So I have just acquired/purchased some B1 Passats... and having a quick scout around the forums the whole grand interweb thingy...

I am finding it hard to research much on them. I understand what I have, and the fact that they are not as popular, but I thought I would be able to find simple things like Colour charts, etc...

I have a run of the mill Wattle Yellow Passat, but I also have a Blue Passat.

From what I can determine, the blue is original, however..... When I go to any information, including an original sales brochure the only blue option is "Flipper Blue" and it is definately not that light...

If anyone can point me to forums, sites, information on B1 Passats that would be great, and I may be able to find something out about this blue one!

I am also after some body parts for them, so if anyone can assist me there I would be very appreciative. (Yes, Ed... will give you time to come back to me on what you can find too!)

Thanks in advance...

Hi, nice to see someone keen on preserving and looking after these much under-appreciated Volkswagens.

The Passat 'B1' - first generation - was released in Australia in March 1974. It wasn't fully imported, but was assembled from German CKD kits in VW's factory in Clayton, Melbourne. It replaced the Type 3 on the local assembly line.

By this stage the factory was owned and operated by 'Motor Producers Ltd,' a holding company fully owned by VW AG Germany, but free to contract work out for other manufacturers. In the early 1970s, assembly of Nissans took up more of the Clayton plant's facilities than Volkswagens did!

One consequence of this is that the colour range for Australian VWs were not Volkswagen colours - they were Nissan colours! The colours we know from this time - Wattle, Flipper Blue, Antarctica White, Martini Olive, Bronco Brown - were Nissan colours! This is why US/German colour charts such as those on Samba etc, don't match Australian-assembled cars.

You are right, the local Passat brochures only list Flipper Blue as the 'official' Passat (and Golf Blue). However . . . the 1976 Beetle brochure also lists a darker mid-blue called Harbour Blue. This may be your colour - who knows, batches of cars could have been painted in non-regulation colours - especially as the factory was shifting to Nissan and would, in fact, be sold completely to Nissan in late 1975. Australian VW assembly ended in early 1977 and all VWs since then have been fully imported. The upgraded German B1A Passat went on sale in 1978, but petrols were discontinued in 1980 and diesels in 1981. We didn't see the B2 Passat at all, and the Passat wasn't reintroduced until the early 1990s.

When LNC lost the Australian VW franchise in 1987, their old stock of VW spare parts was purchased by Volksbahn (Sydney). They can help you with parts you require. Anything still on the ETKA catalogue can, in theory, still be ordered from VW dealers. Body parts, though, will have to be brought in from overseas.

Does yours have an Australian compliance plate? What is the chassis number? Their chassis number prefixes will be 32y2nnnnnn for sedans (the third digit is the year) and 33y2nnnnn for wagons.

Hi Phil,

Yes, I had a search on the colour code "Dulon CLR 530" and you are spot on "Harbour Blue" according to a couple of other forums....
I have two of the beasties... The Wattle Yellow & the Harbour Blue with sunroof, which is my main focus, being so warm and sunny in Tasmania....
I shall try and see if Volksbahn have what is required, Thank you for the informative info.... Interestingly enough, someone in Hobart has listed a Flipper Blue one for sale just yesterday. They reckon the coupes are quite rare, but I have two, I know the whereabouts of another wattle yellow, and now this flipper blue... All in Tasmania.... Can't be too rare....

Compliance plate is stamped
322 Sedan (but it's a coupe?)
11/75
324 2 318 939

Yep- Harbour Blue is listed on the Passat Sales Brochure dated January 1976 as an official colour although it does say "limited production." The scanned copy attached also shows the trim colours to match the paint colour.

The front cover seems to be the same blue as well as the old favourite "Martini Olive".
BTW
Some B1 trivia.
The first CKD Passat came of the Clayton Production Line in October 1973, followed by 238 units in November and 446 units in December . There is no record of the model breakdown though but I do recall there was a real shortage of the LS "Sports" model that lasted for some 6 months to a point that it pissed me off, I spat the dummy, cancelled my order and went and purchased a brand new Peugot 504. I came back to VW though.
countrybuggybill