The Oldest Bay On The Forum

[70-CA-Panel]

I don't know anything about early earlies, but it's interesting that both above are US specs...

Sweet picture by the way, just sitting next to each other like they did at the factory car park...

 

[rickyrooo1]

I know i'm a latebay but it's true the dvla can't be arsed with dates, i imported mine and provided build date off the m-plate of 6/3/78 and also a birth certificate from vw, the dvla put date of manufacture down as 1/1/78 on my v5.

 

[paul_q]

i know of two 'earlies'
mine 25th aug 67 white panel and my mates 21st aug 67 blue double door panel

both E reg :roll: :mrgreen:
jon.

Did you register them together to get the following plate numbers?

 

[johnny f]

Mine is the one that was between these two .

 

[Graham L]

As Clem says, the whole E plate thing is a red herring. Their appearance on bays is down to the individual DVLA office not being being bothered about exact dates during the year. No early bay should have an E plate, they stopped issuing them on 31st July, bays were not officially available until 1st August which is exactly the date that very first F plates were issued.
Joanne Doe (38, married, 2 kids, wondering fish fingers or sausages for tea) and working as a clerk at the DVLA is not going to know and doesn't give a toss about production dates, that's for sad people like us. You put 1967 on the form, she is not interested in exact dates, so types in 1st January. The computer then says 'E' reg.....
The Speedmaster bus rolled off the line on 25th August 1967 so is very early. I remember this because Tim Glover (Roadhouse Motor Co., who imported it) checked it out and it also happens to be my birthday! (not the year, I'm slightly more vintage :lol: )

i think when joanne doe at the dvla issued the plate for my bay it must have be very late on a friday afternoon. and was late for pickin them two kids up. what year does my plate make mine ?

I registered that bus on behalf of the first owner and couldnt believe it when it came back with that reg number, bit of a surprise to all of us :lol:

 

[johnny f]

All the same .This thing with the E plate makes them even more rare .Mine should be an E then as it is in between the pair of these ,The 24 ,8,67 ,

 

[bananacustard]

An 'E' plate doesn't really make them more rare. It's just an incorrectly issued 'E' plate after all. What's with all this competitive need to have an 'E' instead of an 'F' :?: Anyone got a 'D' plate?

 

[Graham L]

All the same .This thing with the E plate makes them even more rare .Mine should be an E then as it is in between the pair of these ,The 24 ,8,67 ,

Not true as it would need to have been built before 01/08/67 to get an E plate, they only have E plates as it depends what date you put on the v55 as the first use date. If you put 1967 and they don't know what they are doing they count it as the 1st jan 67, it's that simple.

 

[aspro]

A fair bit of debate/confusion about plates. Shouldn't the earliest bus should be determined by the planned production date on the m plate? That's fairly black and white even if it is a planned date not a definite production date.

 

[sparkywig]

A fair bit of debate/confusion about plates. Shouldn't the earliest bus should be determined by the planned production date on the m plate? That's fairly black and white even if it is a planned date not a definite production date.

Wondered when someone would mention this.

 

[johnny f]

Im not botherd either what plate is on mine I just love my van .E F G what ever .BIG 1 would be good though

 

[Pete B]

Im not botherd, BIG 1 would be good though

It has been suggested that I should have the number plate 'PEN 1S' though others have gone for a more recent issue and said 'KN08 END' would be more appropriate.

I've no idea what they are on about, I'll stick with the accurately issued 'F' plate for an October '67 manufactured bus.......

 

[Analog]

An 'E' plate doesn't really make them more rare. It's just an incorrectly issued 'E' plate after all. What's with all this competitive need to have an 'E' instead of an 'F' :?: Anyone got a 'D' plate?

An E plate is not worth two F's in the bush anyway

 

[Clem]

A fair bit of debate/confusion about plates. Shouldn't the earliest bus should be determined by the planned production date on the m plate? That's fairly black and white even if it is a planned date not a definite production date.

Yep, thats why the EBI bus is currently 'winnning'

 

[Rikki James]

Chassis number 268000038 which means it is the 38th bay window built! 8)

cheers

Rikki.

 

[aspro]

http://forum.earlybay.com/viewtopic.php?f=2&t=6611&hilit=pickup" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

We bring you the story of the World's oldest-surviving Bay window van - number 38. Owner Demian takes up the story ...

I found and purchased this pickup in March 2005, and you can only imagine my excitement when I found out the chassis number and I discovered it on my birthday !

The first owner was a land agent company, and the second owner was a carpenter. The third owner, the one before me, was a farmer. He purchased the pickup in 1972 and drove it for 7 years and wasn't used again after 1979. The tacho now reads 9800 kilometers.

It still has it's original paint, except for the front panel, which has been rolled at some point with some grey paint.

There has only been little welding on it. Someone replaced one and a half sills in the 70s. It's actually very solid, requiring only a replacement load bed and perhaps the sills again. I also need to replace the treasure chest door and the gates. It was delivered to Sweden and taken into traffic the 8th of November 1967. The pickup left the factory on 15 July and has chassis number 38. That's one month earlier than the oldest known panel van, with chassis number 67, which was built 17 August. So it looks as though there were not many bay buses being produced in the beginning. It was delivered with a 1500cc engine, although the VW birth certificate says that the engine number is "not available". Vincent Molenaar, the VW World's M-plate guru, told me that it had very special M-plate in having not been painted, and that's strange - he's never seen an unpainted one before, these generally being applied prior to the van being painted.

It was delivered with padded dashboard but without a glovebox lid. That's also unusual, I think. In Vincent's book, "VW Transporter and Microbus Specification", it states that padded dashboards always were delivered with a lid. It was also delivered without an inner rear-view mirror. I don't know if that's unusual - but I have never seen that before.

My plan is to restore it very carefully and keep the original painting as long it goes. I have no regrets about slamming my barndoor deluxe - but as for Pickup Number 38 - no way !

_________________
founder of EarlyBay.com

 

[The John66]

What is the earliest RHD bay on the forum?

 

[john the horse]

Anyone got a pic of that bus ?

My old bus :mrgreen:

Is it still about? Haven't seen it in ages

Saw it roll into stanford, nearly bought this also, just timing was out by a month or two, still rules IMo

jth

 

[terrier man]

Who's got it?

Jonny F has an Aug 67 :shock:

Any older on here?

Rich

Why don't we find "Who's got it" & give them the award inform of a sticky "The Oldest Bay on this Forum".
This question is asked frequently, sorry to sound pissed :evil: but its not going to differ much if at all to my Nov 1967.

 

[issit]

What is the earliest RHD bay on the forum?

Well my RHD Velvet Green Panelvan is 25th Jan 1968