I created this table based on a lot of uploaded data from M-plates that can be found throughout the Internet. It shows the planned production data according to the m-plates of individual T2 buses (model year 1968, already built in 1967) – in other words, that’s the schedule showing how Volkswagen planned the serial production at the time. Interestingly, there is not a single Saturday or Sunday on all of these days, although there was also weekend work at VW at the time.

Source: M-Plate Decoder
Month:	Day:	Chassis Nr.:	Notes:
JULY	Th., 13.07.1967	2X8 000 399	Planned day of build according to M-Plate
	Fr., 14.07.1967	2X8 001 609	Planned day of build according to M-Plate
VW FACTORY HOLIDAY: Mo., 17.07.1967 to Fr., 04.08.1967
AUGUST	Mo., 07.08.1967	2X8 001 769	Planned day of build according to M-Plate
	Th., 31.08.1967	2X8 015 014	Planned day of build according to M-Plate
SEPTEMBER	Fr., 01.09.1967	2X8 015 250	Planned day of build according to M-Plate
	Fr., 29.09.1967	2X8 030 504	Planned day of build according to M-Plate
PRODUCTION OF NEW BUILDS STOPPED FOR 1 WEEK? No new planned DOB between Sa. 30.09.1967 and So., 8.10.1967
OCTOBER	Mo., 09.10.1967	2X8 030 535	Planned day of build according to M-Plate
	Tu., 31.10.1967	2X8 042 143	Planned day of build according to M-Plate
NOVEMBER	We., 01.11.1967	2X8 042 302	Planned day of build according to M-Plate
	Th., 30.11.1967	2X8 059 185	Planned day of build according to M-Plate
DECEMBER	Fr., 01.12.1967	2X8 059 432	Planned day of build according to M-Plate
	Fr., 22.12.1967	2X8 072 378	Planned day of build according to M-Plate
JANUARY 1968	Tu., 02.01.1968	2X8 072 502	Planned day of build according to M-Plate

In contrast to that, there is a table on TheSamba.com, which – in my opinion – shows the actual production numbers of the T2 buses for 1967. This makes it clear once again that not everything went according to plan in the early phase of T2 production. And it shows also that the numbers were sometimes well behind. Here is the table:
* (The only date that i added myself is July 10th, as this is also proven – the rest comes from TheSamba)

Source: TheSamba – List of Chassis Numbers
Month:	Day:	Chassis Nr.:	Notes:
JULY *	Mo., 10.07.1967	2X8 000 038	Official DOB according to VW birth certificate
VW FACTORY HOLIDAY: 17.07.1967 to 04.08.1967
AUGUST	Th., 31.08.1967	2X8 011 837	Acc. to TheSamba: list of VIN numbers
SEPTEMBER	Sa., 30.09.1967	2X8 025 839	Acc. to TheSamba: list of VIN numbers
PRODUCTION OF NEW BUILDS STOPPED FOR 1 WEEK? No new planned DOB between Sa. 30.09.1967 and So., 8.10.1967
OCTOBER	Tu., 31.10.1967	2X8 042 257	Acc. to TheSamba: list of VIN numbers
NOVEMBER	Th., 30.11.1967	2X8 060 116	Acc. to TheSamba: list of VIN numbers
DECEMBER	Su., 31.12.1967	2X8 073 585	Acc. to TheSamba: list of VIN numbers

A direct comparison of these two tables shows that:

• 3,117 cars were behind schedule at the end of August,
• and they were 4,665 buses late by the end of September.

It was not until October 1967 that VW managed to catch up with the schedule and continued with the T2 bus production as planned. This may be related to the one week (beginning of October) – completely without any new planned production days for buses.

By „no new planned production days“ i mean that i could not find a single bus in all m-plate databases (with more than 600 results for 1967 built 1968 VW T2 models), that has a planned DOB between Sa. 30.09.1967 and Su., 8.10.1967.

Maybe this week was used to just „catch up“. In other words, they might not have started to build any new buses that week, but instead just finished the projects that they already started.

Here are 3 examples of individual buses that also confirm the progress that was made until the end of October 1967:

Chassis Nr.:	Planned Production date according to M-Plate:	Actual Production date according to birth certificate:
2X8 000 067	12.07.1967	17.08.1967
2X8 013 723	30.08.1967	11.09.1967
2X8 031 641	10.10.1967	13.10.1967

(Thanks again to the owners who allowed me to use their vehicle information for pointing this out)

---

---

*** Update: After reading my text, Wolfgang sent me those additional words:

„You are writing about the theory that either factory vacations were actually held at that time – or that production was stopped to rebuild the factory’s infrastructure for the production of the T2.

It is one and the same. VW has always – as far as I can remember – had factory holidays because you cannot keep production going when a large part of the workforce is on vacation. I checked it out: the plant should have had almost 25,000 employees in 1967 (1963: 22,000, 1970: 28,000). The vast majority of them were employed in production, which was shut down during the plant holidays. This was true not only in 1967, but in all years. During the factory holidays there was always rebuilding, due to production technology, quantity changes, iteration optimization, model changes etc. In 1967 it was a bit more work than usual, but it was nothing fundamentally different.

So only a few thousand people worked during the factory holidays. Of course there were also some from production, because during the holidays the parts inventory for the new model had to be increased so that everything was prepared at the start of production.

Car production in the sixties was completely different from what we know today. Today, all the necessary components are delivered and installed on the assembly lines just-in-time. It is a huge, highly networked system that can only be controlled with powerful computers.

At that time, parts production mainly consisted of individual machines or small streets, all of which were decoupled from one another by interim storage facilities. For example, a certain part was manufactured in the stamping one day, packed in wire mesh boxes and transported to the warehouse – and it was the same with another part the next day. And another one again a day later. Sometimes it was possible to punch an entire month’s supply within a few hours and other parts, such as the vehicle roofs, were usually delivered directly from the press line (“Dachstraße”) to the so-called shell.

And these interim storage facilities for the individual parts all had to be filled before production started. In other words, parts production ran at times without cars being built.

And that is why it is of course correct that T1 and T2 were partly built in parallel, at least in their individual parts and components. It may also be the case that one of the final assembly lines for the T2 was set up before the factory holidays started – in order to start it up during the holidays. But I don’t remember that anymore. In any case, it took several weeks after the holidays before all processes ran smoothly, everything else would have been a miracle. There was no simulation like today.
…
Even after the start-up of the T2, T1 parts and components were of course still produced in production, since the T1 spare parts came from the same production lines. 

Today, most of the individual components for the final assembly of a vehicle are manufactured individually, supplied at the right time and belong exactly to this vehicle. At that time, most of the components were made anonymously and were only assigned to the special car during final assembly. Otherwise it would not have been possible to control it with the means at that time.“

---

Get back to the topic overview.

Or continue reading through my research in chronological written order:

1. The oldest T2 (baywindow) bus
2. VW works vacation – summer 1967: vacation locks, remodeling of the assembly lines & delays
3. Summer 1967: End of the splitbus era, start of earlybay production
4. Production figures of the VW T2 for 1967    (=current site)
5. VW T2 register and surviving 1967-built buses