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