Beetle Year Check

oldskl60 Officially Full-On Dubber

251 posts · joined Mar 2008 · 31 May 2009, 8:55 am

#715728

Hey All
Just wondering if someone can help clarify a year for my beetle. The chassis number is 1780690. My records taken from "the 1949-1959 VW Beetle - Authencity Series" by Bob Wilson show it as a January 1958 however another book showed it as a 1959.
Which should I trust?
Regards
Tom

Joel Now containing 100\% E-Wang

9,368 posts · joined Feb 2006 · 31 May 2009, 9:18 am

#715731

decemeber 57 so it would of been called a 58 👍

polak Everything is alright with enough Vodka :P

913 posts · joined May 2009 · 31 May 2009, 6:45 pm

#715815

AS PER MY RECORD I AGREE WITH JOEL... ITS A 58

VW - helping put oil back into the ground for over 60 years

68AutoBug Beetle Restorer - Experience over 138\% - YIKES --

11,654 posts · joined Aug 2002 · 31 May 2009, 7:30 pm

#715835

oldskl60 wrote:Hey All
Just wondering if someone can help clarify a year for my beetle. The chassis number is 1780690. My records taken from "the 1949-1959 VW Beetle - Authencity Series" by Bob Wilson show it as a January 1958 however another book showed it as a 1959.
Which should I trust?
Regards
Tom

Hi Tom
chassis numbers between 1st Jan and 31st dec 1958 are
1600440 to 2020302 or 1774681 to 2226206
depending what books You look at at??
its getting very confusing now as authors of books on VWs
list the chassis numbers per calendar year etc....

in 1955 Volkswagenwerk decided to make a model rather than a calendar year for its vehicles. so after the summer holidays from 1st August the year changes to the next year. So a beetle made in August 1958 is a 1959 model...

some of the major changes were:
Brake drums and shoes widened.
Rear window & windscreen enlarged
Radio grille moved to in front of the driver
rear deck lid redisigned
flat accelerator pedal replaces the ball type..
cheers

LEE

- Helping keep Air Cooled VWs on the road - location: SCONE in the Upper Hunter Valley - Northern NSW 320 kms NNW of SYDNEY---

oldskl60 Officially Full-On Dubber

251 posts · joined Mar 2008 · 31 May 2009, 9:00 pm

#715861

Thanks for helping to clarify guys, much appreciated.

Cheers

Phil74Camper Head in the Clouds

2,703 posts · joined Aug 2002 · 1 Jun 2009, 6:02 pm

#716006

Great to have you back John!

Lee another complication is that the change from Jan-Dec to Aug-July for model years in 1955 was only for export models (particularly the US). VW did not change to a universal Aug/July model year for ALL of their German production until 1959.

Australian model years, during the production years of 1959-68, usually began in February but this was not universal.