What Beetle do i have

Hi
I am trying to find out what model beetle I have.
Can anyone give advice on what things to look for to tell
the beetle apart (1200/1500 - 1300, 1301 etc?

I believe the engine was changed to a 1500 but am not sure if the actual car itself was orinally built as a 1500 or another model

any help is much appreciated

thanks
Adam

You can check the first 3 numbers on your VIN. The 3rd # will be the year it was built.
If it's a Bug, it should start as 1XX, with the first 1 being a Bug.

The "1301" models are Super Beetles. They were made from model years 1971-1979. Standard Beetles were also made during those years, except that all convertibles since 1973 were the "Super Beetle" models. For 1978 & 1979, the convertible was the only model offered. (US market, only. Mexico made standard Beetles through 2003)

The "1200", "1300", "1500", "1600" refers to engine displacement in CCs (Cubic Centimeters). Horsepower varied on engines of the same displacement, due to other factors, such as intake, exhaust manifolds, heads, stroke, carb, etc. The 1600 could be from 46-50 HP.

If it has McPherson Strut front suspension, rather than the twin tube torsion bar front suspension, it's a Super Beetle. Also, the spare tire lays flat in the "trunk" of the Super Beetle.

From 1973 and up, Super Beetles had a curved windshield, while standard Beetles kept the flat windshield.

If you know the year and VIN you can tell what the original engine was when built. As a good many Bugs have had engine swaps and re-builds, the only way to know for sure what size engine you have is to remove the heads and measure the cylinders. The engine serial number (stamped on the case below the alternator stand) will usually designate the engine size by a one or two letter code, but not all builders re-numbered the engine when they rebuilt them. It was very common to bump a 1500 up to 1600 with new pistons, cylinders, etc. The cost difference was minimum and power benefits great, so very few 1500 engines were rebuilt to 1500s.

Give us the VIN and engine number and we should be able to narrow everything down for you.

Hi
thanks for your reply
very informative
cold you advise what the VIN is ?

thanks a mill
adam

Hi
thanks for your reply
very informative
cold you advise what the VIN is ?

thanks a mill
adam

VIN=Vehicle Identification number. It will be on the title/registration. It's also stamped on the tunnel, under the back seat. Or if it's a 1969 or newer it'll be on a small tag mounted on the defroster vent in the lower left corner of the windshield.

Hi thanks for your message
I have found the VIN and the engine number on the vehicle registration document as follows:

VIN 1102054212
Engine number: H1129283

I guess these can be taken as proof of what type of beetle i have ?!

thanks again



The "1301" models are Super Beetles. They were made from model years 1971-1979. Standard Beetles were also made during those years, except that all convertibles since 1973 were the "Super Beetle" models. For 1978 & 1979, the convertible was the only model offered. (US market, only. Mexico made standard Beetles through 2003)

The "1200", "1300", "1500", "1600" refers to engine displacement in CCs (Cubic Centimeters). Horsepower varied on engines of the same displacement, due to other factors, such as intake, exhaust manifolds, heads, stroke, carb, etc. The 1600 could be from 46-50 HP.

If it has McPherson Strut front suspension, rather than the twin tube torsion bar front suspension, it's a Super Beetle. Also, the spare tire lays flat in the "trunk" of the Super Beetle.

From 1973 and up, Super Beetles had a curved windshield, while standard Beetles kept the flat windshield.

If you know the year and VIN you can tell what the original engine was when built. As a good many Bugs have had engine swaps and re-builds, the only way to know for sure what size engine you have is to remove the heads and measure the cylinders. The engine serial number (stamped on the case below the alternator stand) will usually designate the engine size by a one or two letter code, but not all builders re-numbered the engine when they rebuilt them. It was very common to bump a 1500 up to 1600 with new pistons, cylinders, etc. The cost difference was minimum and power benefits great, so very few 1500 engines were rebuilt to 1500s.

Give us the VIN and engine number and we should be able to narrow everything down for you.

Hi thanks for your message
I have found the VIN and the engine number on the vehicle registration document as follows:

VIN 1102054212
Engine number: H1129283

I guess these can be taken as proof of what type of beetle i have ?!

thanks again

The VIN, beginning with "110" indicates it's a 1970 Standard Beetle. It was the 54,212th VW Beetle made in the 1970 model year.

(Super Beetles weren't introduced until the 1971 model year.)

The "H" engine code indicates it's a '67 1500cc single port engine, which means that it was replaced somewhere along the way. The 1970 was offered stock with a "B" series 1600cc single port engine.

