G'day all,

I bought a 72 S-bug the other day and when I had it beside my 74 I realised that the rear windscreens were different size. So I was hoping someone might be able to tell me what changes were made to the rear windscreens over the beetles history because all I could find on the net was that 72 was the last year that they changed its size. Which obviously must be a mistake or my beetles are going crazy.

Cheers
Luke

Yes

the rear window got larger in 1972 year model....

Supers only I think..??

although the 1976 NON Super would have the larger rear glass too I should think....

LEE

IS YOUR 1974 a SUPER Beetle?? 1303S??? LEE

Thanks for the reply Lee,

Yea both my bugs are certainly superbugs 1600s

The rear windows of Beetles were changed several times in history, and are one of the easiest ways to pick the age of a given car. Some early prototype models had no rear window at all, but after that, the major changes were roughly as follows:



Split window, pre-1953



Oval window, 1953-57



Small square window, 1958-1967(?)

I'm not sure about the enlargement of the square window, but I do know that the 1968-72 Beetles share the same rear window, and I believe that it was enlarged for 1972 onwards. I believe that there was a medium-sized square window from '67 or '68 to '72, but I'm not 100% certain.

Edit: I now have information which leads me to believe that the 'medium' square window was released in 1965, which would make the rear windows like so:

1958-1965: Small square window
1965-1971: Medium square window
1972 on: Large square window

mark thats overseas, not aus

if your Sbug has a smaller back window than your 74 then its a 71 not a 72 well atleast the body is anyway
the big backwindow change over happened with the beginning of the 72 model run, same time they made the other changes like highback seats, 4 vent decklid, reverse lights, column mounted wiper switch etc

bugs get pieced back together with all sorts of parts after nearly 40 years so it may have a 72 floor pan with a 71 body and the compliance plate of the 72.

australian bugs had the windows change at different times to the rest of the world

without getting into ovals and splits, all the windows including the back were the same from 58-67 in aus

and from 68 excluding Lbug windscreens obviously the only change was the back one got 2" higher and more squared off corners at the start of 72

this happened to all bugs not just supers

Good photo of a popes nose number plate/stop lamp ..

on the black split window beetle....

LEE

Joel, that must be why I originally thought that '68 was the changeover year for the windows. I'm not sure whether my red Super has the bigger rear window or not, but I believe it's a '72 so I suppose that it must do. Will check this later.

Thanks everyone for your replies and pics. I have come to the conclusion that the bug is probably a 71 that was sold in March of 72 because it doesn't have the correct compliance plate anyway and the only official documents are the ones with the sale date and not the bugs year. Cheers for all your help, Luke

If it was bought new in march 72 it was probbaly still made in mid to late 71 which is why its a 71 spec

Cheers everyone for clearing this up for me. I am slowly starting to learn a bit about the changes through the beetles history.
Thanks,
Luke

Which is hard enough in the first place - but made doubly hard by our VWs being made in Melbourne. Not always the same as the German/US versions, so be careful of US websites !