Is my engine and car 'numbers matching'?

[coolbugfan]

Hi All,

It was suggested on another post on engine rebuilding that I use the chassis engine VIN checker here on thesamba to see my the car and engine matched.

Using the checker, my 1965 1200 has a manufacture date of October, 1964. The engine code puts the engine near the end of production for September, 1964.

Does that mean they are matching? The engine looks 'older' than the car by a few weeks.

Much thanks

[viiking]

Yes that is matching.That's not unusual in fact it would be totally normal that the body and engine are not made at the same time.

Engines would be manufactured before the body is assembled for the obvious reason. You'd need to have a pool of engines and other components pre-manufactured before assembly because once you run out of something important, then the production line stops!

Back in the day, all of the scheduling would have been done manually and with pen and paper (or stock cards) etc. These days with Just-in-time scheduling using computers they can get much closer.
_________________
1968 1500 RHD Lotus White Beetle since birth. In the hospital for major surgery
1966 Lancia Flavia Pininfarina Coupe - in the waiting room
Discharged: 1983 Vanagon, 1974 1800 Microbus,1968 Low Light,1968 Type 3

[sjbartnik]

It certainly shows that the engine was produced near in time to the car.

You have no way of knowing if it is the original engine however unless you send your chassis number and engine number to the VW Museum in Wolfsburg to have them check the production records. They can tell you, if you provide an engine number, if that engine number is the one that the car left the factory with.

In my book "numbers matching" means the engine is the original one that came with the car.

Right now you don't have anything solid, but the fact that your engine number matches production from right before your car was built, that's a good sign.
_________________
1965 Volkswagen 1500 Variant S
2000 Kawasaki W650

[coolbugfan]

Thank you for the responses. It’s close enough to make me happy. It was clear that the transmission hadn’t ever been out before so it all looks good.

[EverettB]

If it's a couple weeks apart and the engine is the end of one month and the car is near the beginning of the next month then:
I would say Yes.

I have seen cars that are known to be matching cross the month-change boundary like that in the past.
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[rcroane]

If it helps, my '65 is a documented numbers matching car. VIN is 115196240 and engine is 9003779. The car build date was 10/15/64 and the engine number looks to be early October (last September engine was 8968669).
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'65 Sunroof Bug

[viiking]

My '68 Euro which has been in the family since new with original engine has an engine built in Mid January '68 and the VIN number third week of Feb 1968.

I think weeks even a month apart is not unusual.
_________________
1968 1500 RHD Lotus White Beetle since birth. In the hospital for major surgery
1966 Lancia Flavia Pininfarina Coupe - in the waiting room
Discharged: 1983 Vanagon, 1974 1800 Microbus,1968 Low Light,1968 Type 3

[leowagen]

Now one question comes to my head:

Body and chassis numbers, are supposed to exactly match? can these two be closely apart as the authors question regarding engine and VIN number?

Nice rides and stay safe!
_________________
Frankenwagen: full 1957 pan, under late 60s Brazilian body

[sjbartnik]

[coolbugfan]

Great info. Thank you all for your help and input.

[leowagen]

[viiking]

You mean a number like this? These are common body numbers on cars. They will indicate maybe a coded date number on when the body was made but this number will NOT match the VIN or plate number. Mine is a spot welded plate. Earlier ones may be stamped.

_________________
1968 1500 RHD Lotus White Beetle since birth. In the hospital for major surgery
1966 Lancia Flavia Pininfarina Coupe - in the waiting room
Discharged: 1983 Vanagon, 1974 1800 Microbus,1968 Low Light,1968 Type 3

[viiking]

Here is another one for a locally Australian produced CKD body number. Hence the A.
I have seen somewhere here on SAMBA an explanation of the what the number means. I can't exactly remember but it had some sort of code of sequential number, day and week number. I think.

Edit: Of course I think the 114 is the model type. (RHD -Deluxe?).

_________________
1968 1500 RHD Lotus White Beetle since birth. In the hospital for major surgery
1966 Lancia Flavia Pininfarina Coupe - in the waiting room
Discharged: 1983 Vanagon, 1974 1800 Microbus,1968 Low Light,1968 Type 3

[sjbartnik]