Hey Dubbaz,
Anyone know the stats of how many 15window Splitz were made? And how many were exported to Oz?
I know they're a rare van just wondering how rare...
Cheers in advance
W
not enough surely, i want one like this
mmmmmmmmmmmmmmm........!
:bounce :bounce :bounce :bounce
Hee Hee Hee....only one way to get that lower....bury it!
Channelled and air bagged I presume.....NICE
I wonder If the cops would make you put the yellow sticker/defect notice on the glass yourself?!! hahahahaha
W
Series 1 Kombis were not 'exported' to Australia. They were made at the Australian VW factory in Clayton, a suburb in south-west
Melbourne.
The factory was established in 1954, and started by assembling CKD (Completely Knocked Down) kits from Germany. This was done for both Type 1 Beetles
and Type 2 Transporters. Gradually the factory started sourcing parts from local companies - things like batteries, electrics, cloth, glass,
rubber...so as time went on the 'local content' slowly increased.
By 1959 the factory was actually stamping metal body panels (for Beetles anyway) and the cars could be said to be 'manufactured' rather than
just 'assembled'. For Beetles the local content had already passed 50%, but Transporters weren't localised to quite the same extent,
owing to the smaller turnover.
VW's biggest selling year in Australia was 1964, when nearly 25,000 Beetles and some 12,000 Transporters were sold. Unfortunately, I can't
tell you how many of those were Deluxe Microbuses as I don't have any detailed breakdown by model type. But they would not have been in the
majority; most of the Australian VW Transporters were sold as working vehicles in fleets, both government and private. They were certainly not rare at
the time. VW once had 75% of the Australian commercial vehicle market, and only slipped below 50% in the late '60s. Series 1 Kombis are only rare
now as they have nearly all worn out after a long and successful working life.
As for total sales, I only know that 75,000 Kombis have been sold in Australia from 1955 to 1979.
nice run down phil
do u have a net site, if not you should do an aussie vw info file site !
:bounce
Thanks! I do write articles for the Club Veedub website but that's about it so far.
Actually I'm not as smart as I thought I was - Clayton is in SOUTH-EAST Melbourne, on the Princes Hwy on the way to Dandenong. Not SW as I wrote!
| Quote: |
Yes that figure came from a VW Australia (LNC Industries) press release from 1977, when the last Beetle had just been sold. Unfortunately most of
VW's press releases were written in general terms, so that newspapers would publish them. Detailed statistical breakdowns of how many of which
models were sold wasn't done, sadly.
I am working on an update of the book, which I hope to have published later this year. Thanks for your kind comments Rob, but when I read the book
again now, 10 years after I wrote it, parts of it are not very good!
phil if thast all u got wrong then i reckon u are pretty damn cluey
anyway i dont know my north and south but i know where clayton is so thats cool too !
after the restoration is complete i am going to by a few GOOD vw books, your is on the list phil !
:bounce
I have a copy of Phil's book and I refer to it quite often... its nice to have something that has local information!!! 
Great that you are getting closer with the revised version Phil 
*waves*
Jay
Good to be home!