Re: Rear view mirror

["Jim Adney" <jadney@vwtype3.org>]

On 10 Jun 98 at 9:43, Patrick Joel Morton wrote:

> At 23:07 09.06.1998, Jim Adney wrote:
> 
>  * >The rear view mirror in my `69 square has some kind of
>  * >"thorn" with a bolt pointing towards the windshield.

>  * This was a "feature" only found on 68-9 T3s.
> 
> That is strange; I have a perfectly original 1967 Squareback and its mirror
> has one of these!  My mirror has a chrome base, but the mirror itself is
> white plastic.  How does this figure?  European model?

Oops, sorry.  68 was the first year that the mirror frame was covered 
in white vinyl.  I had forgotten that the earlier chrome mirrors also 
had this extra arm.  Was the extra arm there from the beginning or 
did it start in 67?

>  * 68 was the first year for the spring-loaded breakaway mounting of
>  * this mirror.
> 
> I have not removed my mirror for awhile, but I believe that it comes out
> with a good smack.

I thought all the chrome mirrors mounted with two obvious screws,
but you've clearly looked at one much more recently than I have. 
Please verify. 

>  * The second reason is that the extra point of support would help avoid 
>  * annoying vibrations in the mirror that might hurt your rear vision. 
>  * The later mirrors did without this, but do vibrate a bit more.
> 
> This also seems a bit wierd to me.  Although this metal arm does not touch
> the windshield or even actually come close to it, I have not noticed mirror
> vibrations.  Even on the particularly crappy Finnish roads that we have
> here!

Well, I thought I could see some resonant vibration at certain engine 
RPMs, but it was clearly not much of a problem because VW dropped 
this extra arm in 70.

> Were these 1969 mirrors similar to Typ 1 mirrors in that they do no have a
> chrome base like mine?  Thus, they would be white plastic?

Right.  I suspect that all the VW mirrors became white vinly covered 
at the same time (68-).

Jim
-
*******************************
Jim Adney, jadney@vwtype3.org
Madison, Wisconsin, USA
*******************************