Monday night at the meeting Anthony and I were looking at the keys for his 66 Bug.  The driver's side door key was cut on both sides, and wouldn't fit in the passenger side door lock.  I couldn't figure out what the deal was . . . I thought that 66 was the last year for the single sided cut key for doors and since 67 handles are different, shouldn't a key that will fit one door at least go in the slot on the other?  I've done a little reading and I think I know what's up.

First of all Anthony, it is very likely that you have 1966 handles on both doors.  According to the Rocky Mountain Motorworks catalog, 60-63 were interchangeable and 64-66 were interchangeable (63 and back had a left and right side . . . passenger side had no key).  67 were very similar to the 64-66, with the exception of having a round push button instead of a rectangular one.  This was a one-year only handle and the first year for the double sided cut key.  So, you have to have 64-66 handles.

The keys are a different story.  61-66 used the same keys, and 67-70 used the same key.  So any 66 handle should use the same key, right?  WRONG!  61-66 had three very different profiles of keys!  Since it was a single sided key there were only 240 different combinations of notches available.  If you got 480 VW Beetles together in one place, odds are that the keys to any one of those Beetles would fit at least one other Beetle there . . . so VW mixed in three different key profiles.  That brought the total combinations up to 720.  So, on a 66 you CAN have year correct handles, have the tumbler pins exactly the same and they might STILL need different keys.  To get your handles using the same key, first you have to find two handles that uses the same key profile . . . re-setting the tumblers to use the same key would be pretty easy from there.

Now, why do you have a double-sided key?  I "think" (y'all better watch out now!) the key is actually wrong for the lock, but it's close enough that it will go in the slot . . . from there it's just a simple matter of setting up the tumbler pins to match one side of the key.  My guess is someone in the past has done this . . . just found an old used key and made it work.  The correct keys for a 66 Bug are SC, SU, or SV profiles.   Now the good news . . . wan'na know where can you find those keys? . . . They are the same keys used on 68 and up glove boxes!  The ones with the big VW cut out and notches on one side.  I see used ones at swap meets all the time.  Now that I know they will fit something besides glove boxes, I'll start buying up the cheap ones!

Man is this a complicated subject!  A couple of weeks ago I bought what appeared to be a 67 Bug door handle off of e(vile)Bay for only $1.25 (+$3.95 shipping of course).  The handle came in . . . not show quality but very functional . . . no key, but hey, that's (soon to be) not an issue for me anymore.  My key blanks came in today . . . except for profile SC which was backordered.  Got to playing around with my junk door handle collection and found that a profile K key won't fit this "67" handle.  I look at the lock code and find it's an SC code . . . that's a 61-66 profile.    This is a 67 handle, cause it's got a round push button . . .    I compair it to a matched set of 67 handles I have . . . there is one small piece on the back of the pushbutton that different from the 67!    

Then I read in Keith Sueme's book "VW Beetle, a comprehensive illustrated history of the world's most popular car" round button handle was introduce in May of 1966 and the design lasted less than 2 years.  OK, now it's making sense!  Externally this is identical to a 67, but it's from a Beetle built between May and July of 66.  So if you think 67 handles are rare, try to find set of these late 66 handles!  And remember that they came in three DIFFERENT key profiles . . . so in affect each profile of key in this style of handle was installed for only 1 MONTH's worth of Beetle production vs. 12 month's worth of the 67 handle.   :cool:

Hey!  
I had the same problem with Oscar's passenger door handle.  I put the key into it and it spun.  Pulled it out and the whole cylinder came out with it.  Did a little "Zen" work with it (i.e., made the lock fit the key) and it works like a charm. :cool: