They're two year only calipers and discs, not one year. '71 and '72. '71 was the last model year of the removable rear valance, but the first year of flared 'latebay' rear arches but still with flat arches at the front. As i said earlier, early and late are convenient ways of dividing bays, but in reality apart from the final couple of years they became less 'early' and more 'late' over a period of years.
all this talk about hard to find parts, you need a proper late.... just don't get a u.s spec' especially the one with one model only coloured dash and trim parts... oh yeah and california only spec' exhaust and emmission parts.
Not hard to find Poo, just awkward when you order as no one seems to have late 72 - early 73 as a option on the parts sheet ,they just say high lights-not a xover then and send you a later part that doesn't fit !
i hope this thread is making sense and not confusing folks ,if not please let me explain - since owning my latest bay a 1972 westy i have restored her , i have ordered so many bits in the process that i have lost count , what i can remember is the bits i have ordered that have been wrong for my van . i began to read up on 1972 bays and at first thought i might have a crossover with a late front conversion , i then stumbled across bits of info regarding the production process when vw decided to morph the earlier bay into what we now call the late bay or high light model , This is my understanding of that process In 1971 the process began , this is when the first crossovers were produced , as we all know by now thanks to people like technohippy and others - The main changes were - they had larger engine bays to take bigger engines , the removable rear valance was replaced with a fixed valance , bigger lights at the back and different shaped larger rear vents to accommodate the air intake required by bigger engines . It is worth knowing - a lot of these changes to the earlier bay were induced by strict safety regs put in place by the US government and in order to meet these requirements vw had to upgrade the very successful early model . These ( early crossovers ) were produced until roughly August 72 when vw then began the next stage of the process - high lights all around , deformation panel and disc brakes on the front ( edit - one year only brakes ) , these were the only changes to the crossover model and it was not until early to mid 73 that the late bay as we now know it took its final shape , there were further modifications throughout production ( as brothernumberone has written ) but nothing as radical as the changes in that two year period . The problem people who own a Aug 72 to feb 73 van have is in ordering parts , the later crossover as i call it does not have a clear definition , parts suppliers regard it as a late bay and as such either send you the wrong bit or simply say they don't know what your part should be , the simple answer is to regard it as a crossover with 72 one year only brakes and a late front end . i hope this helps people when ordering bits , i know i would have liked to know these things when ordering bits for my resto , it would have saved me a lot of grief , they were not parts bin motors , they are all the same ,from what i can make out it was a staged metamorphosis from early model to later model with two distinct staged upgrades in between - early crossover and later crossover - then late bay . Bits i can remember that are on our 72 high lights off a prototype bay are - Steering column indicators stalk Ignition barrel Steering wheel steering box Slider door - lock in handle early door card rubbers 72 one year only rear brakes early petrol filler flap early locking filler cap early petrol tank early petrol filler rear panel - -- crossover version headlights headlight electrical fittings chrome headlight ring - 3 screw Doors and hinges dynamo as apposed to alternator , although most have been upgraded to alternator by now .
Didnt some of the early bays from august 70 onwards have discs on the front as well (the ones with 112pcd wheels)? Our Director at works early '71 devon has discs on the front
That is a very comprehensive list, this has also been a very interesting thread to follow which has given me a greater understanding of my own bus which definitely isn't an early & isn't a late. What I don't fully understand is the production dates as the dates quoted coincide with the new registrations and I believe that the new face-lift models (as we call them now) would have been released for sale on the new registrations. If that is the case then surely VW would have been making the face-lift models pre Aug 72 ready for them to go on sale when the new registrations were released. I may be completely wrong in my thinking but this is the only conclusion I have to explain why my 72 model bay was manufactured in Sept 71... Robo...
Mines a Devon conversion, manu[glow=red,2,300]FACT[/glow]ured December '72, registered March '73 on an L plate. Haven't had too many dramas with parts as compared each when I purchased but I know had problems with doors due to them being early hinges. I have petrol flap on mine and its tax exempt, I'm not moaning. Oh yeah right hand drive auto as well! I'm assuming on the poll that makes me a '72 highlight Devon?
me neither mate!! I have seen earlies back to 1971 (J plates) with late style wheels but wondered if they was also drum or disc!
Ahh thats settled then I guess - option from early on, standard later! I do know my work colleagues bay is a 71 running a 2332 T1 with twin webers, deep sump and empi 5's which sounds quite tasty!
Robo, i think the release dates just coincided with the august holiday in the factorys, so the workers would be making for example, the '70 model in july of 1970, they'd go on holiday and when they came back in late august, the tooling would be set up for the '71 model. Disc brakes were fitted as standard from august/sept of 1970 on the '71 model.
I've just noticed poptops comment about his danbury, could it be that this was an option with danbury rather than the factory while they sold off their '70 models. I ask because my '71 panelvan has discs and there's no mention of them as a factory extra on the M plate and there should be if they were an extra.
