Extra tag in trunk

[The Pilch]

Hi everyone.

I have a 1973 US spec VW Squareback, and I've discovered an ID tag in the front trunk, to the left of the VIN plate. It simply reads 11-5-30 with a circle that appears to have 29 inside it. I am struggling to upload a picture so I hope I've been descriptive enough for someone to let me (and my local club members) know what it means! Thank you so much in advance. G.

[Rome]

The tag is painted over, right? It provides at least two interesting clues to your car when it was new. The 11-5 stands for the day when it was produced. The 11 is the 11th week of the calendar. The 5 is the 5th day of that week. Since your car is a 1973 model, the 11 corresponds to the 11th week of 1973, which is mid-March. The 5th day would be March 16.

Your car should have a black or silver perforated sticker on the driver's door post, indicating the full VIN as well as the production month. The label should show 3/73 or 03/73 as the production month which would confirm the trunk tag.

The 29 in a circle is VW's internal paint code color. I can't find your year under theSamba paint listings. But looking in the Beetle paint listings, 29 is for the color Lemon Yellow, paint code L11E for a 1971 color. The 1973 Squareback vehicle brochure shows a Texas Yellow, but does not show the color code. Is your car painted yellow?

The "30" is a factory-internal number for the running "job" that day as to the body. I've seen most of those plates usually have a 4-digit number there.

[The Pilch]

Thank you so much for your reply! This information is really interesting! You are correct, my car is indeed yellow. I noticed a number 8 stamped sideways on the end of the tag, and Texas Yellow is VW paint number 8! Fantastic response, thank you so much!