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On 27 Apr 2004 at 9:18, Duane Miller wrote: > >The first year for M233 was '69. M236 started in '68, and M26 started in > '70. > This is my first day looking at this "M" chart on the Type 3 site, but by my > reading it looks like M233 and M26 were used in 64 (Model 311-314). Help me > guys, am I reading this right? Wouldn't they have put a alternate engine > code on the fan shroud (1600 vs. 1500)? This is a really confusing topic, and it's burned each of us at one time or another. The problem here is that looking at Model 311 makes you think that the third digit refers to the year, just as it would on the later VIN (starting in '65.) Unfortunately, this is not correct. 311 and 314 refer only to particular body styles, and there is nothing here which designates a year, no matter how much it looks like it should. IMHO, VW made a fundamental mistake when they did this, as it confuses everyone eventually. To top off the confusion VW changed the meanings of the model numbers in 66, so 311-314 means either a notchback up thru '65, or a fastback from '66-on. Note that this change happened a year AFTER VW introduced the model, body and year coding in the VIN. Don't worry too much about getting all this straight. I can send you a file of the model numbers and their meanings if you want it, but it's so confusing that I can only remember parts of it and have to refer to it any time a question like this comes up. The useful part to remember is that 31?'s are notches and fastys, 34?'s are type 3 Ghias, and 36?'s are squarebacks. I believe someone pointed out that there is some rationale for this in that fastys and notches got the same pans, but squares and Ghias got slightly different pans. -- Jim Adney jadney@vwtype3.org Madison, WI 53711-3054 USA ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ List info at http://www.vwtype3.org/list | mailto:gregm@vwtype3.org