Tourist and Transit Owner's Manual questions

[EverettB]

Member pyrobirk submitted this 1968 manual to the site:
https://www.thesamba.com/vw/archives/manuals/1968bug_tourist.php

We are both curious if anyone knows when this was issued to owner's vs. a regular owner's manual such as this standard English language 1968 Manual:
https://www.thesamba.com/vw/archives/manuals/68bug.php

His comments:
I did a comparison to the standard 1968 US version manual on The Samba.

Some differences I found:
1. The inside cover of the Transit version is completely blank, lacking the pocket for the dealer card and the key # space.
2. The warranty information is absent from the front of the Transit version. There is some limited warranty information in the back, but it's not the same as in the US version. There is an interesting note in the Transit version about presentation of the service card to "any authorized VW workshop at home or abroad" that I couldn't find in the US version.
3. The transit version doesn't mention the Autostick transmission at all. The US version mentions it in multiple places. Compare the foot pedal section on page 9 of each manual to see the most striking difference. There are also differences in the technical data sections.
4. The back cover of the transit version is marked "Tourist and Transit"

If you look at the service card section in the back, you'll see the original owner information, 2Lt. Darrel E. Aldrich, with the address being what I believe is a military base. You'll also see the original dealer stamp indicating that this Beetle was sold new in Aschaffenburg Germany. Why would a VW sold in Germany have an English owner's manual? My best theory is that 2Lt. Aldrich was an American stationed in Germany. So why didn't the dealer give him a US version of the manual? Maybe they didn't have one? Why a special "Tourist and Transit" version? My best guess here is the warranty was handled differently in these cases...?

Page 9 he mentions above

vs.

Thanks for any input.
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