just purchased a Purple convertible Bug as our project , not sure what year she is , how do we go about finding out any help would be great , on the conpliance plate it has Made in Australiasia , Type II and has Blinkers inside the headlights ill atattch a pic if that will help


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Well the headlights are not original so don't worry about them!

The most general way to determine the year model is the chassis number. You can find it stamped on the floorpan, on the centre tunnel under the back seat. Let us know what it is.

Of course after all this time, it may not be the original floorpan as they are easily swapped. But it's a good place to start. You can also look for a date stamp on the back of the speedo (if original), and stamped on the wheel centres under the hubcaps. The purple car doesn't have the original wheels, but what about the spare?

The manufacturing plate you mention should also have the chassis number stamped on it, and if the body and floorpan are original they will match. It actually says 'Type 11', which means a Beetle. I think the body is an Australian-manufactured 1967 or earlier 6-volt body (originally).

Cheers thanks for that we will have a look and see if we can find the numbers ,it is a bit differant to our 68 stick shift auto it has all the plates and the writting on all the stickers is in German and is plated made in Germany ,so yer will be chasing some parts for her as soon as we can work out what model she is , mechanicaly i think it just needs a clutch and the carby is a bit sad as well the 1300 motor has only just been rebuilt so we were told , also will be chasing some wider guards as the tyres are hanging out by a couple of inches
Cheers

Yes it's a bit different for '68-on 12-volt Beetles. When local manufacturing was ended in early 1968, the Melbourne VW factory had to convert back to German CKD assembly, which took a little time. The first '68 models (which were a MAJOR upgrade of the Australian 1300 6-volt Beetle!) were fully imported until the CKD assembly was organised. Manual '68 Beetles were CKD from mid 1968, but the semi-autos remained fully imported.

From 1957 until 1968, the Melbourne company was called 'Volkswagen Australasia Ltd', which is what is stamped on your manufacturing plate. In 1968 there was a great upheaval and that company was liquidated. A new company called 'Motor Producers Ltd' (owned by VW Germany) was set up to run the Melbourne factory. Sydney's LNC Industries was awarded the national distribution rights, and they created a new division called 'Volkswagen Australia Ltd.' This existed until LNC closed it down in 1984. LNC lost the Australan VW franchise in 1987 and went out of business in 1991. Motor Producers Ltd was bought out by Nissan in 1976.

Yes the purple one sounds like either a '66 or '67 Australian Beetle. They had 1300 engines originally. If I am right, the chassis number will begin either 196nnnnnn (for 1966) or 197nnnnnn (1967). The '1' means Type 1 Beetle, while the '9' means manufactured in Australia. This is the digit that sends Americans and their websites into confusion - their German Beetles have a '1' here and they don't recognise the '9'. The third digit is the year model.

Forum sponsor Vintage Veedub (02) 9789 1777 can help you with the parts you need. They are in Sydney but can post items to you if required.

Thanks for all your help , was told when i bought the 68 about 8 years ago that she was unique Bug being a stick shift semi auto and an German import , Thanks again for everyones help