There's always been great debate about when the 50th anniversary of the 914 is/was and a lot of it hinges on when the 914 first came into being.
My question is, does anyone have a 914-4 with a VIN that starts "469" and/or were there any 914s (with the possible exception of the 2 914-8s) that were registered as 1969 model years?
Just curious.
AFAIK in Germany it goes by the month it was made Sept , Oct, Nov, Dec 69 = 1969 "Bau jahr" If I'm wrong Sir Andy + our German friends can shed some light on it
if vin # method and the karmann # method are to go by.
69 would have a karmann # indicating 69 build?
but a vin # showing 70 model year but vin sticker with a separate build date of month/year? vin # identified model year not manufacture year in number sequence. i don't think euro market cars had a door jamb vin sticker. only us cars.
so 69 will not show up in the vin number.
there is another pre production/prototype 6 that ended up on the road in the USA.
some guys would know more stuff in detail about that one.
be interesting how that was put on the road, was it a 69 model year for reg purposes?
i understand that MY spanning from start of autumn (aug or sept) of year before to start of summer break (start of july) of model year originated in the USA and became a northern hemisphere convention. i think the germans went off the us convention for domestic sales at that time. but i could be wrong. the whole idea was you got your 70 model car in the autumn of 1969. it might have been 69 but you were driving the 70 model car.
summer workers vacation a good time to gear up production line for new model year while the plant is semi-shut down.
in aus = southern hemisphere, summer is dec, jan, feb. summer break closedown was in jan. model years for local manufacture cars when manufacturing was still done here, meant MY = build year for an aussie brand car. was not as confusing to car buyers.
always like the 69 date as its the same as for moon landing.
i remember i bought mine in 89 when the 914 was having a 20th (fairly muted affair only recognised by 914 fans) and so was apollo (much more rejoicing).
My 1972 was built 12/71 and has 472 for the start of vin. Perhaps it doesn't have to do with when it was built but rather the model year.
ooops
My understanding is that the celebration was for the year of introduction and first sales of the 914.
Certainly the first model year was 1970, and the first production cars were produced in mid 1969. The last model year was 1976, and my understanding is that all were produced in calendar year 1975. All preproduction 914 appeared to have a VIN with the form 914xxx, so no year digit included.
Dave
The "47" in the vin number of the four cylinder cars is for VW type 47, which was the internal VW model designation of the 914. The 7 in the vin is not part of the year model designation. Only the third digit is the year model.
IIRC ... all of the 914s built in1969 were 1970 model year cars. In automobile production, the model year is does not correspond to the calendar year. The build date can be in November of 72, and still be a 1973 model year car. This is done so they can have 73 model year cars in the showrooms at the start of 1973, and to beat the competition to market with the "next year model" car. The two 914-8 cars that were registered as a 69 model were build by Porsche as prototypes. They were not built in serial production, and they were built at the Porsche racing facility.
I don't know what they would have done about the VIN if production of the 914 had continued to 1980. My guess would be they would make some changes and have a new VW body type number.
Clay
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