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Thu Feb 18, 2010 9:10 am

kjells wrote: It is normal that the body is made the month before the chassi went into production.
kjells, you made my day! That is what I wanted to hear :D ! Is this commonly understood information? In all the charts, etc I have seen I have not seen this fact documented. But I do not own some of the more serious books on the subject such as "Car of the Century" or "Progressive Refinements". Where can I read about this?

Mon Feb 22, 2010 2:52 pm

Got mine today... 3 week turn around time

Pearl White.. Damn...

Thu Feb 25, 2010 12:33 pm

Russ Wolfe wrote: I have swapped bodies on VW's before, and I transfered the VIN tag from the tire well to the replacement body.
This would throw the factory off on their color records.

I did put a Beryl Green body on in place of a black body once.
Back in the day, you could buy wrecked VW's practically nothing. Was nothing to swap a body if needed.

I saw a dealer swap an interior.. the customer came in ,, looked at a vert, and a sedan.. and said.. hmm,,, if the sedan had the black interior. I'd buy it!

so.. the wash boy and a body tech spent a few minutes taking the red interior out of the sedan.. and put it in the vert..
I can see both those new owners scrathing their heads..

Thu Feb 25, 2010 1:16 pm

Emeritusx wrote: Got mine today... 3 week turn around time
Pearl White.. Damn...
Emeritusx, would you mind sharing your body id number? I'd like to reinforce the info that the body number can reflect the month before the chassis date.

Thu Feb 25, 2010 4:09 pm

meester_jamie wrote: Russ Wolfe wrote: I have swapped bodies on VW's before, and I transfered the VIN tag from the tire well to the replacement body.
This would throw the factory off on their color records.

I did put a Beryl Green body on in place of a black body once.
Back in the day, you could buy wrecked VW's practically nothing. Was nothing to swap a body if needed.

I saw a dealer swap an interior.. the customer came in ,, looked at a vert, and a sedan.. and said.. hmm,,, if the sedan had the black interior. I'd buy it!

so.. the wash boy and a body tech spent a few minutes taking the red interior out of the sedan.. and put it in the vert..
I can see both those new owners scrathing their heads..

I work at a dealer currently, stuff like that still goes on, although not as much as it used to.

Thu Feb 25, 2010 7:32 pm

I just ordered one a few days ago. The charge went through my account a couple of days ago.
My '59 Beetle is a Euro car and I have no idea about its history so I really hope this will tell me where the car was shipped to originally. It's something I've always wanted to know.

Tue Mar 02, 2010 9:06 am

Ordered mine over the weekend.
Let's see how long it takes, and if i have the same troubles I have read thru the threads about incorrect data / paint colors on other Sports.

Tue Mar 02, 2010 9:48 am

^^^ Thanx for that. I am wanting to get on for my '67 Sunroof Sedan so I can go back to original colors, inside and out...

Sat Mar 13, 2010 8:58 am

here is mine. Took about 4 weeks:

at the bottom is says find enclosed and it is a sheet that say things like it had back-up lights and was a 12 volt (which has to be wrong since it is a 1958)

Sat Mar 13, 2010 9:32 am

The current M350 includes backup lights for USA version, but back then, it did not.

Wed Mar 17, 2010 5:14 pm

I got mine today! Three weeks and two days after the transaction went through my account.
I finally know where my car was sent to orignally, Freiburg, Germany. I looked it up, beautiful town in southwest Germany.

Wed Mar 17, 2010 5:44 pm

VWAdam wrote: I got mine today! Three weeks and two days after the transaction went through my account.
I finally know where my car was sent to orignally, Freiburg, Germany. I looked it up, beautiful town in southwest Germany.

Interesting that they are listing it as L14 Reseda green, and not L14 Mignonette green. Could it be because its a euro model?

Wed Mar 17, 2010 5:54 pm

stale air wrote:

Interesting that they are listing it as L14 Reseda green, and not L14 Mignonette green. Could it be because its a euro model?

Maybe? I know that L14 was used on early cabriolets, '51 or '52, something like that and was called Reseda Green, then they brought it back for '59 and called it Mignonette green.

Tue Apr 27, 2010 2:10 pm

...I think I wasted $48! BC says I have kombi, when in fact I have double door panel!

