I just bought my first Volkswagen Beetle. I wasn't planning on it and never thought about buying a bug but this one caught my eye on ebay so I
snapped it up. I know quite little about the Beetle so I though the best place to get some knowledge on it would be a VW forum. The year of
manafacture is 1965 and it is a 1200.
Here it is from when I bought it:
And here it is as of yesterday, started tearing it apart. I also found out it has had it's brakes replaced recently:
I'm not too sure what the rods in the doors with the block of wood are in there for? maybe a previous owners ingeneering? 
My plans are to take the body off soon and do a simple resto...paint, repair rust, replace all the rubbers and hopefully drive it as a daily.
Nice, looks like my 67 did when I got it. The 1967 model built here in Aus is unique so if some of the original parts are still there don't ditch
them.
Are you planning on keeping it stock or modifying it?
Thanks, any specific items I should be keeping? The plan is to keep it as stock as possible, just tidy it up a bit with a paint job, new seals and
just drive.
Also, can anyone help me out finding the seal channel for the bonnet? I can see a few from America, weld in type ones...does anyone in Australia stock
them?
Sunvisors,
The original quarter window frames (should be stainless steel if they're originals)
If any of the surviving trim is in there it might be handy if you want to get the same sort of look the originals had.
I'm very glad you're keeping it stock too, seems to be harder to find people keeping them that way nowadays.
cool, I'll keep a hold of the sunvisors...they aren't in very good shape so I might re-cover them in similar material. The original quarter window
frames are gone 
the exterior chrome trim pieces, are there any differences between the years? I can't seem to find one to suit a 67, only 63-66 and 68-72?
63 to 66 will fit fine I think, the ones you are looking at me be those for the Euro/US '67 model, which is a different car altogether
The ones I'm looking at are on the Vollks website. Also, just looking at my VIN today 195789842 would it make it a 65 model? Is there any way to distinguish a 65 to a 67?
I did think the interior looked older, that explains why.
The engine size, deck-lid badges and interior trim are the main ways to tell.
Unlike the rest of the world Australian built cars utilised the 1961-64 style bodies up until 1968, unlike everywhere else
ahhh ok cheers for that...just edited the thread title 
one more thing, how can I tell if the engine is a 1200?
http://www.clubvw.org.au/vwengines
That should help