Chassis number decoding!!!

kakadudude Learner Dubber

7 posts · joined Oct 2010 · 30 Oct 2010, 4:43 pm

#810177

Hi all.
Well the "Bug" bug has bitten me and I've decided to dive in and "do it!".
I am after a '63 but i am in no rush and i want to make sure i get the right one. I am a tad perplexed of how the chassis number will tell me when a vehicle was built.
According to the Cservenka & Copping Essential buyers guide it is easy to go by the numbers - an example they have is "1276 742' which somehow equates to August 1956.
According to them this is the numbering system used from the mid fifties to July 64, so i'm figuring i better learn how to read these numbers. Is it obvious?? I admiit I've never been good with numbers but i just can't see how those numbers resemble the 8th month of 1956.
If anyone can give me some pointers as to how to read the chassis number i would be very gratefull.
Cheers and beers
Richard
PS How good is this site?? It's meant too many sleep deprived nights since discovering it!!!!

ian.mezz I never said, I could write or spell

3,913 posts · joined Sep 2004 · 30 Oct 2010, 5:38 pm

#810186

63 third number in vin will be a 3
eg 113 235 etc

USA has
http://www.thesamba.com/vw/

😂🤪😂🤪😂
car forums. where a lot of peoples good intentions end up taking a good old car off the road forever never ever to see the road again. 🥲

Phil74Camper Head in the Clouds

2,703 posts · joined Aug 2002 · 1 Nov 2010, 7:05 am

#810423

Sorry Ian, that's not right.

Up until the 1965 model, Volkswagen used a simple consecutive numbering system. The chassis numbers for these early years were

1956 - between 929746 and 1246618
1957 - between 1246619 and 1600439
1958 - between 1600440 and 2007615
1959 - between 2007616 and 2528667
1960 - between 2528668 and 3192506
1961 - between 3182507 and 4010994
1962 - between 4010995 and 4846835
1963 - between 4846836 and 5677118
1964 - between 5677119 and 6502399

VW Germany - who allocated the chassis numbers - began their model year the previous August, which was when the factory came back after the summer break. So you can see the 1,000,000 th VW was a 1956-model, but it was actually made in late 1955. These early numbers mean nothing except a rough guide as to when the car was built.

From your example, 1276742, we can see that it comes very shortly after the start of the 1957 model, which begains at 1246619. This works out at 30,123 cars into the new model year. Now we know that in 1957 VW made 1600439 - 1246619 = 353,820 cars. 30,123 is 8.51% of that total, which means it was made in roughly the first 8.51% of the year (365 days), or 31.1 days. This is only an estimate, as the production was not linear but was accelerating. Anyway, that means either very ate August or early September.

While this is a useful 'guesstimate' for early cars, you can't use it for Australian cars after about 1959. The Australian factory was allocated blocks of numbers that fitted these dates, but the Melbourne model year was rather behind Germany and closely matched the calendar year. Therefore a 1963 Australian VW was very likely made between February 1963 and February 1964 (after the Xmas holiday break each year). You can still use the chassis number to find out what year it is (from the list above), but to find the exact month - well, maths doesn't work. You have to look at the date stamps on the wheel centres, and on the back of the speedo.

It was only from the 1965 model that VW switched to the 11y nnnnnn numbering sequence, and the Australian factory used a 19y nnnnnn up until the end of 1967. From 1968-on the Australian factory was CKD-assembly only, so they used the German 11y nnnnnn numbering (13y nnnnnn for Superbugs) until Aussie assembly ended in 1976. German Golf imports used the 17y nnnnnn numbering until the new VIN system came in in 1980. The VIN system is what is used today.

By all means look at the Samba, but take it with a grain of salt as it applies to Germany/US, not necessarily Australia.

ian.mezz I never said, I could write or spell

3,913 posts · joined Sep 2004 · 1 Nov 2010, 11:21 am

#810451

OOOPPPPPPppppppppppsssssss 🥲😊🥲

😂🤪😂🤪😂
car forums. where a lot of peoples good intentions end up taking a good old car off the road forever never ever to see the road again. 🥲

Phil74Camper Head in the Clouds

2,703 posts · joined Aug 2002 · 1 Nov 2010, 1:06 pm

#810460

You were right for 1973 !

