[rotorwrench]

I would seriously question whether that is a date or not. Most of the VDO production facilities were destroyed by bombing during the war. It really didn't start to make a comeback until 1949 but it came back in solid fashion progressing with each year after that. Small vehicles & motor bikes came on strong as soon as production started to reemerge. I can't assume when that unit was manufactured but it is more likely to have been before the war. It does look like a truck type unit with a painted bezel like that. Ford Koln built a lot of trucks before the war.

Ford Koln did start manufacturing trucks relatively quickly after the war but car production was a few years later. If it is post war then it could have been for that. VDO would have been building stuff out of the rubble that was left after the war. They had to start somewhere though.