Date: Fri, 24 May 1996 23:20:21 -0300
Sender: Vanagon Mailing List <vanagon@vanagon.com>
From: Roy Nicholl <rnicholl@asg.unb.ca>
Subject: Re: VIN question... You guys are really hard on my head :-)
The following message is a courtesy copy of an article
that has been posted as well.
First I would like to thank everyone who sent the little electronic
postman packing in response to my question about the Chassie No. on my
'67 Westy (Ras Bulli Split) [ you know who you are ].
I would also like to take this opportunity to announce that I am more
confused than before the answers arrived [but, as I have mentioned in
the past, I am becoming somewhat familiar with this sensation]. Let
us review the facts:
1) My Chassie No. is 247 016 777. According to the info I
received, this indicates that my brick came into it own around
August/September 1966 [early '67 model year]. The '4' also
indicates that it was a 'De Luxe' model [prior to giving it
over to Westfalia].
2) The De Luxe Microbus, to the best of my knowledge, and
according to the pictures in my Schiffer book [See Note at
bottom], had four windows on each side (from behind the front
doors to the end of the bus) between '63 and '67 [Between '55
and '62, both the 'Special Model' and the 'Samba' had a fifth,
pexi-glass window in the round of each rear panel. This fifth
pair of windows was brought back in a limited run of the '67
Samba]
3) Ras Bulli Split has only three windows on each side as one
would find in a Standard Kombi. I have also discovered that
my brick has the 1 tonne suspension (according to Bentley)
which was supposedly a trade mark of the De Luxe, the
Ambulance, the Fire Truck, and optional on a Panel.
Help! My Bus is turning into a conundrum!! :-S Is there any chance
that Westfalia may have replaced the rear panels to remove the fourth
window from each side...I don't know 'why'...perhaps for more privacy
for the bed [though this seems like a silly reason, it's the only one
I have come up with so far].
Note: Zeichner, Walter "Volkswagen Transporter/Bus 1949-67"
The Shiffer Automotive Series,
Shiffer Publishing Ltd, 1469 Morstein Road,
West Chester, Pennsylvania 19380
ISBN: 0-88740-196-1
(You can write to the above address for a catalogue of the
entire series. Just include 2$ USD to cover postage and
handling)
Now, to add more fuel to the Awning debate. After reading the "War
and Peace" of awning discussions yesterday, I went digging for some
old photos I have of a '65 Westy, I encountered at a campground in
Northern Ontario a few years back. This fellow's awning was supported
at either end of the Bus, by a pole that appeared to clamp onto the
overriders. In this manner you were still able to open the front
passenger door. I do not remember how it attached to the "gutter"
along the edge of the roof ... I think it was a piece of 3/8 piping
with a bevelled notch cut into its entire length [sort of like those
clear plastic covers one use to use on lab reports in University].
Bugs & Things & Bricks, ... Oh my!
Roy