Lighting and trim

Background The tailgate is crowned by an L-shaped trim piece that matches the top side caps along the truck bed walls. This trim covers the transition between the aluminum frame and the fiberglass skin.

Background Headlights have two primary points of failure: the bulb itself that typically lasts 500-1000 hours, and the plastic lens that slowly degrades over time. Bulb failure is obvious and the repair is simple. Lens yellowing, pitting, or cloudiness is gradual and more subjective. While so-called lens restoration kits promote impressive...

Background The channel that separates the roof metal skin from the side panels is filled in with a long metal rail cushioned with a rubber footing. Since this piece runs beyond the roof cut line, the rail must be modified, and the roof channel re-formed. Roof channels, common on many modern...

Background The top of the truck bed is surrounded by aluminum L-shaped caps that hide the join between the bed wall (and tailgate inner wall) and the fiberglass shell (and tailgate skin). To complicate matters, in most cases the wall and shell join is not at exactly 90 degrees; in fact,...

Background The stylistic stepside design on the Beetle Ute can be embellished with a metal or rubber tread plate. A contoured shape — that is, one that closely follows the edges of the step platform — can be flat or have a raised pattern on the surface like diamond plate. An...

Background The Ute’s rear window glass, re-purposed from the 1960-66 GMC truck, fits into the fiberglass surround cutout that must be 9/32″ larger than the glass itself. Part number 68-3030 (replacements can be sourced from LMC Truck) is a clear glass window while 68-3031 has a green tint.

Background The New Beetle hatch lid has an embedded elongated and slightly curved third brake light that can be relocated to the fiberglass section above the cabin rear window. The light’s curve closely matches the profile of the roof line. One advantage of this relocation is that the existing wiring harness...

Background The New Beetle large oval shaped tail lights cannot be reused on the Ute transformation, so new pigtails must be fabricated for an appropriate substitution. We’ve selected the classic 1962-67 Beetle Euro style lamp because it was originally mounted on a sloping fender much like the Ute’s design and fits...

Background The Smyth Ute kit does not specifically address the side marker lights. Pre-2006 models can re-use the elongated oval side markers because their contour is close to the curve near the end of the Ute quarter panel; later Beetles switched to curved parallelogram-shaped lights that are more difficult to incorporate...

Background As pickup truck use expanded beyond agriculture, the desire to protect cargo led to the adaptation of tonneau covers, originally a simple canvas top used in classic sports cars. Of course, if you cover the truck bed with a top, it’s too dark to see the cargo clearly which led...