TheSamba.com :: View topic - 7/74 manufacture date on my beetle. Wolfsburg factory ?

Tue Aug 04, 2020 4:21 am

Just curious. My beetle build date is July 74. This car was originally sold in the U.S. Would it have been built at Wolfsburg ?

Tue Aug 04, 2020 6:52 am

As far as I know all beetles sold in the US and Canada were built at the Wolfsburg plant. Production of the beetle in Germany didn’t end until January 1980. (1979 model year)

Tue Aug 04, 2020 7:30 am

Thanks. Nice to know it came from that factory.

Tue Aug 04, 2020 7:59 am

It's always been my understanding that the majority of the US market Beetles were made at the Emden plant starting in the late 1960s. :-k

Tue Aug 04, 2020 10:00 am

mukluk wrote: It's always been my understanding that the majority of the US market Beetles were made at the Emden plant starting in the late 1960s. :-k

Agreed. It would have been from the Emden plant.

Tue Aug 04, 2020 11:28 am

nbvolks wrote: mukluk wrote: It's always been my understanding that the majority of the US market Beetles were made at the Emden plant starting in the late 1960s. :-k

Agreed. It would have been from the Emden plant.

From VWs website:

After only nine months of construction, the first Volkswagen Beetle rolled off the production line at Emden, Volkswagen’s fifth plant in Germany, on December 8, 1964. Volkswagen Emden initially specialized in the production of the Beetle, especially for the North American market. However, over the 50-year history of the plant, many other Volkswagen models such as the Type 2 Bus, Golf I, Type 181 Kurier, Audi80, Santana, Type 4 Bus and Taro have been produced here.

Tue Aug 04, 2020 11:31 am

Also from VW.

Volkswagen started under British command on September 27, 1945. In 1955, the factory celebrated completion of the one-millionth Beetle in Wolfsburg. By the time production was discontinued in 1974, a total of 11,916,519 Beetles had been built in Wolfsburg. Production of the Golf then started. The form

Tue Aug 04, 2020 12:54 pm

There's nothing in the chassis number that indicates which plant it was built at, but yes OP it's fair to say that your Beetle was built in Germany, at whichever plant. All Beetles originally sold in the U.S. market were built in Germany. Even the birth certificate doesn't show which plant it was built in.

Tue Aug 04, 2020 7:13 pm

Your car was built in Emden. There is no disputing it. The US Spec cars were only built there by that time.

Wed Aug 05, 2020 8:05 pm

I agree that Emden is the correct answer. I can confirm that my '74 Sun Bug was built there.

Thu Aug 06, 2020 4:40 am

Xevin wrote: However, over the 50-year history of the plant, many other Volkswagen models such as the Type 2 Bus, Golf I, Type 181 Kurier, Audi80, Santana, Type 4 Bus and Taro have been produced here.

Funny that they forgot that they produce the Passat there since decades...

Thu Aug 06, 2020 8:43 am

Hi,
in addition, the last Beetle built in Wolfsburg came down the assembly line on July 1st 1974 making space for Golf production.

Thu Aug 06, 2020 9:10 am

TK-CS wrote: Xevin wrote: However, over the 50-year history of the plant, many other Volkswagen models such as the Type 2 Bus, Golf I, Type 181 Kurier, Audi80, Santana, Type 4 Bus and Taro have been produced here.

Funny that they forgot that they produce the Passat there since decades...

They didn’t forget. They start the article with current day then move on to former models. I just didn’t copy and paste it. My bad.

“The Volkswagen plant in Emden produces the Passat range. The models currently built in Emden are the Passat saloon and the eighth generation of the Passat Variant as well as the GTE, the Alltrack and the Volkswagen Arteon.”

Fri Aug 07, 2020 7:38 am

Cool, so Emden it is. I thought there may have been an identifier hidden in the serial number but I guess not.

Fri Aug 07, 2020 6:35 pm

Not to steal someone else' thread. Was the Emden plant used for just the standard Beetle for U.S. spec cars or both the Super and Standard?

Fri Aug 07, 2020 7:18 pm

Quote: I thought there may have been an identifier hidden in the serial number but I guess not. I don't know if domestic (American) VINs from the 1970's already had a plant identifier, other than possibly a specific number sequence/batch that was used at a specific plant. When NHTSA started the 17-digit VIN to be standardized for the auto industry as of 1981, there was an allowance for a plant identifier. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vehicle_identification_number#Plant_code

Sat Aug 08, 2020 8:18 am

kirk1015 wrote: Not to steal someone else' thread. Was the Emden plant used for just the standard Beetle for U.S. spec cars or both the Super and Standard?

As far as I know the Emden plant was the only Gemran plant that produced the Beetle after 7/74. So the last modelyear of Super sedans (1975) must also have been produced there.
I'm not sure about U.S. spec Supers before 7/74.