TheSamba.com :: View topic - Bad News on Birth Certificate: Do I Have Any Other Options?

Mon Jun 23, 2008 4:43 pm

Hello,

I have been long awaiting the arrival of the Birth Certificate from the museum in Germany for my '57 Oval.

Today, I receive this e-mail (verbatim):

"Dear ******,

Thank you for your email.

In principle the Stiftung AutoMuseum Volkswagen is pleased to
research the data of your old Volkswagen from the vehicle data base
and to draw up a birth certificate.

However, we are not able to research the data of your car because the micro fish
regarding the chassis number of your car is crumbling and illegible.
We will send you your money back.

We ask for your understanding.

Yours sincerely

Roswitha Hendel"

:(

ARGH!!!!! Talk about bad luck!!!

So this is my question out of desparation:

Is that my only option to find out the origins of my Beetle? I was looking forward to finding out the interior/exterior colors and the original port it was to be shipped. Any other info. I could get my hands on.

Do any of you know if there is any other option or means to obtain this information?

Thanks in advance and if you want your Beetle's birth certificate, hurry up because your microfisch might be crumbling!!!

Cheers!

Mon Jun 23, 2008 8:07 pm

You would think that a museum would not use OG microfisc and have all those digitized by now?

Maybe wait a couple years and try again. Maybe they will have sourced new records by then?

X

Mon Jun 23, 2008 8:57 pm

Yeah...but it's still frusterating.

I thought I read somewhere about Wolfsburg West or some other company being able to produce a birth certificate?

Anybody heard this?

Mon Jun 23, 2008 9:11 pm

About 10 years ago, I received the reply that the microfiche was in such bad condition, they didn't want to risk damaging it further to look up the data for my car. I thought that was pretty dumb. If that was the case, that you would no longer look at it, why not just burn the lot????

Try again in a few months.

Mon Jun 23, 2008 9:34 pm

My point exactly.

As far as I know, my '57 isn't getting any younger, and if the only chance to get to know the origin of it lies within that film, than why not chance it it before it is completely too late?

#-o

Tue Jun 24, 2008 3:22 am

Sorry about the bad news. You said you've been waiting a long time. How long ? I ordered mine back in March and still haven't gotten it.

Tue Jun 24, 2008 3:28 am

They possibly don't want to make it worse as the technology to scan documents without opening them is still in its infancy. If it improves to the extent where they can scan the complete pile of microfiches without disturbing them, then ruining some of them now would be a waste of an irreplaceable resource.

Tue Jun 24, 2008 6:58 am

xeno wrote: You would think that a museum would not use OG microfisc and have all those digitized by now?

Maybe wait a couple years and try again. Maybe they will have sourced new records by then?

X

You would also think that the museum would have cars on display that were technically and historically accurate.... :roll:

Tue Jun 24, 2008 8:54 am

greenoval wrote: Sorry about the bad news. You said you've been waiting a long time. How long ? I ordered mine back in March and still haven't gotten it.

About three weeks ago I ordered it, so their response has been great so far. I knew it took a while, but they have been more than prompt on responding.

Tue Jun 24, 2008 9:01 am

Volumex wrote: They possibly don't want to make it worse as the technology to scan documents without opening them is still in its infancy. If it improves to the extent where they can scan the complete pile of microfiches without disturbing them, then ruining some of them now would be a waste of an irreplaceable resource.

True, but it is like those old family videos you had on 8mm. Sure some of them were damaged, but that is obviously due to the less than proper storage they had been in for 30 or so years, not to mention their age. That's why we put them in digital form. That being said, converting them now rather than waiting and losing everything over time seems a bit more rational to me. Keep in mind that if those film were stored properly over all of these years, they should not be crumbling.

Tue Jun 24, 2008 9:16 am

Several people have said they got that letter and tried again in 6 months or so and got the information.

It's ridiculous that they don't digitize it all.

Tue Jun 24, 2008 12:46 pm

Volumex wrote: the technology to scan documents without opening them is still in its infancy.
Digital imaging has been around for over 25 years. The necessary technology is quite available.

Tue Jun 24, 2008 1:22 pm

I sent for mine. And was not sure it was for my beetle. They claim that the car entered the USA at Cloumbus? We purchased it new in 63 in Sunnyvale Ca. M-code 079 and m-code 358 cannot be identified. I know the birth date anyway. I change the oil on it. :roll: DL West

Tue Jun 24, 2008 1:47 pm

So...are there any other options for me other than waiting? Or am I pretty much screwed?

Tue Jun 24, 2008 7:59 pm

Bruce wrote: Digital imaging has been around for over 25 years. The necessary technology is quite available.
There is an enormous difference between digital imaging and non-invasive scanning to read closed documents.
http://www.stoa.org/educe/
Can you please provide any references to internal scanning of documents that took place over 25 years ago?

I suspect that the main factor in being able to read the information (and correctly transcribing it onto a certificate) rests with the staff. I think you are stuck with waiting - or trying to back track previous owners until you find the first owner (or relative) who might be able to recall the information.

Tue Jun 24, 2008 10:01 pm

EverettB wrote: Several people have said they got that letter and tried again in 6 months or so and got the information.

It's ridiculous that they don't digitize it all.

If it's like any museum that I've worked with the money is tight and bureaucracy is deep. Now if someone were to offer them a grant...