[T3] Type 3 Reversing Lights

Jim Adney jadney at vwtype3.org
Sun Apr 9 09:03:10 PDT 2017


On 8 Apr 2017 at 23:53, Dave Hall wrote:

> Very possibly, but a lot may have happened in the 12-15 years before you
> owned it. My 1971 1500A Variant came to me with reversing lights, but it's
> not clear whether they were fitted in the UK. It also had a clock that was
> dated a bit later than the car, too, so clearly had been retro-fitted, and
> that must have been the first owner, as I'm only the second.

A '71 with a 1500 engine? I thought your '71 was dual carb, but they only 
made a single carb 1500 in '71. Or was this a 1600 engine in a car with a 
1500 label on it, which would seem odd?

> If you get the birth certificate from Wolfsburg, it usually lists the
> M-codes that were factory-fitted.  Sometimes the importers (who were not VW
> back then) chose to specify some extras as more acceptable.  For example the
> FI versions came with waist trim, but lacked some other items which would
> have usually been on the L trim. There were also certain 'packs' which
> included a bunch of extras.  The '73 1600L Variant that has now become a
> 'donor vehicle' had a bad weather pack listed on the dealer order form (in
> german - it was bought by a UK Serviceman on a posting in Germany.
> Certainly it had factory fog lights, mud-flaps, HRW and intermittent wiper
> relay, which may have been the items included in that pack, but I can't
> confirm that.

Do you have an M code for the bad weather pack? If so, I can post it. I can't 
find (but it may be here) any mention of an intermittent wiper, so this may 
have been a dealer installed item. Got any other info that would help track 
this down?  

I never would have guessed that it could have been economical to delete the 
backup lamp bulb contacts from the taillight base, but, to my amazement, 
there are FOUR different taillight bases listed in the parts book for the late 
body style: 2 for 70-71 (chrome) one of which is for M239/M297 and 2 for 
72-73 (silver paint) one of which is for M239. The other 2 must have been 
without the taillight contacts.  

Here's what those M codes mean:

M 239 SEALED BEAM HEADLIGHTS                            
	311-314,USA,CANADA
      FLASHING INDICATORS WITH					361-364,
      SIDE MARKER LIGHTS, RED TAILLIGHTS,		M234:
      DUAL CIRCUIT WARNING LIGHT,				315-318,
      BACK UP LAMP, FUEL INJECTION ENGINE
      WITH DASHPOT, WITHOUT HEADLAMP
      FLASHER AND PARKING LAMP

Note the FI "Engine with Dashpot." I think that was '72 only.

M 297 SEALED BEAM HEADLIGHTS,			311-314,
      RED TAILLIGHTS, BUT WITHOUT			361-364;
      HEADLAMP FLASHER AND					M234:
      PARKING LAMP								315-318
      F             -- 317 500 000						EXPORT MARKETS	
												AND USA
      F  318 000 001--								EXPORT MARKETS
												EXCEPT USA

Then note that these each appear to be part of M234 for some models.

M 234 CHROME AND INTERIOR TRIM
      AS IN MODEL 311
      F  317 000 001--								315-318

Oddly, there are only 2 taillight lenses for 70-73, so those must be the 
red/white that we got in the US and the amber/red/white that lots of other 
places got. So it appears that even if you didn't get backup lights, you still 
got lenses that APPEARED to have backup lights.

<further verbage trimmed>

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