I've just bought what we believe to be a 1966 beetle, but I can't confirm it from any Beetle VIN decoder sites that I've come across. The VIN on the beetle starts with the numbers 197... Can anyone help with confirming the year of it?

Is this the beetle chassis number from the chassis tunnel? as stamped under the rear seat near the tunnel access cover?

Yes, it's from under the rear seat, on the top of the tunnel.

here you go:

http://www.mickmotors.com.au/vwchassisnumber.htm 

australia chassis numbers are different to the rest of the world.

DATE CHASSIS #

8/1966 197 000 001
12/1966 197 442 503
7/1967 197 999 000

Excellent, thank you.

u have a 67 model

The format for Australian 1965-67 Beetles is 19ynnnnnn. '1' means Type 1. '9' means manufactured in Australia - US websites don't know about this one. And the third digit - '7' - is your year model.

Mick Motors' listing is pretty good but not quite right. They've just changed the '11ynnnnn' for German VWs to '19ynnnnn' for Australia. Australian models did NOT begin their next model year in August - that's Wolfsburg. Australian models began the new model year the following February or March, due to the shipping delay from Germany and also the Xmas-New Year holiday period. The Aussie 1965, for example, did not appear in August 1964, it appeared in Feb 1965.

Likewise the 1500 Beetle did not appear here in 8/67. Aussie '67s were actually made until March 1968, and Standards until September 1968! The fully imported German '68s first appeared here in March '68, and CKD assembly began a few months later.

VW switched to the modern VIN system in 1980.

Thank you everyone for your help. Between your responses & the mechanic doing the roadworthy, it's been registered this afternoon as a 1967 beetle deluxe. I'm just happy to have a number plate on it.