My 1965 VW Beetle 1200 A is equipped with a Saxomat automatic clutch. The Saxomat takes the function of the clutch pedal.
The first owner ordered the Standard Beetle with Saxomat clutch and he paid 310 Deutsche Mark more. The Saxomat was made in Germany by Fichtel & Sachs and it has the Volkswagen M5 M-Code.
My Beetle was in very good condition when I bought it. I made about 80000 kilometer in 10 years with the Saxomat. In that time, only the clutch disc was changed once.
Within the last 2 years, the function of the automatic clutch was getting worse. The rear gear could only be put in and out, when the motor was switched off. Parking took a while but I got used to it. A year later, the first gear had the same problem so I used only the second gear :-)
I drove my beetle to a VW garage but they could not repair the Saxomat. The round head of the clutch rod was gone and the part was not available. I still drove the beetle with all the problems but the rust stopped me.
I put my VW Beetle in a garage for 10 years and collected Saxomat parts. Then I did a full restoration of my VW Beetle.
Below are pictures and information of the Saxomat automatic clutch before and after the restoration. The first picture shows the motor with Saxomat control valve.
Nice to see a beetle with the saxomat m005 clutch!
I own a ‘62 beetle with original saxomat clutch system, but didn’t see another one live sofar.
Where do you live?
Hopefully you enjoy the rare beetle as much as I do.