TheSamba.com :: View topic - My M-code seems wrong....

Sat Feb 28, 2004 10:17 am

Can anybody tell me why I have M415 in my 65 Kombi?
415 means: Extended load bed for pickup.... Obviously it's never been a pickup!

Another code states "seating for 9 people".... I've never seen a pickup with seats on the bed.. :shock:

Another thing I just wondered.. It's a Kombi, with 9 seats, and with doubledoors on both sides. How rare is it really? Can't seem to find any like it in the gallery.. And I looked in a table of (all?) models in a german parts catalog. Can't find it there either!

Sat Feb 28, 2004 10:27 am

it might help to post your entire M-code plate. doubledoor buses that are not panelvans are pretty rare, except for those doubledoor buses that came from sweden in the mid '60s, those are not uncommon.

Sat Feb 28, 2004 10:37 am

I'll post the entire plate later..

Mine IS from Sweden! Did they get some special spec models there, or..?

Sat Feb 28, 2004 10:41 am

in 1967 sweden switched from left hand traffic to right hand traffic. in the years leading up to the change, the swedish government subsidised the extra cost of getting double doors on buses to help ease the change. thus many swedish doubledoor buses in that era. still rare and cool.

Sat Feb 28, 2004 10:54 am

8) Ahh.. Now it makes sense.. So it's kinda cusomized for the swedish market..

I'll get back to that pic of my m-plate, then.... :arrow:

Sat Feb 28, 2004 11:46 am

search for "doubledoor" or "double door" in the standard/microbus area of the gallery, you will finds loads of pic there. :D [/img]

Sat Feb 28, 2004 12:39 pm

8) Cool picture.. Thanks Keith!

Back to the M-plate..

Here is exactly what it says:

10D

415 119 209

SN 2212 1217835073686

Sat Feb 28, 2004 7:23 pm

out of those three doubledoors pictured, only one came from sweden and is a kombi.

Sat Feb 28, 2004 8:28 pm

UZI, Didn't they all come from Germany and only one was an export model to Sweden? Yad, yada, yada

Sun Feb 29, 2004 1:44 am

Heres what i know (not much) Your bus was built on 10th December 1964,
415??? 119 heater 209 nine seats (for double door)
221=loading doors right LHD
Your colours are blue and white.
Sorry not much help

Sun Feb 29, 2004 5:08 am

Is it a possible factory screw up!? Alot of US spec. Passenger buses came with seat-belts in 65. On the M plate in the same position where yours is stamped 415 the seat belt option 425 is stamped. Does your bus have seat-belt mounting points?

Sun Feb 29, 2004 12:16 pm

8) Hella --- I don't think it has the mounting points..

But another thing i noticed.. It has heater outlets in the back, and they look very factory-fitted.. But there isn't any m-code for this on the plate. I belive there should be! Then it should be 141.

Well, knowing that the car is built 10th of december, maybe the guys at the factory held their christmas party while assembling my bus!! :wink:

Then the guy operating the "M-Stampler" got 141 and 415 mixed up.. I don't know.. :roll:

Sun Feb 29, 2004 12:24 pm

the bus is not a kombi. it is a standard microbus.

the rear heater outlet is standard on a standard microbus (model 221)

one thing with M-codes is that they would overload them. usually, the numbers were unique, but sometimes the same M number could be totally different things on different models or on the same model for different years. they were using the numbers as instructions for the workers on the assembly line, not for us historians to be able to go back and know absolutely everything about these buses.

the numbers in the 300 and 400 range are generally packages of options that made a bus fit the specs for exporting to a certain market.

Sun Feb 29, 2004 3:10 pm

My M plate claims mine is a deluxe but its not. Model 244?

Sun Feb 29, 2004 4:37 pm

How odd...I don't think I've ever seen any M-Code (potential) errors until now. #-o

-Taylor

Mon Mar 01, 2004 9:58 am

8) Thanks Lind.. Just got wiser!

So now i'm the lucky owner of a microbus.. :wink:

Mon Mar 01, 2004 10:19 am

My 61 flipseat westy has the white interior, and is an original flipseat. But, the m code plate is stamped "U23" and the tag in the engine compartment is stamped "Type23-23" which should mean its an SO-23, when its really a 34. But, I do have the brass cabinet latches, so its an early one. But, I dunno.... figure that one out?

Mon Mar 01, 2004 10:21 am

flipseat wrote: My 61 flipseat westy has the white interior, and is an original flipseat. But, the m code plate is stamped "U23" and the tag in the engine compartment is stamped "Type23-23" which should mean its an SO-23, when its really a 34. But, I do have the brass cabinet latches, so its an early one. But, I dunno.... figure that one out?

type 23 is a kombi which is the model upon which westfalias were built.

'61 was the first year for the SO-34 kit.

how does the entire M-code plate read?

Mon Mar 01, 2004 10:26 am

NorCalRiviera wrote: How odd...I don't think I've ever seen any M-Code (potential) errors until now. #-o

-Taylor

My van has a weird M code. Its a sunroof kombi but came with M127 (Windowless rear hatch). The hatch is windowed, but i guess it could have been changed at a later date.

The model is 238 on the M plate but when I got a birth certificate from Wolfsburg their records show it being a 231, which it isn't.

Mon Mar 01, 2004 1:30 pm

My '63 westy has the m-code for double sliding doors! That would be nice! My guess is that some of the m-codes were just deciphered incorrectly!