M Is For M-Code

…or for ‘Mehr- und minder-ausstattung’, if you want to be Teutonically accurate about it. This is a look at the mysteries of M-codes, the bewildering number of options that could be added to, or deleted from, Type 2s.

- Richard Gunn / Hans Klapp

Volkswagen has always loved its codes. There were Type 1s, Type 2s, Type 3s, Type 4s… and then all the various model and aggregate sub-codes that followed. So, what we would recognise as a right-hand drive Microbus with left-hand sliding door and eight seats inside in a 2-3-3 formation, VW itself would more prosaically dub a Model 2440, for example.

But it went a lot further than this. In addition to these main designations, there were the M-codes. These were the assorted and sometimes weird and wonderful options that went beyond basic specification. On T1s, the ‘M’ stood for ‘Mehrausstattung’ (which translates as ‘more equipment’). By the advent of the T2s, this had been modified to ‘Mehr- und minder-ausstattung’ (‘more or less equipment’) to reflect that it now included stuff that could be deleted from standard. The codes for T1s ran from M004 (a dust-free air intake on a Pick-Up model) through to M729 (tubeless Michelin X radial tyres), although not every number was used. For T2s, the range went from M002 (US-specific sealed beam headlamps or with US-specific carriers for catalysts for American and Canadian-bound variants) to M966 (polyester high roof painted in body colour instead of white). However, the digits 700-799 were reserved for special body (Sonderausfuhrung) Volkswagens.

In most respects, an M-code for a T1 usually meant the same, or very similar, on a T2, but the more developed Bay Windows did have a lot more options. Or deletions.