South African models had slightly larger window openings. And raised
engine decks to accomodate the inline 5 cylinder engines.

On Aug 9, 2008, at 8:51 PM, mdrillock wrote:

> What we call Vanagons were built from May 1979 till July1992, sold as
> 1980-1992 models.
>
> The VW factory called them all T3 models, including pickups and
> special
> versions like fire trucks and ambulances
>
> More of them were built with 1.6 turbo diesel engines than with 2.1
> gas
> engines.
>
> Many others had 1.6 and 1.7 diesel engines without turbos
>
> Versions of the 1.9 gas engine were made until the very end,
> outnumbering 2.1 models
>
> Syncros were all built in Austria
>
> 2wd were built in Germany till 1991 when they moved to Austria as
> production wound down
>
> Typical annual production was  roughly 150,000 units
>
> The last couple years much fewer numbers were made since the Austria
> plant had lower capacity
>
> After European production ceased, production started up again in South
> Africa
>
> T3 product in SA ran from 1995-2002, with 2000-3000 units per year
>
> While still very similar the bodies had differences in addition to the
> steering wheel on the right side
>
> Only inline gas engines were used, from 1.8 liter 4cyls to 2.3 and 2.6
> liter 5 cyls
>
>
> The above was largely gleaned from VW sources and may not be
> completely
> correct