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VIN No.

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BeigeSav1969 Casual Dubber

32 posts · joined Aug 2014 ·

#1004068
Finally decided to check the VIN on my wife's beetle only to discover what I thought was a 69 is actually a 68.

Am I reading this correctly - 118765326?

There is also a number stamped behind the spare tyre but it is only 7 digits, what does this number represent?

I'm gonna have to change my user name😂

Thanks Ryan

Joel Now containing 100\% E-Wang

9,368 posts · joined Feb 2006 ·

#1004083
Some times cars were built very late in the year but by the time finsihed assembly complied and sold it was in to the following year.
Mine is like that, its a 75 on paper according to VW but its built in late 74 as 74 spec with a 74 chassis number.

68 was a transitional year as they had to be imported for the first part of the year while the factory was shut down and retooled for fatchick production to commence.
Yours has a pretty high chassis number for that year so would have been fairly late.

There is a few 68 only things some people know to look for, they had the early style speedo but with a fuel gauge, the fuel door didnt have a cable release and they still had the early style shark gill heater outlets instead of the 69 onwards plastic ones and no hazard switch next to the ashtray.

AA003 Custom Title Time!

1,189 posts · joined Oct 2011 ·

#1004104
Joel wrote:Mine is like that, its a 75 on paper according to VW but its built in late 74 as 74 spec with a 74 chassis number.
Why is yours a '75?
I read it on samba, so it must be correct.

Sometimes Volkswagen dealers sell spare parts. Amazing isn't it!😂

BeigeSav1969 Casual Dubber

32 posts · joined Aug 2014 ·

#1004108
Thanks Joel, looks like it's a 68 as it has a few of the traits you mentioned. No cable release for the fuel door, steel grill heater outlets and no hazard switch.

I'd read somewhere that only the Australian built models had the hazzard switch, were all 69 beetles here in Aus made in Aus or was there a mix of import and Australian built?

Phil74Camper Head in the Clouds

2,703 posts · joined Aug 2002 ·

#1004125
The manual 1500 Beetles were CKD assembled, but the semi-autos were fully imported.

Hazard flashers were fitted from 1969 but I don't know from exactly when. The Australian factory usually incorporated 'newer model' improvements in the early months of the year (Feb-Mar-Apr) after returning from the Xmas holidays. But first they would use up the stocks of last year's parts before using the newer parts that arrived in crates from Germany.

Ryan your chassis would have been stamped in Germany and shipped out to Australia as part of the CKD parts crates. In 1968-69 the Melbourne factory was transitioning bcak to assembly, and also assembling Nissans, Volvos and Mercedes trucks. VWs at that time took up around 60% of the assembly work, but VW sales had slumped by half from the highs of 1963-64 and there were lots of unsold VWs in yards and dealerships. Your chassis could have sat around in Melbourne for months before it was assembled - maybe even into 1969.

There are mm/yy date stamps on your wheel centres, and one on the back of the speedo. These may give you a more recent date, after which your car would have been assembled.

BeigeSav1969 Casual Dubber

32 posts · joined Aug 2014 ·

#1004140
Thanks Phil, I checked the back of the speedo and from what I could read it looked to be stamped 68. I checked the original papers and it was purchased in March 69 so every likely hood it was built in 68 but it has always been registered as a 69.

Couldn't see any date stamps on the wheels but my eyes are crap. Thanks for all the info fellas, very helpful as always.

AA003 Custom Title Time!

1,189 posts · joined Oct 2011 ·

#1004142
Phil74Camper wrote:chassis would have been stamped in Germany and shipped out to Australia as part of the CKD parts crates.
Were they stamped in Germany or Australia?

If they were stamped in Germany the model changes (eg seat runners) would be the same here as in Germany according to VIN.
I read it on samba, so it must be correct.

Sometimes Volkswagen dealers sell spare parts. Amazing isn't it!😂

Phil74Camper Head in the Clouds

2,703 posts · joined Aug 2002 ·

#1004151
Do you mean stamping (pressing) of the whole panels, or just the stamping of the numbers? The former - no, VWA removed all the presses in 1968 and couldn't stamp or cut sheet metal parts after that. The Melbourne factory was just a big assembly shop.

But I don't know if they still had the capacity to stamp numbers on blank German chassis - and if so, whether they did. But since they were 118.... numbers and not 198.... I suspect the chassis numbers were stamped in Germany too, like the body numbers were.

If the numbers were stamped here, how would they have arranged to prevent duplicates with numbers used in Germany?

AA003 Custom Title Time!

1,189 posts · joined Oct 2011 ·

#1004158
Phil74Camper wrote:If the numbers were stamped here, how would they have arranged to prevent duplicates with numbers used in Germany?
Numbers allocated monthly by Wolfsburg.

If they were stamped in Germany, Australia would have had the same changes according to VIN to at least the floorpan. Read Joel's excellent article about Superbugs.

Food for thought.
I read it on samba, so it must be correct.

Sometimes Volkswagen dealers sell spare parts. Amazing isn't it!😂