's.
This is Clear to me now.

My T2 wil have the preT2 horn ring for the moment.

Thibaut,
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Thibaut,

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