I've been told that my bug is a 69 but it's a swing axle with ball joint front discs. Is this a standard configuration?

Thanks,

Nick.

Yeah I had a 69 with the same configuration....

My buggy is a 69 with the exact same setup.....

In Australia disc brakes first appeared with the 68 model. The 68, 69 and 70 model have disc brakes and the swing axle suspension.

If your's has an internal pull wire to release the fuel door, has no chrome strip across the glove box, and has a solid engine lid (assuming it's still the original), and has the front heater outlets under the doors, then yes - its' a 69.

68s have a chrome strip on the glove box/dash, but have an indent next to the fuel door to open it from the outside. They also have the heater vents further forward near the pedals.

70s have a "2 slot" engine lid, and got a round VW badge just forward of the windscreen, but otherwise look the same as the 69s.

From 68 onwards the semi-autos have the IRS axles, and this appeared in the manuals in 1971.

Of course the definitve way to tell your car's age is to look at the VIN on the tunnel under the back seat.


For example:

118,xxx,xxx for a 68;
119,xxx,xxx for a 69, and
110,2xxx,xxx for a 70 - the third digit gives the year for all aircooled VWs from 65 onwards. Note that from 70 onwards an extra digit was inserted - it was always 2 until the total built exceeded 1 million, then that 2 changed to a 3. They used 2 as the first choice for the extra digit as it is the "2nd decade" of this numberinig system.

There is a complete list of chassis and engine numbers on my site...
http://www.geocities.com/aussiebug1970/years.html 

Hi

Hmmmm, the IRS/Swingaxle vs 4-joint/2-joint debate