Hi - is there a way of finding manufacture date please other than paying Classic VW an enormous amount of money? I did a search but found nothing recent. Thanks!
Hope I've understood correctly what you're after and if so, yes there is, however you need certain info. such as that found on the sticker inside the boot / log book. If you've what's needed there's a few links I'll see if I can find again that allows you to work it out.
apologies for being skimpy with the words - yes the age of a car - yes I have both stickers - thanks!
if you have the boot sticker this can be decoded easily, I think the codes are repeated on the VIN plate/yellow sticker in the engine bay also: http://museum.cabby-info.com/mcodes.htm
It's that long ago I've have to refresh myself as to how it's done, not that it's difficult. The below is a cut'n'paste from a post on the MK1OC forum in 2013, and the link referred to still seems to work. (There's plenty of other similar stuff out there that'll elaborate on this or that.) https://vwgolfmk1.org.uk/forum/index.php?page=topicview&id=detailing/boot-build-sticker This is probably the relevant part, though reading it over again all these years later I was obviously using someones actual sticker / VIN to decipher and explain how it's done. Now that the images are gone might need you to work out what I'm referring to from your on sticker, but again should be pretty obvious. If you're comfortable sending you VIN details by PM (don't post it up on an public thread), be good practice for me and see if we get the same date! Quote - "As an aside… posted this link elsewhere recently but you may not have seen it. It lets you work out the exact date of manufacture (as opposed to it's later registration) of your car. Can't vouch for its accuracy but using the info given it dated mine to the day before that on the paint inspection sticker so seems to be good. http://home.clara.net/hallvw/dating.htm Using yours as an example… (not known as photo missing) 'E' is the year (1983 in this case)... (photo missing) '23 - 4' are the week of the year and day of the week in that order. Days of the week are calculated from Monday to Sunday therefore Monday is '1', Tuesday '2' and so on. Yours is '4' which is Thursday. The weeks themselves are calculated from the 1st January regardless of what day of the week this falls on. In 1983, the 1st January was a Saturday, but that doesn't matter. It's the week, in your case Monday 27th December - Sunday 2nd January that counts. (Remember the same week will be '52' for 1982 cars.) Count forward though the year starting from 1, so the week Monday 27th December - Sunday 2nd January is week 1 not 'Zero'. Your car was therefore manufactured on Thursday 2nd June 1983. The same info can be obtained else where… For example here's the manufacturing plate from mine, sited behind the grille." (Photo missing)
the mk1 wouldn't have the boot sticker no, but you mentioned you had both stickers so assumed later cabby or something
I should be clearer - the sticker in the service booklet does not have that level of detail - I'd assumed they were the same?
Ooops... my old memory again - was probably getting mixed up with the MK2 and it's stickers, but I have definitely worked out my MK1's and as RJ says the info's going to be somewhere on the car.
Car was first registered in the UK in mid January 1983 So according to both? of you, it was built in week 48, day 1, of 1982 number 101 off that day's production line? Were they really making them that quickly?
also can work out (some) of your options using this: https://clubgti.com/forums/index.php?threads/vag-option-codes-decoder-list.283422/
I got Monday 29th.... As the VIN is a D it's an MY83 build, but is there anything in the numbers which states it was built in 1982? I know that the german manufacturing industry always took two weeks off in Aug/Sep and started the next years build when they returned, but will the DVLA agree with that? I'm up for it being forty years old, so that's why I'm asking
Thanks - I searched for the options years ago... they might even be correct Optional extras A45 M 288 headlight washer system M 430 windshield glass (laminated) M 451 wheel disc aluminium 5.5J X 13 ET38 M 560 steel sliding roof with wind deflector, manual control. M 568 tinted window glass (windscreen in laminated glass), green all round. M 931 exterior mirror (flat) adjustable from inside (passenger side)
A long while since I looked at this and it's very grey to me now, would need to take a bit of time and go back over it to be sure. Again, double check this, but just had a look at the MK1OC 'Campaign' checks page and my reading of it is the model year runs from the start of August of one year to the end of July the next? This is the bit that makes me say that - https://vwgolfmk1.org.uk/index.php?page=cedi&type=misc&id=55&keep_session=1250091419 "10. Campaign models should have a specific code in the Chassis (VIN) number. This should read WVW ZZZ 17EW nnnnnn. Where the 17 means a Mk1 Golf, the E is signifies an August 83 onwards manufacture date and the W implies the car was built in Wolfsburg Germany. Note that all mk1 Golfs produced after August 1983 will have an E in their chassis number, this includes the base models, and the runout 'GX' model too, so the chassis number is not unique to the campaign. For reference, convertible Mk1 Golfs have a 'K' in place of the W after the year indicator. These cars were not built in Wolfsburg, but in Onsabruck, where the Karmann factory is located." So yes then, by that reckoning 'D' would be the 1982 model year ie. 1/8/82 - 31/7/83, and so if it's a week 48 car it can only be from Nov. '82. The '1' would make it a Monday and that was the 29th. for that year. One thing I've noticed after going back to it, if you follow the rule that the first week of the year for calculation purposes is 1 and not zero you'll end up with 53 weeks in the year. It gets a bit confusing for that last week of the calendar year as depending on when in the Mon - Sun week the last actual day of the year falls there's potential for an overlap. Maybe that's why VW did it the way they did and takes that into account, but just speculating?
I think you are nearly correct - as I said, back-in-the-day, all of the German car manufacturers (and possibly all heavy industry) all took a (different-ish) two-week holidays over the August to September period... but when they came back they started the next years model range - looking forward, so to speak. So anything build from Aug/Sep 82 - Aug/Sep 83 would be the MY83 It's all a bit grey to me too - I first looked into all this when I bought the car, in 1996, but the internet was thin on the ground back then Exact build-date didn't interest me then either, but the offer of free car-tax from the lovely UK Government has woken me up.
