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Thu Feb 12, 2009 9:09 am

What should I look for to properly date it (or at least get to within a month or two)? What glass is left is Sigla (rear hatch, pop outs, front and passenger doors) and appears to be original. Is there any correlation whatsoever between the body number and chassis number?

Thu Feb 12, 2009 9:23 am

BDWannaB wrote: What should I look for to properly date it (or at least get to within a month or two)? What glass is left is Sigla (rear hatch, pop outs, front and passenger doors) and appears to be original. Is there any correlation whatsoever between the body number and chassis number?

I think the Sigla glass came out in '57, maybe late '56 so that might be a indicator. The lack of the tube trans support throws Feb '56 out of the window. What's the bulkhead number?

Thu Feb 12, 2009 9:35 am

You should be able to narrow it down using the bulkhead number as compared to other Buses.

Thu Feb 12, 2009 9:51 am

campingbox wrote: BDWannaB wrote: What should I look for to properly date it (or at least get to within a month or two)? What glass is left is Sigla (rear hatch, pop outs, front and passenger doors) and appears to be original. Is there any correlation whatsoever between the body number and chassis number?

I think the Sigla glass came out in '57, maybe late '56 so that might be a indicator. The lack of the tube trans support throws Feb '56 out of the window. What's the bulkhead number?

#170587. A quick search indicates that chassis numbers were about 20000 higher than bulkhead numbers. So it might be August or September of '56. If that's the case, is it technically a '57? Bubble tail lights or not?

Thu Feb 12, 2009 10:01 am

well my 58 buses body number is much less than 20,000 away from the vin. BUT if you want to guess 20,000 to be the separation, then your bus would be sometime in late july early august. Which is a very grey area as far as model year is concerned.

it should have bubble tail lights regardless of the model year.

Thu Feb 12, 2009 10:31 am

Looking in the VintageBus.com Registry it looks to be between Feb and Mar '56

Thu Feb 12, 2009 10:34 am

i can check my april 56 kombis body # if it will help,the easiest way to tell if it had bubbles is to see if it had a 3 wire turn signal awitch or see if the brake light wire is where it should be out back,

the sigla does make it kinda scetchy,thats mostly a post "brakelight" era thing,but i think i had a pg/sg with bubbles and sigla so its still a possibility

Thu Feb 12, 2009 10:48 am

My January of 57 standard has Sigla glass and bubbles (of course). I can go look at the body # and compare it to the chassis # if it will help. I think I will do that anyway, since I never have.

Thu Feb 12, 2009 10:58 am

If you guys could check, and shoot me the numbers, that would great. Thanks.

Thu Feb 12, 2009 11:15 am

My 57 standard: body # is 214626. Chassis # is 229XXX

Hope it helps in some way.

Thu Feb 12, 2009 5:04 pm

Mystery solved. Chassis # is 182102, which makes it April '56. Thanks for the help. I'll keep posting pics as it progresses.

Thu Feb 12, 2009 5:16 pm

BDWannaB wrote: Mystery solved. Chassis # is 182102, which makes it April '56. Thanks for the help. I'll keep posting pics as it progresses.

Nice, I suppose you found it under some dirt/oil/rust in the engine compartment?

Thu Feb 12, 2009 5:25 pm

Somebody who knew where to look found it. It's pretty nasty back there.

Thu Feb 12, 2009 7:38 pm

BDWannaB wrote: Mystery solved. Chassis # is 182102, which makes it April '56. Thanks for the help. I'll keep posting pics as it progresses. Actually the vin number listed in the production numbers indicates last one built for the month, so this would be a late May, just missing the end of Wolfsburg production by a couple of months

Thu Feb 12, 2009 7:43 pm

I'm glad you guys figured it out for me. Otherwise, I would have spent a whole bunch of money and time trying to convert it "back" to a Wolfsburg bus. That would have been a true nightmare.

One question, is the front bumper for May 1956 a long rib or short?

Thu Feb 12, 2009 8:38 pm

short rib

umm... now i'm hungry

Fri Feb 13, 2009 10:16 pm

Beautiful bus. Seeing your pics is great. Looking forward to seeing yours out on the road. I'd love to put it side by side with other rags. They just have a lot of character.

Thu Aug 13, 2009 9:42 am

status?

Thu Aug 13, 2009 10:11 am

pictures? updates?

Thu Aug 13, 2009 11:01 am

Maybe he finished it and is out driving it around somewhere.