Karmann Badge Location

[Vince Cappelletti]

Hi Guys,
I'm helping a buddy detail his 62-BT-6 Karmann Coupe, and he has purchased a Badge for the front right Fender, from SIC, [who could not tell him the proper location/position of it on the lower part of the front-right fend, just aft of the wheel-well. Can anyone with a Karmann car, provide a dimension, or Dimensions that will locate the securing rivets to secure that Badge. An image or simple dimension would help. He's like to get it right. No there are no welded over holes that might give us a hint. Any help will be sincerely appreciated. Many thanks in advance.
Vince Cappelletti,
Registry Member #5491
vincecappelletti@embarqmail.com
Bonita Springs, FL.

[Bob Forman]

Vince, this probably won't help as my car is a Reutters, but I did face the same problem with my badge. So at a local 356 gathering I went looking with a ruler. First thing I found was that there is little consistency in the north-south position. All were pretty close east-west being center between the wheel well and the door opening at the rivet level. After a lot of trials I found the average measurement from the deco strip to the bottom of the badge was the width of my fist across the four fingers. Hardly scientific yet that's where I installed mine. Also, I didn't try to flatten the rivets; I just gooped some JB Weld on the back (the horror!) and they've held for years.

The moral of this story is that even Karmann may not have had a precise location or even a jig to keep things consistent car-to-car.

[Vince Cappelletti]

For: Bob Forman;
Thanks Bob, that's a good rule-of-thumb.
I'll pass that to Lou, and perhaps we'll get another similar response to support it.
Regards,
Vince Cappelletti

[Mike Horton]

Vince, Bob, my old Reutter badges on the T1, & T5 had the rivets held in place by small steel clips, similar to the "tinnerman" nuts for self tapping screws we used in aviation, you might take a look at originals at the next gathering, once in place, I never worried about them falling off. They have a small centered hole for the screw, and two spring "wings" bent up, so they are pulled toward the fender metal by the coarse screws. With the rivets, and my rivets were aluminum on both these cars, I just backed up the rivet heads on the outside, and "pushed" the clips on from behind. I removed/reinstalled them on both cars in preparation for paint. IIRC, it takes (3) hands... LOL!

Mike

[Bob Forman]

Mike, Are those called speed nuts? Your solution is far more elegant than JB Weld. Wish I'd thought of that at the time.

[Mike Horton]

Perhaps, Bob, as my experience was from 5 decades on a Hangar floor, in aircraft maintenance (I ran an FAA Repair Station in Lubbock, TX which included an aviation air cooled opposed piston engine overhaul shop, which may have had some influence on my Porsche addiction, over the years, I bought my '57 N T1 coupe in '64, and it only had to be rolled once, to get it into my poor college student price range at the time). We always referred to these single sheet spring steel high tech, low cost parts by the "Tinnerman" term, likely the original manufacturer's name, back about WWII, or so. Go to the Aircraft Spruce web site, and cruise around a little, you will likely find some, and many other supplies I've sourced for decades, for both aircraft, and my car projects, great quality parts, and there are two locations, half a country apart, good folks. I wish I could help more, but for me, this was a most satisfactory solution.
Mike

[Max Handley]

This might help, looks correct to me.

[Bob Forman]

Max, That's a very nice looking car.

[Max Handley]

Yes, a very nice Karmann Hardtop, not mine though. Its a small world as this car underwent a complete restoration in Oregon I believe and has been sold several times in the last 2 years. Last time I believe it was in Florida , but have since lost track of it. Interestingly a guy who came to check out my 64 Irish Green C I had for sale had been the owner of this car before he sold it to the guy in Florida. These cars have a way of getting around. I've always been fond of these little hardtops and the Oslo Blue is outstanding on this body. Also wondered why this car didn't stick with its new owners a little longer, sure looked like a Keeper?

[robert e gwaltney]

I just bought a 1962 B S coupe it doesn't have a karmann badge on right side, did all cars have a karmann badge or just certain years/models?

[Vic Skirmants]

Is your 62 built by Karmann, or Reutter?

[Peter Silten]

Assuming your car is a Karmann, it should have the badge. Many times when these cars were repainted the badges were left off for a variety of reasons. The first time I had work done in that area I elected to remove the badge because I wanted a cleaner look. When I had the car repainted a few years later I reinstalled the badge.

[Jim Nelson]

T5 location:

[George Nostrant]

If car is a Karmann body and built in 1962 it should have an body number 21xxxx and I think Reutter bodies began with a 1xxxxxx.

My Karmann badge is same location as the blue Karmann coupe shown above.

George
1963 356B coupe
1959 345A coupe under restoration
1972 914 1.7
2000 Boxster S