Bought my first beetle yesterday, 1967 model. Started cleaning it up today and this is a copy of my first post in my build thread, looking for some information...

Ok, day 1 and first surprise....and it may be a pleasant one....

Tried cleaning up the build plate under the spare wheel, from what I can see it is mainly blank, couldn't find a build year, and the chassis number seems to be blank..just some tyre pressures etc on the plate.

So go back to under the seat on the tunnel and clean that up and the first numbers are 195....does that mean I have a 1965 model??

On that, what dictates the build of a car with the bodies and chassis easily exchangable?? Should there be more information on my plate ( I still have to clean some more old paint off it)?

Hi Weeds,

I've just recently cleaned off several layers of paint off my Vin plate for my 1967 beetle which was made in Australia, my numbers are 197****etc... which means I am a 1967 model.

Yours is a '65 model.

Under the back seat on the tunnel there will be a number only.

On the vin plate it should read something like this; mine is a little had it but is just legible.

Volkswagen
Type 19 Chassis ##
then a stamped chassis number
Total weight
Front Axle wegiht *** Rear Axle weight **

Thats all there is on mine which should be the same as yours;

This link to ClubVW Website has a great picture of whats on the Aussie cars and an awesome break down of the differences
http://www.clubvw.org.au/vwchassis 

The build year of the car really would go off the chassis number as the bodies for Australian built beetles were basically identical from 1962 to 1967 due to $$$ in re-tooling the factory for body updates. This is why among other reasons why Australia went back to CKD kits from 1968 onwards.

Cheers
Shaun

Thanks very much for that Shaun

The chassis number near the seat is very clear...195

The plate at the front of the car, the chassis number looks blank to me but may well be that far gone its not even noticeable anymore....

I was fortunate enough to make it out and lucky me my chassis and body have the same numbers!