Aircooled VW South Africa

Hi guys,

I've been reading up a bit and found on this forum it is mentioned that the 1970 Bay Window rear wheel arches have a lip, while later models have a flare.
As per Fig's post:
"on a 70 or earlier baywindow the wheelarches have a lip; on 71 onward models the wheel arch was flared"

Now, my VIN states 1970 (2402130313), but I have flared wheel arches.
I checked the VIN plate on the driver's side, as well as in the engine bay. It matches.

So, I really don't know what's up with this, as this 'mismatch' is a bit confusing.
Does anyone have an explanation for this?

My bus:





Another 1970 found online:

Not only is the flared wheel arch strange for a 1970, the wheels / rims pcd is also not correct for a 1970 model. Wheel PCD and wheel arch point to a 1971 model.

Those sliding windows are also not correct. They only came out from 1975 onwards.

I'm aware of the windows and wheels. That's easily replacable at least.
What I don't know, is what should the wheels look like?

Question is, was the arches replaced, or was the VIN replaced? My guess is one of the two was done when the bus was restored.

Would it be possible that it was produced like this? Perhaps it was one of the last 1970 models and was assembled with 1971 arches?
That's my only guess

The rims are not that simple to just swap. It would involve either the entire front beam to be swapped, or at very least, the stub axle, drums to disks, backing plates, callipers etc. Rear would also involve swapping drive shafts, drums, cylinders, backing plates etc.
Pic below of what a 1970 rim / PCD looks like.

Has the engine bay also been resprayed where the vin number is stamped? Have you checked underneath the engine bay to check for any tampering ?

Yup. Everything has been resprayed. Will have to check for tampering, but not sure I would be able to identify anything

Another difference between 1970 and 1971 is the width of spare wheel well. The 1971 wheel's width was increased to 5 and a half inches. So spare wheel well's width was increased at the same time.
Sliding door mechanism was also changed to a bowden arrangement for 1971. This was to reduce chance of door opening during an accident.

I've measured my wheel well width. Its about 21-22cm.
I did not notice any tampering/changes to the engine bay, but can't rule it out as I'm not experienced enough to notice these.