Hi all,
I am trying to find out what year a particular beetle is.
It's vin is 196030111. (Matches both compliance plate and chassis)

Previous owner not sure but thinks it may be a 62.

Couldn't read anything off the back of the speedo.

Any other info from this vin would be great if anyone knows.

Thanks

You sure you typed that number in right ???

9 digits normally means 1965 - 1970, but they all start with 11.

Starting with 19 is way back in the late 50's when they were still 7 digit numbers....could it possibly be that you've missed a one off the front, and it actually starts with 119 ???

aussie built 66
2nd digit being 9 means made in aus

yep AUSSIE 66 for sure

I'll check the vin again today, I did look at the wheels, but 4 of them are wider 5 stud wheels with 65 stamped on them, however the spare is a narrow 5 stud wheel with 63 stamped on it.

Wheels and speedos can be changed easy but i have a good vin decoder program and it says it's built August 1965 It being a 66 model built in August 1965. Hope this helps ,

From Dylan

There's no way it would have been built in August 1965 - sorry Dylan.

Australia's factory was not as big and efficient as Wolfsburg, and it took months for changes to filter through the system. Australian model year changes generally came in at the start of the new year - February or March - after the Xmas break. German changes were the previous August.

A 196 nnn nnn is an Australian 1966 model chassis - German chassis began 116 but Australian-manufactured cars had a '9' for the second digit. Overseas websites - and even VW Germany today - miss that point.

That number was the 30,111th stamping for 1966 so I am guessing it was made very late in 1966, or even in early 1967. VW sold only 20,000 or so Beetles in 1966.

ok I double checked the vin, definitely starts with 19. On the back of the speedo I read 65 12, so is it a december 65?

Yes

the date on the rear of the speedo is when the speedo was made....

same as the wheels...

these are also two of the easiest things to change....

so many cars have wrong date wheels and speedo...

LEE

You can also check underneath the front blinkers. Unscrew the chrome screw, lift off the chrome covers and look underneath. There's usually a date stamp there.

Not a guarantee of course, as mudguards/blinkers could have been swapped even more often than wheels/speedos.

front indicators are off a later style beetle

thanks everyone for help

so based on whats been said here my vin number 119052264 would make it a 1969 model built in Germany?

Right.

But is that the VIN (chassis number) for the car in your avatar, which looks like a 6V Beetle? Is 1964 your year model? If so, then the floorpan must have been been swapped !

No Phil the photo in my avatar is of my very first car which was a 67 beetle.

Can you tell what month my 69 car was built by the vin?

Yes mine has the levers on the floor as well as under the dash

I can tell by my decoder. ill check now.

cool look forward to the results

that will give you a very rough approximation, but what u need to bear in mind it was assembled from a CKD kit and australia sold them at much slower rates than say germany or US so whilst it may have left germany in april 69 it might not have been assembled and complianced here till say novemeber where as one bound for europe or US would have been put together months earlier but have a later chassis number

ive found on all the 70s bugs Ive owned theres usually a 4-5 month gap between part manufacture dates (engine, wheels, speedo, interior panels etc) and the aus compliance date