Handbrakes/Parking Brake/E-Brake

The two side knobs are heater controls and the two cables are the emergency brake cables that goto each wheel if I remember back to my 69 VW beetle  

The two e-brake cables stick up for easy adjustment. That's what the threaded parts are for. It works great. Hide it with a boot.

If you absolutely can't live with it, cut down the nub that holds the cross piece to the top of the stick, leaving only an eighth inch sticking up. Then cut off the adjuster rods. Then get a short piece of cable and four cable clamps. Clamp the short piece to the two e-brake cables, draping it across the top of the stick in front of that cut-down nub, which will hold it in place (you hope). It helps to set the brakes firm, lock them somehow, and then clamp it all together with the stick like 2/3 up, so they'll relax when you set it down again, and you still have a little extra up-pull left. 

Now you have a much cleaner and less pointy install. And a real PIA the next time you need to adjust the parking brake.

You can probably take off one of the little levers as well, since one is for heat and the other for defrost, which Speedsters usually don't have. 

Good write-up, Ed, and that certainly drops the studs sticking up and poking his elbow.

You can also greatly improve the overall look of the whole e-brake package by just going to a chrome-plated handle with a knob color-matched to your dash knobs (Ivory, white, gray and black are the choices - different P/N for each but they just thread on).  

I also think that the earlier (no heater lever) e-brake cover would fit, too, with a slightly lower profile and no slots on the sides.  That's a VW P/N 311 863 341AG

Of course, you could always fabricate or buy a nice cover/elbow support to fit over it, upholstered like the interior, to solve both your problems.

I shortened my handle by about 2 inches.  It makes it look much more proportionally sized.   The handle is built to be easy to use down between VW seats, but looks awkward when it sits up above the seats like in a speedster.  

If you don't have heater boxes - ditch the red and white knob and handles either side of brake handle.  Even if you have heater boxes, you can still ditch one of the knobs as it was for the back seat heat flaps.  

There was a recent thread where a SOC member drill racing looking holes in the handle.  

"studs sticking up and poking his elbow"  You must be referring to Teby's Orangutan arms Gordon. 

It looks better with a Karmann Ghia grip on the end. This requires a longer button if I remember correctly.

I thought about trying to use the unused heater lever for a choke.

Robert-tito:    

AIGHT!  

1. Remove the white ball handle control arm..

2. replace red ball control arm with heater control knob ( like the original) and place it in front or behind shifter. ( you can have mine when I replace it)

2. Wait and see what Scott Sebastian does for my e-brake then follow suit.

"Viola!!!"    easy as 1, 2 , 2......

Tebs

ps  you can keep the white ball control handle and use it to release oil in case you are chased by a bad guy just like Bonds car..

My pan is a 1960 so the heater control is a twist knob just to the right of the shifter. My focus is really on the erector set style parking brake lever. Most parking brakes adjust at the rear axle and I didn't realize the VW p-brake adjustment was at the handle.

Or get one of these  

"I thought about trying to use the unused heater lever for a choke."

 Or a hand throttle if you don't have carbs with choke capabilities.

Or use that unused handle as part of your anti-theft device- it's hiding in plain sight, easy to access, and my car will only run if it's pulled up 

@Pete very interesting! It would be nice to know how this is implemented.

I have a battery disconnect in the passenger compartment. I just pull its red key out if I am concerned about theft.

I added a microswitch that interrupts the relay to my electric fuel pump- whenever I pull in somewhere, I just put the heater lever in the down position. Then I pull it up as I start the car and drive off- my thinking is that a thief hot wires the ignition switch, the car will run out of gas as soon as the carb bowl empties 

Maybe it's just me, but Yorkie's handbrake photo up above looks a LOT like the one in my Gramma's old Rambler American - hers was prob'ly cheaper, though:

I think that spyder handbrake would look awesome in Gramma's Rambler.

My '67 Nova had something very similar. If one were trying to DIY this job, an early Mustang setup might fit the bill. Seems like you maybe could rig that up and run a short length of cable through the tunnel and connect it to the stock cables. You might even maintain access to the adjusters through the port you'd be cutting in the old stock location to remove the bracket for the old handle.

If I ever build one of these I might even try it.

Okay - so that's sort of what I did... I'll try to explain:

I purchased the umbrella handle, the guide/housing/cable AND bell crank. I think that's parts #1 and #2 above.  Part #1 above is missing the guide / locking assembly.

For part #2: I lengthened the horizontal arm so that the 'loop' lined up with the center tunnel and the S shaped bell crank would align between the edge of the side edge of the 'frunk' and the steering shaft. 
For part #3: I made two custom fit brackets. One holds the end where you see the horseshoe bracket. The other bracket supports the lengthened horizontal rod. 
For part #5: I used an original emergence brake cable shortened down.
For part #6 / 6a: I used the existing metal plate from the original vw e-brake
For part #7: I used a spring from a drum brake rebuild kit.
For part #10: i used the existing e-brake cables.

I installed the handle under the dash and supported the e brake guide up by the gas tank. The other end is supported by the body. The cable exits *right* where it needs to be. Works well. 

Keep in mind, I'm not a fabricator. I learned to 'weld' for this project. I didn't really learn to weld that well. the brackets look like... crap. I am going to have the parts rebuild by someone who can weld better than I do. 

Weld-done!