Thanks Joel,
I found the badge on the rear seat. The sticker also has the the last
6 of my vin#. You were right, the door tag shows it was incomplete in
8/96; converted in 9/86.  I guess this explains why when I try using
the Crutchfield vehicle finder and put in 1987, it says "power
windows", but I have cranks!
This sticker sits on the passenger door, tight above the unleaded gas
sticker, and because it was original, I wanted to try to save it, but
when it gets painted I don't think that is going to be possible
because of the shape the sticker is in. I really hate to loose it,
especially when all the other stickers can be replaced. For some weird
reason it bugs me. A pic of it before paint will have to do! Thanks
again for the info, greatly appreciated.

Hugh
On Mar 29, 2008, at 10:28 PM, uncajoel wrote:

>> I searched the archives but seem to be coming up empty, so my
>> apologies in advance if the answer is buried somewhere there, but I
>> couldn't find it. The black sticker on my passenger door, very faded,
>> look like it says Westfalia/Werke; Believe it has the date of
>> manufacture, in my case 09/86,(or 3/86)  and a serial number H
>> 00195.   What exactly is this, what is it telling me, and what do
>> people do when repainting the van. (I'm assuming once this is gone
>> that's it)
>
> a sticker? usually, the Westfalia stuff has that same info on a
> little placard that is riveted to the cabinets or on the kickboard
> at the bottom of the rear seat ... haven't heard of one with a
> sticker in the door before. must be a late model bus.
>
> one thing that you can do during repaints is to carefully cover the
> sticker with 3M masking tape ... i specify 3M because it's the only
> masking tape i know of that will NOT pull off the sticker ... the
> glue/adhesive holds the tape in place during painting, but doesn't
> pull stickers and such off when you remove the tape.
>
> anyway, it's telling you that Westfalia converted the VW Kombi bus
> (that was sent to them from the factory) in some month in 1986
> (check the silver sticker on the driver's side ... that's the one
> from vw. so the bus couldn't have been converted until after it was
> built. and the silver sticker has the vw build date on it), and it
> was serial number 195 for that model camper for that model year.
>
> remember that vw started its model year manufacturing in august of
> the previous calendar year ... so a 1987 model year bus would have
> started being built in august of 1986 (08/1986). so if your camper
> was converted by Westfalia in 09/1986, you have a very low serial
> number 1987 bus, probably built within the first 45 days of 1987
> production.
>
> hope it helps. good luck!
> joel