[T3] Guess the year

[Dave Hall]

I understand Type 3s were produced in Australia, apart from at the beginning
and end of the model when they were assembled from completely-knocked-down
(CKD) kits which would have already been allocated chassis numbers.  I
wonder if the Australian chassis numbers are different.  Someone can
probably confirm or deny that.  Also, having two different numbers is a bit
of a puzzle.  
I'm inclined to believe it may be a composite car - floorpan from one and
body from another - and an enthusiast-built convertible.  There are some
nice-looking examples, but they tend to be too flexible.  I remember a
Fastback conversion, which looked very smart, but with the hood folded on
the rear shelf lacked rear vision.

I know South Africa also assembled kits, and I believe Nigeria (old name)
did also - certainly they asembled Beetles from CKD kits.  I believe
Malaysia and Japan imported them rather than assembling them, plus many
other countries.  All these would be in RHD configuration.

Perhaps this car is an Australian-produced one.  What does your
documentation say about its origin?

Dave
UK VW Type 3&4 Club
===================  

-----Original Message-----
From: type3-vwtype3.org-bounces at lists.vwtype3.org
[mailto:type3-vwtype3.org-bounces at lists.vwtype3.org] On Behalf Of Jim Adney
Sent: 06 October 2013 16:10
To: type3 at vwtype3.org
Subject: Re: [T3] Guess the year

On 6 Oct 2013 at 16:55, Edward Morton wrote:

> That is what's on the rego papers but the door lock, bumpers and slim 
> line indicators didn't help assure me of that. So I tried to decode 
> the classy and I got a 63-64 I'm not sure where it was imported from 
> but it is a right hand drive

Up thru '64 the VIN had 6 digits. That changed to 8 digits in '65 and
9 digits in '70. The first VIN you gave had 7 digits, which isn't possible,
so my guess is that there's one digit missing, making this a '66 VIN.

Starting in '66 the third digit of the VIN is the year, so the 2 numbers you
gave appear to be from '66 and '67. For more info, see this writeup, which
talks about both engine numbers and VINs:

http://vwtype3.org/info-serial-numbers.txt

--
*******************************
Jim Adney, jadney at vwtype3.org
Madison, Wisconsin, USA
*******************************

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