South African import - no M plate?

[Rich]

Hi guys,

I've looked around the cab area and can't find an M plate, however I have this behind the drivers seat:

Link to large image

Just wondering if anyone can shed some light on this? Should I have an M plate there also? I have found two small holes behind the passenger seat near the door, so it could be that the plate came off?

 

[Graham L]

SA buses don't have M code plates as they were CKD (knockdown kits) sent from Germany, I don't think you can find any build history on your bus unfortunately, a birth certificate will give build date and nothing else.

 

[ed.]

mine is a saffer and doesn't have an M plate.

Scott Wilson is the man to answere this

or Graham L :lol:

 

[Araon]

As already stated above none exist on a SA bus........

large airfix kits some with dubious assembly......

 

[ed.]

large airfix kits some with dubious assembly......

that explains a lot :lol:

 

[Rich]

Dubious assembly!
:shock:
Time will tell I guess.

Cheers for the responses guys. Interested to know what the paint code translates to.

Rich

 

[cotswoldiver]

Once upon a time there would have been another pressed plate behind the seat with a series of numbers that was a sort of SA M plate - but no one seems to have a definitive list of translation. All lost long ago ...

If you send off to VW for birth certificate it will just confirm the knocked down kit, add a couple of original M codes if there were any specials, and a 99% chance it will confirm the paint code as primer

 

[Rich]

Wow, ok I think I see how it goes. No probs then! Is there any way to know what paints VW SA used?

 

[froggy]

Luckily my African bus was built in Germany as a RHD and then shipped to Kenya so i have an M plate in the usual place

 

[cotswoldiver]

Wow, ok I think I see how it goes. No probs then! Is there any way to know what paints VW SA used?

No info that I was ever able to find. But, a good paint technician will be able to match the original paint either from inside the fuel cap, or match to the time faded colour outside

 

[Grazy]

No M-Plate on my CKD Pourtugeezer Panel Van either !!!

 

[Stutz]

My crewy also has a strange plate. (In the original colour no less!)

And then, where the original makers plate was (which some dumb@ss removed), there are some manual stampings.

Nothing that makes too much sense to me though. :?

 

[Rich]

I have holes just like that behind the passenger seat, that's why I thought maybe a plate used to be there.

Where is your first one (original paint) located?

 

[scott wilson]

The saffers have well weird identity tags.The commercials almost always have the black and silver plate and the splits for that matter and the kombis/westys have what looks like an m code plate behind the drivers seat but can only be described as complete gobbledeegook.They generally have some numbers and an letters ie 345 EA 4219 the chassis number is always there though....then if your a crossdresser or later then you`ll get that little m-code looking plate and where your chassis number should be in the engine bay it`ll be plated over...remove the plate to reveal a completely different chassis number!!!!!! the DVLA really like this A LOT. The scrawl as shown i`ve seen before on sa busses but don`t know if this scrawl is sa.They do this if you`ve not kept up the vehicle liscense payment...essentially you have to re register your bus and they scratch a new vin number in.The one good thing about the saffers is that you`ll never buy a stolen bus.ever.They are well hot on engine theft and vehicle theft...can`t think why?
they are CKD`s.German manufacture sa assembly and the build quality was only ever an issue on a monday...everyone was really hungover or fridays...everyone was really drunk cos they`d just been paid! I`m not going to get into the politics of it all but mostly the saffer busses are of an equal build standard to european manufacturers.They had the same quality control standards and assembly systems but only for three days a week :roll: ! My deluxe, davids westy, stu`s sunroof deluxe and many imports that have gone through my hands have been of excellent build quality.There have been one or two noteable exceptions but they`ve nearly always been fleetlines..but again i`ve seen first hand many awesome fleetlines so....
there is no-one in vwsa who will identify the paint codes and if you go on the sa forum they`ll hunt you down and mess you up for daring to steal there busses...please try it really winds them up http://www.aircooledvwsa.co.za" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false; start with i`m english and have an sa import and am looking for some parts! :mrgreen:
they can`t help with paint codes cos they haven`t got a clue either.

 

[Rich]

Very informative, thanks.

 

[Stutz]

I have holes just like that behind the passenger seat, that's why I thought maybe a plate used to be there.

Where is your first one (original paint) located?

My original plate was where the two holes and strange stampings now are. There is no other plate that I can find anywhere.