This doesn't mean that your engine is definitely a 1500cc, as it's possible that it was rebuilt to 1600cc.

The "1301" models are Super Beetles. They were made from model years 1971-1979.

1301 models were 1971-1972 only, for the us market. Flat windscreen supers. The same windsheild as the Type 1 sedans. The verts for these years used the same designation 1301, as for the U.S. market, ALL convertibles were supers 1971 and later.

1973-1979 were 1302 models. Curved windscreen supers. The verts for these years used the same designation.

There were also differences in the front suspension between the 1301 and 1302 models.

The "H" engine code indicates it's a '67 1500cc single port engine, which means that it was replaced somewhere along the way. The 1970 was offered stock with a "B" series 1600cc single port engine.

This doesn't mean that your engine is definitely a 1500cc, as it's possible that it was rebuilt to 1600cc.

Dual port refers to the intake manifold and cylinder head design. Here is a dual port manifold:

http://images.thesamba.com/vw/gallery/pix/644960.jpg


Here is a single port mainifold:

http://images.thesamba.com/vw/classifieds/pix/1476220.jpg

The VIN, beginning with "110" indicates it's a 1970 Standard Beetle. It was the 54,212th VW Beetle made in the 1970 model year.

(Super Beetles weren't introduced until the 1971 model year.)

The "H" engine code indicates it's a '67 1500cc single port engine, which means that it was replaced somewhere along the way. The 1970 was offered stock with a "B" series 1600cc single port engine.

This doesn't mean that your engine is definitely a 1500cc, as it's possible that it was rebuilt to 1600cc.
Hi finally replying to your message from 2009!, the Beetle being on the back burner due to illness.

A couple of questions regarding your reply

1)You mention that my car according to the VIN 1102054212 is a 1970 Standard Beetle
Can you explain what the model is if it is ‘standard’ ie:1200, 1300 or a 1500?

2)Due to the Engine number being H1129283 you explained that it is a 1967 1500cc Single Port engine – Can you explain what Single Port means?

3)Finally what do you mean by 1970 being ‘Offered Stock’ with a ‘B’ Series 1600cc Single Port Engine , does this mean the 1970 could come with a B Series 1600cc Engine? What is meant by B Series?

Thanks a lot for your help much appreciated

The VIN, beginning with "110" indicates it's a 1970 Standard Beetle. It was the 54,212th VW Beetle made in the 1970 model year.

(Super Beetles weren't introduced until the 1971 model year.)

The "H" engine code indicates it's a '67 1500cc single port engine, which means that it was replaced somewhere along the way. The 1970 was offered stock with a "B" series 1600cc single port engine.

This doesn't mean that your engine is definitely a 1500cc, as it's possible that it was rebuilt to 1600cc.

Hi
So am i right in saying that the car was built as a Standard 1600cc
but had its engine replaced to become a 1500cc - although its possible
that the replacement 1500 engine was supped up to a 1600cc

Thanks

We recently purchased a 1971 Super Beetle convertible to restore. We verified it is a 1971 by the VIN number. We are puzzled though because it has a curved windshield which wasn't installed on Super Beetles until 1973. Can anyone help shed light on this?

We recently purchased a 1971 Super Beetle convertible to restore. We verified it is a 1971 by the VIN number. We are puzzled though because it has a curved windshield which wasn't installed on Super Beetles until 1973. Can anyone help shed light on this?

You are right that the curved windshield is 1973 model and later on Super Beetles only. Curved windows were never installed on "Standard" model VW Bugs. Note that what we in the US call a "Standard" model in other markets is referred to as a "Deluxe". Bugs sold new in the US market were fancier than those sold in other countries.

So now to be sure of just what it is that you have...
- Where did you get the VIN from that you use to determine the year model as a 1971?
- If you got it from the lower left corner of the windshield or inside the front luggage compartment, the body has probably been replaced and the VIN tag removed from the body and replaced with the tag original to the car or another.
- If you got the number from under the back seat, this is the number which stays with the chassis, or as us VW people call it, the "pan". This is the number which matters most to government people controlling registration of cars.
- Any mis-match between body and pan numbers CAN cause difficulties with the DMV. Thieves sometimes grind out the factory number in the tunnel and fill the area with lead, then re-stamp new numbers. This is pretty well known to police agencies, so they know how to look for it.

Some close friends of mine recently replaced the pan under their 73 Super Convertible as the pan had problems from its former life, but the body was in great shape. I'm not sure what they did about the VIN issue though.