hi there

i ve got a photo of this 56oval id plate
it says 1/11 according to my beetle book that would make it standard lhd
however this oval is a rhd and it doesnt seem to have been converted
also my 54 rhd beetle has also got1/11 stamped in its plate anyone know whats happening there
also what does mka and then the number stand for
cheers for any help
steffen

[ Edited on 11-5-2007 by mat54 ]

found that my 59 australian made beetle has the 1/14 stamped on the id plate....?????

my 56 has 1/11

and yours is a right hand drive i take it?
deluxe?

does noone know
or is it a stupid question..??
anyone..help
stef

grave digging bump...

anyone know what that 'MKA' number relates to as well?

MKA = something about being made in melbourne as I was told when I was trying to find out where my 55 came from.

MKA Martin & King Bodyworks in Clayton, CKD car

So the number after that was just the number of cars they had assembled?

yeah, but I dont know whether it is the number of beetles they assembled, or what number the sequence actually started at, funnily enough mine does not have an MKA number

maybe yours is a 'true german'?

I suppose so, it seems to have come from Brisbane as it has a brass VW Motors plate, lots of strange things happen in Brisbane, Martin & King built heaps of the Victorian rail carriages as well as motor bodies, I am pretty sure VW bought them out, so that was the start of the Volkswagen factory at Clayton

ohh, my plate reads 1/11 as well

[ Edited on 3-8-2007 by kombikim ]

Kim being a 54 i imagine peach would be fully imported

it is about march 55 , 8 hundred thousand & something, dunno what the original engine number was, I dont know exact date CKD got underway , there was only a relatively small amount of 1954 models sold in 1954 in Aust, most 54 models here were 1955 build

[ Edited on 3-8-2007 by kombikim ]

My very early Jan 54 is stamped MKA1051,
T54

its interesting i noticed mark holyoaks 51 split has 10/11 in the baumuster section on the id plate
the other half speaks german and said it stands loosely for design

I've got MKA 4781 under mu plate...

I went and pulled it out.
It is stamped
typ VW1/11
fahrgestell-nr. -1- 0595---
baujahr 1954
And the little badge is - made in Germany

This is above the MKA1051

On my other one is
typ VW1/11
fahrgestell-nr. -1- 0921----
baujahr (no stamping)
And the little badge is - made in West Germany
This is above the MKA3942

Would love to find out more about the early on if anyone finds out when the MKA numbers started.
The body number would be in the first week of Jan. Dan if you read this can you post what yours is as I know they will be close.
T54

Thanks,
I might asking but it will be a bit of a chase as I dont know much about it apart from who I bought it from 13 years ago.
I will ask AOMC and see if they come up with anything.
T54

without looking stuff up, I think that only somewhere between 800 & 900 cars were sold in 1954, it was early 55 when things really took off

I am really peed of with my dad (who died in 1969) for not taking a photo of his ID plate & keeping sales documentation, all I know is his was first regoed July 54 as far as I can figure

AOMC? got their phone number? I'd be interested in Belle's exact birth date too...

thanks!

Your right IN2VWS about 1/11 through to 1/18 being introduced 1954, its interesting about the CKD cars, this topic has come up before about MKA, got to be Australian assembled. In October 1954 I.D. plate was made smaller. Not included on the new plate was the year of construction. By 1955, the small plate below the I.D.plate was changed to read Made in Western Germany. In July 1956, the I.D. plate was made shorter ( not as long top to bottom). This new plate contained less info than old style plate. Discontinued on the new plate were chassis type and engine numbers, from August 1958 body number no longer stamped into the body below the I.D plate. All info from " The 1949-1959 VW Beetle " by Bob Wilson..really good book for model identification