[T3] Factory Steering Wheel?

[Jim Adney]

On 1 Mar 2016 at 12:20, Dave Hall wrote:

> When were the new year models in USA showrooms, Jim?  We had them on sale
> from the beginning of August back then, and they arrived in dealerships a
> few weeks before to allow time for pre-delivery de-waxing and inspection.
> There must have been some pre-production of the new spec. for this to
> happen. 

I think we got the new models in very early Sept, but I always 
thought production started sometime in Aug. According to the 
microfilm, the new model year VIN numbers started on 8/1 each year 
and ended on 7/31. Yes, it has always seemed odd that the dealers 
could get them as quickly as they did, since my memory is that it 
took ~6 weeks for shipments to arrive from Germany by boat, get thru 
customs, move thru the distributors, and then get to the dealers.

The early '72 I had was one that was picked up in Germany under the 
Tourist Delivery Program. I bought it many years later, but it still 
had all the paperwork. VIN = 362 2 003 480. 

Here are all the VINs when those various features were introduced.

VW diagnostics: 311 2 212 452

Larger front calipers: 311 2 268 738

E brain: 312 2 000 001

Black faced instruments: 312 2 000 001

4 spoke steering wheel: 312 2 000 001

3 rail front seats: 312 2 133 001

Black wiper arms & blades: 312 2 158 628

I'm beginning to think that my memory was wrong about my '72 having a 
2-spoke steering wheel, and the microfilm says I'm wrong about grey 
faced gauges. Does anyone else remember seeing a '72 with grey faced 
gauges? I should have taken more photos. I scrapped out that car 16 
years ago; doesn't seem that long....

There are a lot of "holdover" cars that seem like they belong in a 
different year. For example, I've got a local guy who happens to be 
into Type 4s. When he first contacted me, he told me he had a '74 
Type 4 with D-jetronic FI. I told him he must be mistaken since 
everyone knows that all the '74s were L-jet, but upon checking the 
microfilm, I saw that VW actually made a couple thousand 1.7 L D-jet 
Type 4s at the beginning of the '74 model year. He's got one of them.
He's actually got 2 Type 4s, both in very good condition, because 
they were both parked in dry storage in about 1980. He bought them 
for next to nothing and has been going thru them getting all the 
mechanicals back in shape. They are now driveable, but he's waiting 
for the salt to get washed off our roads before taking them out for 
the first time in nearly 40 years.

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