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Date stamps in bumpers
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bwaz
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PostPosted: Wed Jul 18, 2018 8:38 am    Post subject: Date stamps in bumpers Reply with quote

Someone is posting a bumper for sale claiming it is a 1954 with a date stamp to ID it? Not heard of this before, is there a thread for reading dates on bumpers?
https://www.thesamba.com/vw/classifieds/detail.php?id=2193991
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60ragtop
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PostPosted: Wed Jul 18, 2018 9:12 am    Post subject: Re: Date stamps in bumpers Reply with quote

yes VW bumpers were date stamped but I don't remember how to decipher them.
on that one I believe if it is for a 54 it should have 14 mm bolt heads
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PostPosted: Wed Jul 18, 2018 9:31 am    Post subject: Re: Date stamps in bumpers Reply with quote

I have seen some dates before.
I know I looked at some on early Type 3 bumpers in the past.

I don't know if what he described as the date is accurate or not though as I don't know how to read them.

I did a search and found a couple threads
https://www.thesamba.com/vw/forum/viewtopic.php?t=635955
https://www.thesamba.com/vw/forum/viewtopic.php?t=492682
https://www.thesamba.com/vw/forum/viewtopic.php?t=225431

It sounds like 2VW4 might be February, 1954
I'm not sure how to distinguish that from 1964, other than obviously design changes
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Yustrn
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PostPosted: Fri Jul 20, 2018 7:29 am    Post subject: Re: Date stamps in bumpers Reply with quote

considering they only had euro bumpers in 54, I'm gonna claim Fake News and it's probably a 64.

I have an original date stamped bumper as well.
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René R.
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PostPosted: Fri Jul 20, 2018 8:27 am    Post subject: Re: Date stamps in bumpers Reply with quote

Yustrn wrote:
considering they only had euro bumpers in 54


Actually, overriders were available, albeit as a $30 extra-cost option:

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That issue of Consumer's Report has an October 1954 cover date, which means the article and photos were probably prepared 2-3 months prior.

My 1954's birth certificate indicates it was imported to the US with overriders as a factory-installed option. I chose to restore it with Euro-style. Not only because it looks better, but overriders almost completely mask the low-mounted egg taillights from view. There's a good reason snowflakes were mounted much higher.
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PostPosted: Fri Jul 20, 2018 9:36 am    Post subject: Re: Date stamps in bumpers Reply with quote

Wouldnt that be a 55 then? Manufacture dates are earlier than model year.
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René R.
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PostPosted: Fri Jul 20, 2018 3:35 pm    Post subject: Re: Date stamps in bumpers Reply with quote

Quote:
Wouldnt that be a 55 then?


No, through 1954 VW model years ran by calendar dates, January through December. The model year starting in August was introduced in 1955, so August through December '55s were designated '56.

In any event, for a car to be tested by Consumer's Report and published in September (since magazines are printed in advance of the cover date), the car would have had to arrive in the US no later than August, and probably sooner given magazine lead times. That means the car couldn't have finished and shipped prior to early July, if not earlier.

So even if they had started model years previous to 1955, this would have been made well before August. (My own '54 was built on June 14, shipped on the 19th, and would have reached San Francisco in mid/late July, and it originally had overriders.)
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consvws
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PostPosted: Tue Mar 23, 2021 4:55 pm    Post subject: Re: Date stamps in bumpers Reply with quote

Went to look at some bumpers a local guy is selling. He says they both came off of a 57 beetle. Both front and rear bumpers have matching 3vw6 stamped in the center inside he also has a 36hp engine that he says came out of the same car.

My question is, other than the bolt sizes is there any way to distinguish a 1956 bumper from a 1966 bumper.

I have a 2vw8 bumper which is easier to figure because clearly a 1948 or a 1968 bumper would be completely different than a 1958.

Conrad
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aa390392
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PostPosted: Tue Mar 30, 2021 4:15 pm    Post subject: Re: Date stamps in bumpers Reply with quote

So....did you buy the bumpers? If not I want them..pluze.
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PostPosted: Tue Mar 30, 2021 7:29 pm    Post subject: Re: Date stamps in bumpers Reply with quote

consvws wrote:

My question is, other than the bolt sizes is there any way to distinguish a 1956 bumper from a 1966 bumper.

Conrad


The chrome plating is much nicer on the 1966 bumper.

Like early hubcaps, the earlier bumpers have a tendency to form rust pits under the plating much quicker, which is one reason why they are rare today.
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consvws
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PostPosted: Wed Mar 31, 2021 8:29 am    Post subject: Re: Date stamps in bumpers Reply with quote

Yes I bought them. They must be 66 bumpers cause they are real nice chrome.


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PostPosted: Wed Mar 31, 2021 9:50 am    Post subject: Re: Date stamps in bumpers Reply with quote

The top bow with the bulge is either early oval or 1967-only, further adding to the confusion.
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