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Production Plate - Date confirmation

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viiking Officially Full-On Dubber

253 posts · joined May 2012 ·

#958326
Can someone confirm this is the production day plate on my 68 beetle? It is located on the LHS of VIN plate behind the spare tyre.

From what I believe the number 114-3642 signifies, 11th calendar week of 1968, 4th working day (Thursday) and 3642 is the unique production number? That is Thursday 14th March 68.

Given my chassis vin indicates a mid January 68 build and the engine number very late December 67, is it possible that the chassis and engine were not mated until March?

This is fully imported German build first registered October 68.

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Burrelli Officially Full-On Dubber

244 posts · joined Oct 2008 ·

#958360
That plate is on Aussie cars from 196???? untill 1969 or so.

I don't know that much about it but it seems to be an Aussie body production thing. All I know is the first 3 digits are the type/model number.

114

First digit 1= Type1 base

Second digit 1= Beetle/sedan

Third digit 4= RHD Deluxe


The vin plate will say Germany but it will be a Aussie CKD car. Not enough of the car was "made in Australia" to say that.

Have a look at the glass and some will have VWA on it and the Bosch and Hella parts for "Made in Australia".


There was fully imported cars that year. Those cars had all German parts and not that body tag as far as I know.

I'd say your car was built in Australia from a CKD kit say 3-5 months after the Germans made the pan and gave it a chassis number.

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

11,654 posts · joined Aug 2002 ·

#958408
viiking wrote:Can someone confirm this is the production day plate on my 68 beetle? It is located on the LHS of VIN plate behind the spare tyre.

From what I believe the number 114-3642 signifies, 11th calendar week of 1968, 4th working day (Thursday) and 3642 is the unique production number? That is Thursday 14th March 68.

Given my chassis vin indicates a mid January 68 build and the engine number very late December 67, is it possible that the chassis and engine were not mated until March?

This is fully imported German build first registered October 68.
Hi
I don't know what that number indicates..
You use the chassis number to get the correct date..
A few cars were fully imported in 1968 and 1969
apart from semi automatics which were all fully imported..

The glass is the biggest sign that it was fully imported or not..
will have vwa kangaroo emblem on them..
[although even those may have been changed.. if they were scratched etc]

speedo will be german too.. if original still there..

do wipers park on the LHS? All german ones do..
but some aussie CKD cars would probably park on the LHS too

Not sure how accurate engine numbers align with chassis numbers..??
but it sounds like a BIG gap with Yours.. too big..

but since 1968 anything could have happened...lol

cheers

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

hulbyw Insano Dub Head

819 posts · joined Sep 2009 ·

#958420
Sorry I cannot help about that plate as my German build manual 1968 Beetle (confirmed with Wolfsburg) does not have such a plate

Burrelli Officially Full-On Dubber

244 posts · joined Oct 2008 ·

#958457
I thought this tag/plate stopped because I thought 70 Square did not have one.

It must be there.

I'll have to have a better look.😊

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

11,654 posts · joined Aug 2002 ·

#958474
hulbyw wrote:Sorry I cannot help about that plate as my German build manual 1968 Beetle (confirmed with Wolfsburg) does not have such a plate
I had 1971 super back in the 70s and I'm sure it had that plate..
lol long time agao..

all cars made in the factory from 1968> when Volvos Datsuns - 120Y +1600 P510 - Beetles + type 3s etc were all on the production line [along with MAN trucks]
maybe all these vehicles had that plate???
just a thought

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

viiking Officially Full-On Dubber

253 posts · joined May 2012 ·

#958763
Burrelli wrote:That plate is on Aussie cars from 196???? untill 1969 or so.

I don't know that much about it but it seems to be an Aussie body production thing. All I know is the first 3 digits are the type/model number.

114

First digit 1= Type1 base

Second digit 1= Beetle/sedan

Third digit 4= RHD Deluxe


The vin plate will say Germany but it will be a Aussie CKD car. Not enough of the car was "made in Australia" to say that.

Have a look at the glass and some will have VWA on it and the Bosch and Hella parts for "Made in Australia".


There was fully imported cars that year. Those cars had all German parts and not that body tag as far as I know.

I'd say your car was built in Australia from a CKD kit say 3-5 months after the Germans made the pan and gave it a chassis number.
All glass says Duro Glas BS1 LIZ Sekurit.
Headlights say Hella Made in Germany.

In both cases I know these are the originals.

The information I got on the numbering convention I got from Samba. The production plate they were talking about was not the same looking but the numbering made sense what I originally wrote about.

http://www.thesamba.com/vw/forum/viewtopic.php?t=416564&highlight=vin+rivets

The plate is not the same so I thought maybe they changed the type of plate. This one is out of a 70 SBK.

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Burrelli Officially Full-On Dubber

244 posts · joined Oct 2008 ·

#958787
Viiking,

Aussie built cars are confusing.

My German made 71 beetle has a simular plate as above. It's riveted to the drivers side of the front apron next to bonnet latch.

Thanks for the info on the German Dating system. They say it started for 70 models so there is no dating system for the 68 models except the chassis number.

Aussie build cars had a different look, place and numbering system for their body tag and I don't know what year it started. As I said before the first 3 digits are the type/model and to make it more confusing some models had letters.

All these tags on Aussie built models start with the same thing for that model.

114= RHD Deluxe Beetle
312= RHD Type3 Fastback
316= RHD Type3 Notchback
KO= Country Bug
PV=Type3 Panel Van

The next numbers after that I'm not sure. Maybe the number of that model built that year???

With Country Bugs that were all made the same year those numbers are used in that way.

