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Posted by: Jim C Sep 18 2020, 01:55 PM

When I bought my 1976 914 the VIN sticker was gone. I calculated the build date as last week in November 1975. When I received my COA from Porsche it listed a build date of 12/75. Figured I made a mistake. Had a new VIN sticker made with 12/75 build date. Perusing the VINs on the site here today, I noticed there were many cars with later VINs that showed build dates of 11/75. Are the COA's not to be trusted? What's the explanation for the discrepancy?

Posted by: davep Sep 18 2020, 07:30 PM

What is your Karmann chassis # on the paint code plate?
This is the date that the body was completed. Then it could sit for a short while until final assembly. At that point it will get the Compliance decal with a build date. I find this date the best indication of final assembly completion. Usually, the date provided on a CoA is an invoice date or date of retail sale. Thus one can rarely use CoA or even Kardex dates as a completion date. The big issue here is there is a disconnect between manufacturing and sales departments. You want a manufacturing date, but you can only talk to the sales department, and they can only consult their records and not manufacturing records.
So, can you trust a PCNA CoA? The answer really is "sort of". Engine # & paint code will be correct. Interior? Well that depends on if they provide the code and a full description. The 1x codes are black leatherette, but 11 is black leatherette with basketweave seat inserts; so if it does not spell out the seat insert type, then the CoA is not accurate. Transmission? My data source says that no 914 had the transmission serial # recorded. Options? Again it would be best if the CoA had both code and a descent description. But dates, can only be used as a "no later than" date.

The pseudo-CoA Reports that I make up have as much detail as I can get, and some of that depends on the information that I can get from the owner.

Posted by: Johny Blackstain Sep 20 2020, 09:41 AM

The build date for my LE is February 21st, 1974. The doorjamb sticker says February 74. My COA says March of 74

Posted by: davep Sep 20 2020, 08:51 PM

Built and completed before the end of the month, and shipped out the next month.
A lot of CoA's show the completion date as the first of the month. The real case is that they were shipped out some time during that month.