Beetle Year Check
oldskl60 - May 31st, 2009 at 08:55 AM
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 - May 31st, 2009 at 09:18 AM
decemeber 57 so it would of been called a 58 
polak - May 31st, 2009 at 06:45 PM
AS PER MY RECORD I AGREE WITH JOEL... ITS A 58
68AutoBug - May 31st, 2009 at 07:30 PM
| Quote: |
Originally
posted by oldskl60
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
oldskl60 - May 31st, 2009 at 09:00 PM
Thanks for helping to clarify guys, much appreciated.
Cheers
Phil74Camper - June 1st, 2009 at 06:02 PM
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.