Hi
Can anyone tell me the year model of my Beetle stamped n the chassis under the back seat is # 197688412. Under the bonnet where the spare sit there is a plate the with Volkswagen Australasia & type19 chassisno19 on it. Rego paper say 67 but Im not sure as it has knob for heater on the tunnel not the 2 levers. Any ideas as I need to order some parts & dont want to buy the wrong ones
Cheers

19"7"688412

The 7 puts it at 1967

Barry is right. Australian-manufactured 1965-67 cars used the 19y nnnnnn chassis number format - 1 for Type 1 (Beetle), 9 for Australian manufactured, and the third digit the year. 197 means an Australian 1967 car.

In Europe the model year runs from August to July, so a German 1967 Beetle was made between August 1966 and July 1967. However the Australian factory didn't use these dates. OUR 1967 model ran from about February 1967 - after the factory came back from the Xmas holidays and implemented any changes - until usually the following February. This sometimes varied - for example the Australian 1961 model was made from early 1961 until June 1962 ! Then there was a 'catchup' model called the 1962-and-a-half that was made until early 1963 - and so on.

Aussie '67s were made from about Feb 1967 until March 1968 (Deluxe Beetle), when they were discontinued and replaced by the fully imported German 1968 model. Local CKD assembly of the manual '68 model started in June 1968 - it took the factory a few months to reorganise. In the meantime assembly of the 1967 Australian Custom (Standard) continued right up to September 1968 (and the Country Buggy too), before Australian manufacture was finally shut down. The presses and tooling, and the master body jig, went to VW Brazil! CKD assembly of German kits continued up until 1976 when Nissan bought the factory.

Yes your Aussie '67 uses the twist heater. It's basically a 1962-63 Beetle with a 1300 engine and updated gearbox and brakes. The Aussie factory could not afford all of Wolfsburg's annual changes and was basically 'locked' into making the 1962 model with only minor improvements. Our '65-'66''67 Beetles are nothing like German or US-spec VWs. The main reason, in fact, why sales halved, the factory lost milliions of dollars and had to end local manufacture.

If you're ordering parts from the USA (rubbers, trim etc), order for a US '63-'64 model. DON'T order for a US '67! Totally different.