Online School With JBugs

Lesson 3: The Transformation of the VW Beetle

In lesson one, we showed you how to find the VIN on your VW Beetle to identify what year it was made. And in lesson two, we talk you through the teardown to get your project started. For our third lesson, we will be talking about some of the changes made to the Beetle through the years and how to identify a model year based on that information.

There are two ways you can identify your model year using the VIN: you can reference a VIN chart on a websites like The Samba to determine year of production or you can just punch the number into our VIN Checker. If you use our VIN checker, you will get the date of production, basic specifications, and a short list of identifying features for that model year.

Now, what do you do when there are no VIN tags/stamps to rely on? You will have to determine the year of the car using what’s in front of you. Luckily, we’ve broken down all the major changes through the years.

Disclaimer: This is by no means an exhaustive list of every change VW made to the Beetle through its lifetime. That would be an insanely long list. For sake of brevity, we will only be including MAJOR aesthetic changes you can use to identify the different model years. We will only be covering the standard Beetle sedan manufactured to US-market spec and we will not be addressing changes to the drive train or electrical system (for the most part). Those topics will be covered in a future lesson.

The 1950s

The first Beetles were imported to the United States in the early 1950s, but the first US dealership did not open until 1955. For that reason, we will start with the first model year officially sold in the US.

1955:
The 1955 model year Beetle came with blade bumpers, bullet front turn signals (first year), a “W” deck lid, snowflake tail lights (also a first), a batwing steering wheel (last year), and a small flat windshield.

Front fender mounted "Bullet Style" turn signals and blade bumpers. "W" decklid on rear.

1956:
Over-rider bars are added to the bumpers to meet US safety standards, the inside door release lever was relocated to be in-line with the window crank, and VW dropped the batwing steering wheel, adopting the “baby bat” style wheel.

1956 Still rocks the "W" decklid and the bumper gained overriders. Note the "snowflake" tail lights.

1957:
The only major change for this model year was the re-location of the heater channel vents from near the firewall to the bottom of the A pillar. ’57 is also the last year of the “W” style deck lid, the early style dash layout, and the oval-shaped rear window for which ’53-57 Beetles are most well-known.

Last year for the coveted rear oval window.

1958:
This year marked a huge change for the Beetle. In 1958, Volkswagen re-located the front turn signals to the top of the fender and adopted the “peanut” style turn signals, increased the size of the front windshield, completely re-shaped the rear window (much bigger), and re-designed the deck lid including the license light housing.

Introduction of fender top mounted "peanut style" turn signals & a new larger rear window.

1959:
There are no major aesthetic changes during this model year. The biggest change was the integration of a sway bar into the front suspension. It is the last year of “ice pick” style door handles, the 7-color Wolfsburg crest on the hood, and the “baby bat” style steering wheel.

Last year for 7 color Wolfsburg Badge.

The 1960s

This decade saw the most substantial updates to the design of the Beetle. The biggest overall re-design to the car happened in 1968, but major changes to the body began as early as 1965.

1960:
Volkswagen went to the 3-color design for the Wolfsburg crest on the hood, upgraded the front steering with the addition of a steering damper, re-designed the steering wheel, introduced the square button style outside door handles, and added the grab handle on the passenger dash area. It is the last year of the hump style gas tank used on all earlier Beetles.

Last year of "hump" style gas tank. 3 Color Wolfsburg came into use.

1961:
This is the first year of the flat style gas tank, which allowed for more usable storage space in the trunk area. 1961 is the last model year equipped with “snow flake” style tail lights and the reserve fuel lever that came through the firewall, and a locking hood prop.

"Snowflake" Tail lights & flat style Gas tank.

1962:
In this model year, VW added a fuel gauge to the dash, re-designed the tail lights (much larger), and upgraded the hood prop to two sprung hinges, and made seat belt mounting points standard.

Double sprung hood hinges & larger tailights introduced.

1963:
1963 was a year of lasts more than it was a year of firsts. ’63 was the last model year equipped that came with a Wolfsburg crest on the hood, last year of the rag top, and last year of “peanut” style front turn signals.

Last year for factory ragtops, which were available from 1954-1963.

1964:
VW introduced the metal sliding sun roof to replace the rag top, wider front turn signal assemblies, and re-designed the license plate light housing (wider and flatter). This is also the last year of the flat windshield, 33mm molding on the running boards, “T” handle deck lid latch, vertical vent wing and frame, small quarter windows, and the least year of knob style heater control.

First year for metal sunroof. Wider turn signals.

1965:
The 1965 model year marked the largest change to the design in the Beetle since 1958. In 1965, VW introduced a larger, slightly curved windshield, larger quarter windows, a larger rear window, larger door windows, thinner molding on the running boards (18mm), a new vent wing design, longer wiper arms and blades, and a push button deck lid latch. Quite a bit changed inside the car as well with this model year. VW re-styled both the front and rear seat, allowing the rear seat to fold flat, they adopted lever style heater controls, and moved the sun visor mounts from the center at the rear view mirror to the outside edges near the A pillar. 1965 is also the last year to use link pin front suspension and the last year to have the high/low beam switch on the floor near the front firewall.

Larger rear window & larger quarter windows.

1966:
This was another year of change, but most of it was too the mechanical aspects of the car. 1966 is the first year to have ball joint front suspension, vented wheels, flat hub caps, and a center defrost vent on the dash. It is the last year of bucket head lights, 6v electrical system, 18mm running board molding, and square push button door handles.