Your car being an early 68 model and the first of the CKD cars its not surprising it has a lot of German parts. How about the starter and generator?

Or possibly a cut and shut with an Aussie front?

As I said before I thought that tag your car has is an Aussie thing and the German cars did not have it.

viiking Officially Full-On Dubber

253 posts · joined May 2012 ·

#959108
I have found a 70 beetle with a production plate with the number 114-A0594. It is an Australian production vehicle. The glass has VWA on it.

So it appears Burelli is correct. 114 definitely therefore is a beetle - RHD. But the 70 has the prefix A in the last group of numbers. This must signify "Made in Australia" but does not explain mine which has no A???

Of course they may have left the A off in the 68 models?🙁

AA003 Custom Title Time!

1,189 posts · joined Oct 2011 ·

#959120
viiking wrote:Of course they may have left the A off in the 68 models?🙁
All of the 68s that I have seen were inported.
I read it on samba, so it must be correct.

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

Burrelli Officially Full-On Dubber

244 posts · joined Oct 2008 ·

#959189
The factory was converted to CKD prodution February/March 68 with some fully imported beetles being imported to fill the gap. Aussie CKD Beetles started April 68.

In the past I would have thought all German glass on a 68 ment it was a Geman made beetle and the 70 model starting with an A is interesting.

All the semi auto's are imported so a look at one of those would be the thing to do.

viiking Officially Full-On Dubber

253 posts · joined May 2012 ·

#959193
Burrelli wrote:The factory was converted to CKD prodution February/March 68 with some fully imported beetles being imported to fill the gap. Aussie CKD Beetles started April 68.

In the past I would have thought all German glass on a 68 ment it was a Geman made beetle and the 70 model starting with an A is interesting.

All the semi auto's are imported so a look at one of those would be the thing to do.
The 70 WAS a semi auto, but of unknown origin/history I purchaed off a fellow veedubber from the forum. Strange that if they were imported that they had the A number. Unless of course autos were made in Australia by then.

My 68 has been in the family since new, so I know its history. But my father assumed it was fully imported. It was purchased from the House of David in North Ryde in Sydney on 31st October 68. A lot later than one would consider given that production should have been well and truly into CKD production.

One of life's little mysteries.

Will the Wolfsburg title search company have details of all VW's or only the ones that came from Germany? I might have to spend a few euros to find out its history.

hulbyw Insano Dub Head

819 posts · joined Sep 2009 ·

#959195
My 1968 Type1 was built in Germany on 1st April, 1968 according to the birth certificate I obtained from Wolfsburg. When I received it some years ago I thought maybe they were taking the piss with the build date, but somehow I doubt it.
Cheers........Wayne

viiking Officially Full-On Dubber

253 posts · joined May 2012 ·

#959221
So the date of a December 67 engine and a Jan 68 pan makes sense then? At least they engine and pan were made a couple of weeks apart. Strange then that it took 10 months to get it registered.

Burrelli Officially Full-On Dubber

244 posts · joined Oct 2008 ·

#959249
I think the engine and pan dates are what you would expect.

The sales of 68 models was the lowest since 55 models in Australia and only 60% of 67 models so the rego date makes sence. There must have been a big price rise??

It would be interest to see what Wolfsburg says about your car.

AA003 Custom Title Time!

1,189 posts · joined Oct 2011 ·

#959262
Burrelli wrote:The sales of 68 models was the lowest since 55 models in Australia and only 60% of 67 models so the rego date makes sence. There must have been a big price rise??
There was a supply problem. I know of a lot of people that ordered Beetles then and waited many months for delivery.
It would be interest to see what Wolfsburg says about your car.
They've got no idea about Australian VWs. The paper that they send you is BS.
I read it on samba, so it must be correct.

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

Burrelli Officially Full-On Dubber

244 posts · joined Oct 2008 ·

#959275
A supply problem makes sence for low numbers and the long time till rego.

Wolfsburg only has records about the cars they built and no records about what was done in Australia. So in this case I think they will have records if they built the whole car or if they made it as a CKD kit.

Earlier cars especially 62.5 to 67 made in Australia cars wolfsburg has no idea because they did not build them at all. All they seem to know is when they issued the chassis number or batch of numbers. From what I have heard the rest of the info on these cars seems to be some sort of default/guess.

AA003 Custom Title Time!

1,189 posts · joined Oct 2011 ·

#959284
They have no idea of the CKD either.
I read it on samba, so it must be correct.

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

viiking Officially Full-On Dubber

253 posts · joined May 2012 ·

#961464
I can confirm more details now that I have disassembled further.

Car has Australian replacement (generator) of correct part number, German starter motor and German speedo dated Jan 68 so I am pretty sure it was a fully imported vehicle.

Took the production plate off to prepare for paint and found 316S on the reverse side of this plate. Looks like they didn't waste anything. So I guess the number was going to be used for a RHD notchback and either did not get used for a notchback but a bug instead. Unless they stamped the prefixes on both sides and then just flipped them over depending on whether they were assembling a bug or a SB and just added the last few numbers on the assembly line.

Joel Now containing 100\% E-Wang

9,368 posts · joined Feb 2006 ·

#961494
viiking wrote:German speedo dated Jan 68 so I am pretty sure it was a fully imported vehicle.
Fatchicks that were assembled here in Aus as CKD cars used mostly German parts like speedos and starters anyway so it's nothing to go by.

The only 68 and later bugs I've seen with speedos that weren't made in Germany was those few months in 72 where they had that bastardised aus made speedo with the numbers printed on the glass.