Aircooled VW South Africa

This is what I have...maybe someone has other info? The info below indicates the month and then the start VIN. You will see it says NPR which I assume is no production recorded.

1978
Jan 118 2 034 030
Feb 118 2 104 291
Mar 118 2 106 953
Apr 118 2 106 969
May 118 2 108 000
Jun NPR
July NPR
Aug 119 2 000 001
Aug 119 2 103 606
Sep 119 2 103 608
Oct 119 2 106 109
Nov 119 2 108 687
Dec 159 2 036 062
1979
Jan 119 2 111 555
Feb 119 2 113 988
Mar 119 2 116 020
Apr 119 2 117 690
May 119 2 119 876
Jun 119 2 121 134
July 119 2 121 136

I think those were the last VIN numbers of each month.

fig wrote: Fri Feb 05, 2021 2:03 pm

Jdt1976 wrote: Thu Feb 04, 2021 6:44 pm Thank Fig. I am not so familiar with the VIN and info of the later models.
Reason why I asked, I read somewhere the last 6 digits of the VIN shows if it was built after August. Sure someone would know.

The last 6 digits of the VIN are sequential, starting from 000 001 and ending at whatever number was finally produced in that year. So yes, they can give an idea when a car was built if you know the total produced in the year and divide by 12, to get avaerage monthly production. All the VIN lists I use list the last VIN produced each month, so it's easy to tell from VIN. The lists from the 1970s often only have the last VINs produced in July and December, which may relate to what you were told.

I checked now, this is what I read:
6 digit Chassis Number.
Those produced after August has a /0 and the digit will be one higher than the 3rd digit to indicate it is the next year's model

Herby explained it above.
The way I understood it was first of all, It was unique to SA beetles as the Vin decoder was on SA beetles, explaining our different models like the 114Z for SP's. Then, number after the / would be greater than the 3rd digit (year model) to show it was built in the new year.
Example, A October 78 built beetle would still have the 7 as third digit but would have an 8 after the / to indicate it was built in the new MY
Like I mentioned, I was thing it was unige to SA Vin's as all number of Germany changed to the new year in August.

Herbie wrote: Thu Feb 04, 2021 7:06 am Thanks Herman

I have spoken to him...he does have a wealth of knowledge. I got some of the numbers from him but testing it in real life is where the snag comes in. The newest can I have seen thus far...and I hope to see a newer one, was made in Jan 1978...and that includes the original last one that rolled off the production line. It seems like the maybe have built cars according to a sequence but the storing and selling did not necessarily go in the same number sequence. I also keep register of every SP1600 I can find to determine how many of them are still alive, and the newest one is also coincidentally a Jan 1978. So in seeing newer cars may either prove or destroy a hypothesis I have....

My 1978 also got a January number. 1182 012 9XX

Does the 'last built ' beetle also got a Jan 78 number?

May I make a suggestion, why not call VWSA Auto Pavilion and ask then for the Last Beetle Vin BEFORE restoration as well as the Vin After.

As it was the last Beetle off the line it should answer your question

Herman

retrovan wrote: Sat Feb 06, 2021 11:53 am May I make a suggestion, why not call VWSA Auto Pavilion and ask then for the Last Beetle Vin BEFORE restoration as well as the Vin After.

As it was the last Beetle off the line it should answer your question

Herman

My next question was going to be (if it is a Jan 78 Vin on the last beetle) did they use the original plate of the last beetle on the restored one?

I did contact a friend that I thought might have some info on the VIN of last beetle. He did not have the VIN but said production was stopped in July 78 and that the last beetle was made in Jan 79 from parts lying around.

My suspicion is they used the VIN of the donor car.

From a report on IOL (https://www.iol.co.za/motoring/cars/vol ... ds%20today.)
AutoPavilion manager Johan Wagner:
"It can't be called a restoration because it has a different chassis number, but every component that could be salvaged from the commemorative Beetle was carried over to the new body,"

I will mail someone at the Auto Pavilion I communicate with from time to time to see if he knows something.

Thats why I said we should get both the original VIN and the new Vin of the "Last Beetle" as the body used was still one of the last unused bodys

Having dealings with VW sometimes, I know that when a model is stopped, it takes a long time to run out the parts .

Suppliers hold stock as VW is a Just in time assembler, and the parts come from all over the world.

So all parts pre-made, before VW says STOP, will be absorbed by VW before the line stops.

So all WIP bodys would probably all have the 78 Vin numbers.

Herman

I grabbed the table from the all in one VW Bible with 1977 included. JdT it seems then that your car is Sep ‘77. Someone said the other day that there is a date on the back of your Speedo? Never tried it...

Some other parts, like transmission, may also have a code relating to month and year of manufacture.

Thanks Herbie. I only checked numbers on the 78 calendar year.
Double checked now, Oct 77.

The VIN on the list was from the last built car of that month.

Dawie, interesting that on the earlier models there are many places to check.
Front beam got a number
Gearbox number
Side support number (rear of floorpan)
Speedo
Code on engine (shows date, day and shift block was made)
Body number