Vented wheels & flat hubcaps. Early Beetle headlight buckets were used from 1954-66.

1967:
This is the model year with the most one-year-only parts. In 1967, VW adopted a lot of new features for the first time and dropped much of the old tech. They upgraded the Beetle from a 6v to 12v electrical system, introduced a new style of headlight, re-located the antenna from the quarter panel to the windshield cowl, added a back-up light to the rear bumper, adopted narrower body molding (10mm), mounted a “Volkswagen” badge to the deck lid, added door lock pulls at the back edge of the window opening on the doors, and re-designed the inside door release lever to be recessed into door panel. One-year-only parts for ’67 include the deck lid (squared off at the bottom), bumper (clearanced for the deck lid), a rear sway bar known as the Z-bar, a slightly different front turn signal housing that shows more of the lens, and round button outside door handles. It is the last year the Beetle was equipped with wide-5 (5x205) wheels, horn grills, over-ride style bumpers, and the last year where you have to raise the hood to fill the fuel tank.

New headlight bucket design, and last year for bumpers with overriders. 1967 Only flat botom decklid & tappered rear bumper.

1968:
Another big year of change, the 1968 Beetle came with larger tail lights, completely new style bumpers and bumper brackets, a new rear apron, a new rear deck lid more squared off at the bottom than the ’67 model, and different fenders to accommodate the changes to the front and rear. In ’68 VW introduced the 4x130 bolt pattern that would be used on all their passenger cars (except the Bus and Thing) through the end of the 70s, changed the design of the front turn signal housing to expose even more of the lens, re-located the fuel filler to the passenger quarter panel and covered it with a fuel door, increased the length of the wiper blades again, and switched to larger trigger-style outside door handles. Inside the car, VW added a padded dash board, new speedometer design with an electric fuel gauge mounted into the speedo, collapsible steering column, head rests on the front seats, new (round black knob) vent wing lock handles, new rear view mirror design, new sun visors to match the change in the rear view mirror, a locking steering wheel with a column mounted ignition switch, and a brake warning light on the dash. It is the first year where Independent Rear Suspension and Autostick transmission were offered as options. It is the last model year to have the hood release lever located under the dash on the driver’s side and the last year to have swingaxle rear suspension standard.

Larger tail lights, and blade flat bumper design.

1969:
There were few aesthetic changes in the 1969, but there were a few things worth noting. Volkswagen moved the heater channel vents back from the door jam and re-designed them to be using with a movable plastic cover. This is the first year that Independent Rear Suspension was standard and the last year of the tear drop shaped front turn signals used since ’64.

First year for IRS transmissions & CV axles.

The 1970s

The 1970s were an interesting time because the Beetle was on its way out, so rather than making a bunch of massive changes to the shape of the body and layout of the components like they did in the ‘60s, VW introduced incremental upgrades every year to various parts of the car.

1970:
The 1970 model Beetle came with an updated deck lid design with two rows of vents, a new design for the front turn signal (more boxy, more lens exposed), and added reflectors to the outside of the front turn signals and tail light housings. Inside the car, the headrests on the front seats were made narrower than the ’68-69 style and the odometer was changed to read out up to 1/10th of a mile.

New turn signals and tail lights with side markers. Decklid has 2 vents.

1971:
Though a very substantial year in terms of engine development, the only major change to the outside of the car in the 1971 model year was the addition of the quarter moon fresh air scoops behind the quarter windows. Likewise, the biggest change to the interior was the addition of vents on either side of the rear window.

Fresh air scoops came into use.

1972:
In 1972, Volkswagen enlarged the rear window again for better visibility and added two more rows of vents to the deck lid. They also added more vents around the rear window (3 on the left and 3 on the right) and re-designed the steering column and dash, relocating the wiper switch to a lever on steering column. 1972 is the last model year with the VW emblem on the hood and last year of 18mm running board molding.

Even larger rear window and 4 columns of vents on decklid. Last year for VW hood emblem.

1973:
VW adopts the “elephant foot” style tail lights and 10mm (both will be used for rest of Beetle production in the US). They also re-designed the headrest again, making it wider than those used in ’70-72 models. 1973 is the first year without a VW emblem on the hood and the last year for the ’68 and later style bumper.

"Elephant Foot" TailLight assembly. Hood without VW or Wolfsburg emblems.

1974:
The most prominent change to the Beetle design in 1974 was the upgrade to shock absorbing bumper brackets and the change in shape of the fenders to accommodate the shape of the struts used in the brackets. 1974 models also come with a narrower headrest (yes, again) than the previous model year, an emergency brake indicator on the dash, and a new combined indicator combining the brake light and seat belt indicator. This is also the last year of carbureted engines being standard on the Beetle

Shock style bumper mounts & diamond shaped fender cutouts.

1975:
1975 was the first year with Bosch fuel injection as standard equipment on US market spec Beetles. VW also reshaped the rear apron to accommodate the larger muffler and single exhaust pipe (no more twin cut outs) and added an EGR indicator to the cluster of indicator lights on the speedometer. This is also the last year of rubber floor mats as standard equipment.

Larger rear apron & single tail pipe cutout.

1976:
The only noticeable change to this model year was the switch to a fully carpeted floor as standard equipment.

No distinguishable outside features. Fully carpeted interior came standard.

1977:
This is the final year of production of the standard Beetle in the US. The 1977 model year differed from the previous year in only two ways: VW re-designed the front head rests to be detachable and the headlight trim rings were made of chrome-plated plastic instead of steel.