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

11,654 posts · joined Aug 2002 · 1 Nov 2010, 1:22 pm

#810463

kakadudude wrote:Hi all.
Well the "Bug" bug has bitten me and I've decided to dive in and "do it!".
I am after a '63 but i am in no rush and i want to make sure i get the right one. I am a tad perplexed of how the chassis number will tell me when a vehicle was built.
According to the Cservenka & Copping Essential buyers guide it is easy to go by the numbers - an example they have is "1276 742' which somehow equates to August 1956.
According to them this is the numbering system used from the mid fifties to July 64, so i'm figuring i better learn how to read these numbers. Is it obvious?? I admiit I've never been good with numbers but i just can't see how those numbers resemble the 8th month of 1956.
If anyone can give me some pointers as to how to read the chassis number i would be very gratefull.
Cheers and beers
Richard
PS How good is this site?? It's meant too many sleep deprived nights since discovering it!!!!

Yes
You can go by numbers , but only VW numbers
You need to print out a list of chassis numbers - years
and why a 1963 model???

You don't like the wide front blinkers and wide number plate lamp of the 1964> beetles...??

or check out the back of the speedo where the date it was made [the speedo] is stamped...

cheers

LEE

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

Phil74Camper Head in the Clouds

2,703 posts · joined Aug 2002 · 1 Nov 2010, 3:07 pm

#810482

He might be wanting to make a Herbie replica Lee. Herbie was a '63 - although a US-spec LHD sunroof one...

kakadudude Learner Dubber

7 posts · joined Oct 2010 · 2 Nov 2010, 3:14 pm

#810666

Thanks guys.
Some of the info supplied i already tracked down through the web and books. I was hoping someone would be able to point out how Ken Cservenka and Richard Copping managed to work out specific dates from the chassis number. So to you veedub dudes here's something to ponder - maybe you can figure it out from looking at the numbers.
If not don't get too worked up - at least I (think) i'll manage to work out if it's a '63 or not.

To quote them from their "Essential Buyers Guide" -

""VW'S SYSTEM WAS RELATIVELY STRAIGHTFORWARD. ALL BEETLE CHASSIS NUMBERS BEGAN WITH THE FIGURE '1' DENOTING THE FIRST VOLKSWAGEN TYPE. REALISTICALLY, ANYONE LOOKING AT EVEN THE OLDEST BEETLES CAN EXPECT TO FIND SIX NUMBERS FOLLOWING ON (e.g. JULY 31ST 1949=1-114 530). BY THE MID-FIFTIES, AN EXTRA DIGIT HAD APPEARED, BUT THE TYPE NUMBER HAD BEEN DROPPED (e.g. AUGUST 1956 = 1276 742). THIS SYSTEM CONTINUED UNTIL THE END OF JULY 1964 AND CAR 1-6 502 399. FROM AUGUST, THE MODEL YEAR WAS ADDED AND OTHER FIGURES ZEROED AT THE START OF EACH YEAR (e.g. 115 000 001). FROM AUGUST 1969 THE NUMBER WAS PERMANENTLY EXTENDED TO 10 DIGITS(e.g. 11 2 000 001)"".

Any takers on this??
How do they know "JULY 31s and AUGUST 1956???.

By the way, the idea of the '63 is just simply that i like the idea of fixing up something that is the same age as me. That's why i'd like to be able tyo work out the month as well. As for making a Herbie replica - not the plan but could be possible because I am also planning on buying a LHD '63 in the Philippines, the home country of my wife where i spend quite a bit of time (and from what i've seen the prices are significantly cheaper) and it'll be a good way to see the back blocks of the country in search of such a beast!!

Again, my thanks for tt.

Cheers and beers

Joel Now containing 100\% E-Wang

9,368 posts · joined Feb 2006 · 2 Nov 2010, 3:20 pm

#810667

The German calender ends on july 31 so the last number that day was the last one for that year

kakadudude Learner Dubber

7 posts · joined Oct 2010 · 2 Nov 2010, 3:32 pm

#810672

Cheers for that one.
NOW it kinda makes sense - I was trying to work out from the numbers I was looking at that there was som sort of system that expained the actual DAY a car was made. I now know to stress no longer about how to find a date/month of a build - the year will have to do.