INFO GUIDE: 1955 - 1958 Volkswagen Deluxe Microbus (Samba Bus)

Front lighting:

• European models had symmetrically fluted headlight lenses and non-sealed headlight beams.
• US models had sealed beam headlights, and were fitted with clear outer lenses with outer edge fluting only.
• US models featured the "Bullet" front indicators from 1956 onward (following the dropping of semaphores/trafficators). 1955 and early 1956 US model buses were fitted with semaphores/trafficators. 
• European models were not fitted with front indicators, but retained the semaphores/trafficators throughout all years in this series.

Rear lighting:

• US models had plastic "bubble" or "domed" circular tail lights which were double filament, serving as a tail light and indicator. Additional reflectors were also applied to the US models underneath the tail lights.
• US models were also fitted with a single brake light which was located in the centre of the engine lid. Those were applied to US models until the 4th April 1957 (up to chassis number 246,963). From 5 April 1957 (from chassis 246,964 onward), the rear central brake light and separate reflectors were dropped, and slightly larger flat round glass tail lights were introduced (retaining the double filament, serving as tail lights, brake lights and indicators).
• European models were fitted with ‘Flat’ circular tail lights with a single third brake light placed in the centre of the engine lid. Those tail lights were single filament with integrated reflector. As European models relied on semaphores / trafficators, no indicator lights were applied in those markets. Also, no separate reflectors were applied to European market cars.

The following features were present on the 1955-1958 Deluxe Microbus.

• One interior colour was available on the Samba between March 1955 and August 1959: a two-tone light brown over cream vinyl trim. This is officially referred to as “Light Brown” (Code: 76), and was applied to the seats as well as the door cards / side interior panels.
• Beige/cream cloth covered the internal aperture pillars and panels (from the base of the windows and above).
• Like earlier models of the Deluxe Microbus, black rubber floor lining was fitted standard, with a light grey carpet applied to the luggage area.
• 1955 saw the introduction of the full-width dashboard with newly revised layout and instrumentation. This dashboard incorporated a full width storage tray underneath, with instrumentation as shown in the images, and optional Blaupunkt radio.
• A new two spoke steering wheel replaced the earlier 3-spoke wheel from March 1955. The wheel retained the Wolfsburg badge in the centre.
• Unique dashboard features of the Deluxe included the chrome ashtray lid, chrome rear-view mirror and speedometer bezel. The deluxe also featured ivory coloured dash knobs and steering wheel (as opposed to black on other models in the range).
• Fresh-air box ventilation system was introduced as standard on the Deluxe model (an option for all other models).
• A front bench seat was standard on the Deluxe. However, walk-through split seats were available as an option.
• The spare wheel compartment was moved from the rear of the bus to behind the middle of the front bench seat (integrated in the front seat bulkhead). If the walk-through separate/split front seats were optioned, the spare wheel was placed at the left side of the luggage compartment (see images).
• The middle seat in the bus now had 4 legs (rather than 6 legs as applied to the pre-March 1955 bus). Buses could be optioned with a full-length middle seat or a 2/3 length seat.
• The passenger footrest (bar) was eliminated in buses from March 1955 onward.

Prior to August 1958, the Deluxe Microbus was only available in one colour combination. Alternative colours to this combination were not offered until after August 1958. The colours available on the Deluxe from 1955 - July 1958 included:

• Upper paint colour: Chestnut Brown (Code: L73)
• Lower paint colour: Sealing Wax Red (Code: L53)

Paint code location:

Microbuses produced prior to October 1958 did not have an M-plate, and no paint code is printed or stamped anywhere on the vehicle. Finding codes is largely irrelevant for the 1955 - 1958 Samba, given that it was only available with the two-tone combination.

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Chassis plate and stamping:

The VIN/chassis plate is located on the back right side of the engine bay (on the firewall/bulkhead). The chassis plate can be decoded in the following way:

1. Typ (type): Numbers 2/24 or 2/25 were applied to the Deluxe Microbus. 2/24 means the full width middle seat applied, and 2/25 means a short / two thirds length seat was applied. Note, the two thirds length seats are extremely rare on early Microbuses, but became more common after 1959.
2. 'Fahrgestell Nr' (chassis number): This is the unique chassis number of the vehicle. For cars built from 1955 - 1956, this will include a -20- prefix, followed by a 6-digit number. The -20- prefix was dropped during 1956, and subsequent chassis numbers will simply be 6 digits. 
3. 'Baujahr' (build year): This should conform with the chassis number chart below.

Below the chassis plate, the chassis number is stamped into the body of the vehicle. The number stamping should match the chassis plate. The locations of the chassis plate and numbers are detailed in the images.

Body number:

The body number is located on the bulkhead behind the front seat. However, on pre M-plate vehicles (such as this series of the Microbus), this had no interpretable meaning other than being sequential, and was purely an internal production reference number.