Tue Apr 27, 2010 11:52 pm

Ok, I'm throwing mine in to the mix:

Ordered March 20, 2010
Received April 26, 2010

Everything seems accurate enough. My manufacture date is just what I expected, given the VIN number (both my body and chassis VIN numbers match). A letter with the certificate stated that they couldn't confirm the originality of my engine (6609932). According to the VIN number listings, the engine was made a year earlier. I'm fairly certain it's the original engine, but how would I tell? Are there some telltale signs on engines and components when they've been rebuilt/replaced?

I suppose the birth certificate is not a perfect document -- for example, I have pop-out side windows that are surely factory installed, but that option doesn't appear. I noticed my M-095 is not on the Samba M-Codes list. And I've seen listings for the M-350 US-equipment -- anyone have one for the M-358? Any what makes it a "de Luxe"? Is it the fact that there are options installed?

Regards

Wed Apr 28, 2010 8:07 am

DeLuxe vs,. standard model. All US Beetle were Deluxes. European standards had no trim, painted bumpers, plain interior, etc.
Pop outs were an item that could be easily installed at a dealer per customer request and I'm sure that happened often.

Wed Apr 28, 2010 9:28 am

rustyinms wrote: A letter with the certificate stated that they couldn't confirm the originality of my engine (6609932). According to the VIN number listings, the engine was made a year earlier. I'm fairly certain it's the original engine, but how would I tell? Are there some telltale signs on engines and components when they've been rebuilt/replaced?
Not really if it's the same size and type of engine. If they said it wasn't original and the number is 1 year earlier, it's been replaced. Maybe if it was 1 month off.

If you think the engine is still fairly original, you could check the dates on the coil and generator and distributor to see if they fit the production date of the engine or of the car itself. They are usually a month or 2 behind the production date of the car.

Date coding of parts thread
http://www.thesamba.com/vw/forum/viewtopic.php?t=279505

Wed Apr 28, 2010 6:50 pm

EverettB wrote: If you think the engine is still fairly original, you could check the dates on the coil and generator and distributor to see if they fit the production date of the engine or of the car itself. They are usually a month or 2 behind the production date of the car.

Date coding of parts thread
http://www.thesamba.com/vw/forum/viewtopic.php?t=279505

Excellent. Thanks. And just to clarify - they didn't say it "wasn't original", only that "they couldn't confirm it was original." I get what you're saying about the engine being a month or so off from the body/chassis VIN. Volkswagen would not have had a stockpile of engines where one sat unused for a year, right?

I also have a '66 vert with an exchange engine (i.e., VW recycle symbol, and an X at the end of the engine number.) But, I suppose that someone could've purchased a motor from VW that had been manufactured in 1962, and installed it in my '63 as a replacement without it getting an "exchange" mark on the serial number? Say, a dealer, maybe. Just thinking out loud.

Thanks for the info from you and VWAdam.
-Russell

Wed Apr 28, 2010 7:37 pm

rustyinms wrote:

I also have a '66 vert with an exchange engine (i.e., VW recycle symbol, and an X at the end of the engine number.) But, I suppose that someone could've purchased a motor from VW that had been manufactured in 1962, and installed it in my '63 as a replacement without it getting an "exchange" mark on the serial number? Say, a dealer, maybe. Just thinking out loud.

Thanks for the info from you and VWAdam.
-Russell

That or maybe the engine your car blew and the owner bought a good engine from say a wrecked car (possibly a low mileage '62) in a junkyard and put it in. Volkswagen engines were swapped around a good bit since it was so easy and cheap to do back then. Being date correct wasn't a concern when it was simply cheap transportation.

Wed Apr 28, 2010 8:00 pm

VWAdam wrote: That or maybe the engine your car blew and the owner bought a good engine from say a wrecked car (possibly a low mileage '62) in a junkyard and put it in.

Good point. I'm realizing that it's more likely not the original engine. No big deal. I'm trying to stay as true to the car as I can for my repair/refurbishment, and just want to learn as much as possible. I'm amazed that we have as much information available as we do. (TheSamba is a great resource.) I can think of some other vehicle makes/models with a fraction of the production history and virtually no clear information whatsoever.

The incomplete and sometimes peculiar histories of these cars are part of their appeal, I think. That's why I ordered the birth certificate. Part of the need to document and categorize. It's like a 47-year-old detective story.