we all know the 1968 model was the 1st of the bays, so some late 67's are out there - i've seen september and november ones, but there's an april? one on the samba, seems strange to me as the split was still being made then but certainly looks good for the age. http://www.thesamba.com/vw/classifieds/detail.php?id=1752411
Smells fishy to me his serial number is higher than my January 1968 so with out putting that m plate through the decoder I think it's april 1968
Yep defiantly april 68, 8132056 the first number (8) indicates 68 model year then 03 4 says april to me Its a converted panel anyway, so essentially worthless
@zed must have an early one, he's got no firewall, they put that in part way through the first production year.
There is no such thing as a 67 Bay window, They are all 68's. They start making VW's in August for the following year so the first Bays will have been produced at the beginning of August 67, but they will have VIN Plates saying they are 68 Models. Yes I am pedanctic, but its important to use a chassis number and go from that model year to order parts rather than go for manufacture date.
i agree and it's not pedantic - as i'm a 68 fan i've looked at a lot and as i posted in the original post seen later 67's (68 model year) from sept' onwards yet stating he thinks it's april 67 is clearly an error as nobody has seen a may/june/july one....... if there was an april 67 it would be in the museum as 67 splits were still being made!
could it have been a prototype using a panel as an experimental vehicle for the windows etc maybe to gauge interest of the camper market?
I read somewhere that the first production date on a bay M plate is 28 Aug 67. I was looking it up for you,but can't find it.
there's a couple of aug 67's on the earlybay site so you are correct, i looked seriously at a 68 i fancied but it was nov 67 and although 68 MODEL year i want a manufactured date of 68.
Speedmaster bus was buily on 25th August '67. My brother in law has a crew cab produced on the 30th August '67 and there is an even earlier crew from the 7th August '67. Our westy is relatively late on the 18th October '67
That's the thing with the M plate planned production date. It can't be accurate surely. Your Westy I can see taking a month or so to do yeah. But how can they produce a crewcab on that date when the factory is on holiday?