How to identify 69-70's buses

I have a neighbor that has a nice camper in his yard. I did not have the camera with me. It is in nice condition, he wont sell but he said he might trade for some "junk". He says that he has another camper 70 or 71. He doesn't know how to tell the years and I don't know either.
He said that the "other one" might go for around $200, and the one I saw looks better than my 67'. They don't have any engines. Also....until which year can I put my beetle engine into. I want to be able to swap the engine.
Any tips on telling what year they are....maybe the taillights, bumpers, windows, etc...
Thanks.

you can put a upright motor in most late bays you just have to tap the holes for the oil pump to accept the bigger studs for the bracket for the conversion. and you have to tap a whole in the intake man for the vacume brakes and figure out someway to make tins for it

let me know if you need any help I just sold my 75 briz doublecab with an original upright

turns on the fronts are lower on the earlies up to 72. If 72 will have to look at the engine and see if its a pancake. Also 71 and up started disk brakes in the front, and narrow 5 lug, wide 5 are 68-70.

what he said lol

sploval53 wrote:you can put a upright motor in most late bays you just have to tap the holes for the oil pump to accept the bigger studs for the bracket for the conversion. and you have to tap a whole in the intake man for the vacume brakes and figure out someway to make tins for it

let me know if you need any help I just sold my 75 briz doublecab with an original upright

What trans did that have in it? You can run an upright in the later bays but the later trans are geared differently and will eat an engine up. Overheating issues, and premature failure trying to push one with a 1600. Especially a camper.

According to the VW Book for Idoits. The chassis # go from 210 2300 000 to 211 2000 001 for 1970 and 211 2300 000 to 212 2000 000 for 1971. It says that they went to the 1700 in Aug. of 71.

Hope this helps

Joe wrote:According to the VW Book for Idoits. The chassis # go from 210 2300 000 to 211 2000 001 for 1970 and 211 2300 000 to 212 2000 000 for 1971. It says that they went to the 1700 in Aug. of 71.

Hope this helps

Correct, but the 1700's in Aug 71 were considered and sold as 72 models.

Thats why it's the Idoit Book. That would be me.

One note on the Aug models for any year, if you have one they can be weird vehicles. They would run the parts/bodys until they ran out. So you can get a 71 bus with wide fives and no disks, or in other models the wrong tails, turns, bumpers, all kinds of oddities for the year stated.

Joe wrote:Thats why it's the Idoit Book. That would be me.

No actually I think it was the idiots working at VW. The mechanics were amazing, the electricians were drunks, and the designers were brilliant. Assembly line techs just put whatever came down the line together and made it work!

I guess those numbers are in the chassis somewhere??
I can't really remember if the turn signals where up high, How about the tailights?
So, the easiest thing would be a swap with a 69-71 bus. I'll go by there tomorrow again and look at it.

with the grass as high as it is, It is not a good idea to go looking for snakes to check the chassis ####. But the turn signals is the easiest way to tell.
Thanks.

The vin number is on the dash on laters, behind the seat on earlies. So not hard to tell, if the front turn signals are elongated and above the bumper 68-72, if besided the vent on the nose and square 73 on. Early tails are like late splits and ovals, 72 on are the tall rectangular ones. So if low front turns and tall tails its a 72, if low front turns and roundish tails 71 down.

Low blinkers

High blinkers

Early tail lights

Late tail lights

OK if we have not confused you enough, the 3rd digit in the vin will tell you the year. Say 218 is 68, 219 is 69, 210 is 70 etc....Unless its a 78 then its a 218 with high turns and big tails.....

Thanks for the pics. I am not in a position to spend more money on projects, but any of you will agree that a good deal is hard to let go. Let me talk to the old man and see what he really wants. I am hoping that the other bus he has is a 66-67.

I WAS PART OF A MUSTANG FORUM SOME MONTHS AGO AND WHEN EVER I HAD A QUESTION, I HAD TO WAIT DAYS FOR SOMEONE TO RESPOND OR ANSWER MY QUESTION. ONCE AGAIN THANK YOU ALL!!!!!!

petervalle wrote:Thanks for the pics. I am not in a position to spend more money on projects, but any of you will agree that a good deal is hard to let go. Let me talk to the old man and see what he really wants. I am hoping that the other bus he has is a 66-67.

I WAS PART OF A MUSTANG FORUM SOME MONTHS AGO AND WHEN EVER I HAD A QUESTION, I HAD TO WAIT DAYS FOR SOMEONE TO RESPOND OR ANSWER MY QUESTION. ONCE AGAIN THANK YOU ALL!!!!!!

pre 68s are easy to tell split window in the front. as far as the mustang crowd there a group of there own.

Thanks meinvw i forgot about the tranny issue

See what he has, If early bay I might be interested if you do not want them. I went from bay to vanagon, from vanagon to now in a euro until I get my bay on the road. Would rather have a bay than the euro any day. A/C and auto are for wimps! I miss my Bay!!! Wow never thought I would say that..... Love my splits but at 6'1" the bays are the shiznizzle...

vinayak wrote:

petervalle wrote:Thanks for the pics. I am not in a position to spend more money on projects, but any of you will agree that a good deal is hard to let go. Let me talk to the old man and see what he really wants. I am hoping that the other bus he has is a 66-67.

I WAS PART OF A MUSTANG FORUM SOME MONTHS AGO AND WHEN EVER I HAD A QUESTION, I HAD TO WAIT DAYS FOR SOMEONE TO RESPOND OR ANSWER MY QUESTION. ONCE AGAIN THANK YOU ALL!!!!!!

pre 68s are easy to tell split window in the front. as far as the mustang crowd there a group of there own.

Ditto on that, had a mustang 20 something years ago, the timing chain broke on me at the mall and while sitting in the car waiting on a tow truck there was a radio program on about today is the such and such aniversary of the mustang, turned me against them forever! Bought a beetle a few weeks later and the rest is history......170+ VW's since and will never look back!

I will try to go tomorrow or thru the weekend and I'll let you guys know if he has something worth wild.

Yes - please let us know. I am also looking for an early bay and would be interested, 3 teenagers don't fit well in the back of the beetle.

As for Mustangs, I can't really say many negative things for the early ones. I have a '65 that I love, need to finish restoring but love it. My son has a 01 and that one has been a little more trouble but he loves it, I'll stick with the '65 w/289.

39coupe wrote:Yes - please let us know. I am also looking for an early bay and would be interested, 3 teenagers don't fit well in the back of the beetle.

As for Mustangs, I can't really say many negative things for the early ones. I have a '65 that I love, need to finish restoring but love it. My son has a 01 and that one has been a little more trouble but he loves it, I'll stick with the '65 w/289.

I guess its all in the model. Mine was a 72, problem, after problem! The wife had a 65 and loved hers until it met an early demise.....
Feel your pain on the teens, we have 4, 17-19 here and a grandbaby so room is hard to find. Had to sell my 82 westy to buy a eurovan to get the passenger room. Now wish I had kept the westy since we rarely load everyone up at one time. Just put my euro up for trade for an acvw, will probably sell it after the dc is on the road if not traded. Would give it to the kids but not a teen friendly vehicle for repairs!

The camper bus near my house is a 68-71 by the small tailights.
I have to come to a deal with the guy without pressuring him, so he doesn't jump up the price.
I am still trying to find out who owns the other VW bus. I'll keep you guys posted.