Ok, I've got an early oval (had to dig it out of a pile of sawdust,been there since 1979 but it was free!), the date on the speedo is 54 and it has the early doors, fuel tank and rear valance so I'm pretty sure that it is a 54 but I can't find any info on the australian chassis numbers, these don't correspond to the wolfsburg ones that are published everywhere. The chassis no is....1400441
engine no...............3692149
If anyone could confirm the production dates that would be awesome.
cheers.:kiss

yes the chassis indicates its later than my 56 which is 1227636

Does it have the clack clack door locks and the triangle stricker plates at top and bottom of the door.


Is the fuel tank have the really big filler neck and is it square

the engine number indicates late 58 or so.

But 58 was the first of the large rear window??

Maybe not original chassis???:o

http://www.mickmotors.com.au/vwchassisnumber.htm

It has all the early features, the large square fuel tank, the triangle strikers singler tailpipe muffler and no cut-outs in rear valance etc etc. are they the aussie numbers or the overseas ones because they are the dates I got when I looked at US and english books??:o

bump

1316136 is my 56 oval

the chassis numbers are stamped at the factory on the pan and the plate is riveted on to the body when the car is assembled

but vw sent all manner of stock CKD so you might have had an early body taken from some far flung country shipped to oz in 58 and fitted to a later pan?

they didn't give a crap what they shipped, both our aussie ovals have LDH door lock mechanisms

:party

dosn't make too much difference bumping this to the top eh!!!!

Thanks for the info guys. Looks like I've got a 54 on a 57 chassis. Not to worry, I won't tell if no-one else does! What have you been smoking fish?

If its a 57 chassis there should be a front rail joining the 2 seats runners at the front

If its a 54 the seat runners never had a joiner to stiffen them up.

Check that as well.

Thanks vw54 I'll check that out, the car is at a mates place so I'll probably check it out on the weekend. I believe that the 54s also had the heater knob in front of the gearlever instead of behind and they also had a different handbrake setup in that the cables went right to the front of the car?