Aircooled VW South Africa

Trevlyn wrote:Where any of the VW buses made in SA? Well any of the split windows?

The buses were "made" in SA in that they were assembled here, and some of the parts (glass, tyres, batteries) were manufactured here. But most of the bus came in a knocked down kit from Germany (or Brazil), where it was made, to be assembled here.

Hiya Fig,

Found your posting on how to decipher a fleetline VIN interesting, but there is one thing to your explanation that does not match up:

you mention two sequential production numbers - one in the first line and one in the last line.

are the two supposed to match each other? or are the two numbers for different production areas such as body and engine?

Here is my bus vin as example:
214B EA001 6604
9-00/68
2051 002 240

and you can see that the last numbers on the first line (~6604) do not match the last lines numbers (~2240).

hardtail wrote:Hiya Fig,

Found your posting on how to decipher a fleetline VIN interesting, but there is one thing to your explanation that does not match up:

you mention two sequential production numbers - one in the first line and one in the last line.

are the two supposed to match each other? or are the two numbers for different production areas such as body and engine?

Here is my bus vin as example:
214B EA001 6604
9-00/68
2051 002 240

and you can see that the last numbers on the first line (~6604) do not match the last lines numbers (~2240).

I don't know what is the significance of the top number (6604). I have just noticed from observation of consecutive Fleetline VIN numbers that that number was also consecutive on the VIN plate.

2 240 means your bus was number 2,240 built out of about 5,000, and yours is a panelvan.

What was your bus's original colour?

All Fleetline owners feel free to post your VIN plate details here, to assist in trying to make sense of the codes.

hello,
are there fleetline's with lhd?
this split is here in belgium, year 1974

Not that i know of. My guess is:

a) It could have been made in Brazil,

b) Maybe it was converted to lhd.

FIG,
I dont know if it is the Altzheimers getting to me but I remember my dads 56/57 split--and later my first car --had the side door (outside)handle on the rear door of the two, not the front one as shown on the busses here. That was way back and I probibly never payed attention to detail then, or can that also be a difference between a split and a fleetline .
O and thank you for educating us on the fleetline. I remember my uncle bought one at a time when both fleetline and more mdern bay window was available and I thought it was stupid to try and market both.
cheers baronl

vw_speedsterke, your bus was probably made in Brazil. It's not a Fleetline because it's not RHD and wasn't assembled in South Africa. VW do Brasil made LHD split screeen buses for the South American market until 1974 or 75.

BARON wrote:FIG,
I dont know if it is the Altzheimers getting to me but I remember my dads 56/57 split--and later my first car --had the side door (outside)handle on the rear door of the two, not the front one as shown on the busses here. That was way back and I probibly never payed attention to detail then, or can that also be a difference between a split and a fleetline .

You remember correctly. German split buses had exactly the same cargo doors whether they were fitted on the left (RHD) or right (LHD), which means that when fitted on the right, the front door opens first, while on the left, the rearmost door opens first. For some reason on the Fleetline production run, VW do Brasil went to the effort of creating the cargo doors in mirror image so they would still open front first on the opposite side.

Hi do any one know where should the vin nr plates be in a single cab fleetline?

Louis, I capped READ in my last response for a reason. All your questions have already been answered:

fig wrote:Interpreting Fleetline VIN plates

The VIN plate is found on the bulkhead behind the driver’s seat.

Typical Fleetline VIN plate layout:
214B EA 001 XXXX
X-XXXX/XX/67
2051 XXX XXX

Where:
214B = Panelvan RHD, Brazilian; 234B = Kombi RHD, Brazilian; 264B = pick-up RHD, Brazilian
EA = ??
001 = ?? (This number is the same on all Fleetlines)
XXXX = sequential production number

The numbers on the middle line and their pattern vary, but the last number is always 67, which has led many Fleetline owners to incorrectly assume their buses are 1967s.

The bottom line is the VIN, where:
2 = Type 2
0 = ??
5 = 1975
1 = panelvan, 3 = Kombi, 6 = pick-up
XXX XXX = sequential production number

ok I've looked again, found it behind the passenger seat but there were a plate poprivet on top of the org one but it reads:

264B EA 001 1226 264B = pick-up RHD
67 60(1st plate) fig any idea what this one can be?
2056 000 504
2 = Type 2
0 = ??
5 = 1975
6 = pick-up

I don't know what most of the numbers signify, and I don't know anyone elkse who does. FWIW, all VWSA assembled cars got a similar VIN plate from around 1973. I have never compared Fleetline VIN plates with any other cars. I have collected VIN plate info from quite a few Fleetlines, but have not been able to decipher most of it.

2056 000 504
2 = Type 2
0 = ??
5 = 1975
6 = pick-up

The zero indicates that if you spend any more time worrying about the vin plate, you will have exactly such a social life.
504 indicates how many seconds it took you to read the post, realize it was and crack a smile.

I really enjoyed reading this thread and watching fig patiently repeat himself several times.Thank goodness for copy and paste! I would like to know a bit more about engine sizes available for splits vs fleetlines. I imagine 1975 would have been 1600 twin port territory.

I spoke to my father about my interest in these old buses and he was horrified to hear that I might be able to purchase up a '58 1200cc Kombi. He said I could expect to travel at 30km/h all the way up Kragga Kamma rd in Port Elizabeth and travel back down at 60km/h tops. I would prefer to manage 60km/h and 80km/h cruising speed. Unfortunately (or fortunately) my moolah had to part with me for another reason so I'm back to saving and educashun.

luckly the fleetlines cruise easy @ 80 km/h and max 115km/h (as stated in the manual) I had mine up to 105km/h.

There tp 1600 single carb is realy powerfull , If I want to overtook some one thats driving 60-70 then you can go and over took up to 100km/h but then come back to 80-90km/h

A 1600 split bus has no problem cruising at 100km/h all day; just slows down for the hills. I think my avergae speed on road trips is about 85-90km/h.

A 1200 bus is another story. 36hp top speed is 80km/h, 40hp is 90km/h.

I wouldn't take a 1600 bus over 100km/h on a regular basis. The fastest I ever got a Fleetline under its own 1600 power was 120 while overtaking a truck, which then accelerated as I was passing. I didn't blow up the engine but I won't do it again in a hurry (and that was 20 years ago!)