Porsche building cars without a VIN? (911), 914s also, maybe? Options

[74ravenna]

Hi all,

Last week a coworker sent me a photo of a 911 without a VIN.
Its a factory built race car that the owner bought new around 1970 (i think) and put the car away, never really drove it i guess.
To look at the photo you'd think it was a nut and bolt restoration, but its all original!

So, did Porsche actually build cars without a VIN in situations like this?
I can't help but think that they had to put some sort of numbers/ID on it.

Did they build any 914s in this same manner?

Steve

[larryM]

just got my weekly update - interesting to read all this on "one page"

overnight tho'ts - in all the yrs of association with Porsche's (PCA since '76 when i got my second Porsche which i still have);

there was always a rumor that a person with a pile of cash could send a pile of junk to Germany & Porsche would send it back whole & as-new - maybe in a couple years....

i think the collection of disparate knowledge bits in this thread generally now confirm that rumor

back-in-the-day, the only way any of us ever got any info was by word-of-mouth at event gatherings (swaps, DE-track-days, AX, etc) or by spending money at a Porsche specialty shop that knew answers but were understandably chary about giving it away for free (and still are).

Info was mostly sketchy of the "i heard from x that y heard about... z ... who said ... " (well, OK, we see that on our forums too - fortunately interlaced with enlightened actual evidence at times)

- we went to the Porsche dealer for parts for yesterday's problem (or to local VW since there were so many mechanical interchanges) - not to search thru a catalog for curiosities to discuss at the cafe or bar

almost none of us had access to that PET body-in-white parts nr posted above, save a few parts guys with paper catalogs - most of whom were unlikely to care much about or ever had a call for a new body shell; very few dealer parts guys were buddies who would have let us handle their catalogs (or later the proprietary electronic PET) just for an afternoon's entertainment

- and virtually none of us work-a-days guys or college students were in the high-roller class that could have b'ot one, so mostly we just junked the cars or passed 'em on to slowly decay under a new owner

- now - thanks to the internet & free access to publications (like PET), we can all be informed by the experts who are immersed in the research

so far - this thread has been confined to the O.P.'s 911 question and related 914 commentary with our usual proclivity for diversion, & so far as i know, the primary issue not being read/commented by the larger 911 or 356 communities where more cognoscenti with longer histories in Porsche parts buying & restorations lurk

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so - i posted the question on Pelican as follows:

threads started on Pelican
911 http://forums.pelicanparts.com/porsche-911...te-history.html
912 http://forums.pelicanparts.com/porsche-912...body-white.html
356 http://forums.pelicanparts.com/porsche-356...tml#post9664511

"question inspired by recent thread on 914World & old thread on 356 forum (links below)

in all my yrs of association with Porsche's (PCA since '76 when i got my second Porsche which i still have) there was always a rumor that a person with a pile of cash could send a pile of junk to Germany & Porsche would send it back whole & as-new - maybe in a couple years .... i think the collection of disparate knowledge bits in this 914 thread generally confirm that rumor

(my question is primarily about "older Porsche's" - not about USA cars that are "salvage-titled" after insurance settlements - a different, more recent scenario)

http://www.914world.com/bbs2/index.php?sho...313127&st=0

www.abcgt.com/forum/4-356-Forum/29099-Re-bodied-cars-and-Kardex.html

whom among us has some definitive knowledge & explanation of the detail and extent of obtaining such replacement factory bodies? ... "

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p.s. - i think the issue of "what primer color" the parts were is kind'a irrelevant - there are enuf old threads about the "white" thick "primer we find under our oem paint on not only our Porsche forums but also many other euro-car forums - if a shell or any body piece was shipped out of Karmann as bare steel it would have quickly developed surface rust rendering the next stages of finish subject to failure, the same as happens today right after we strip a body, which is why we must very quickly treat any bare part with chemical potions to forestall that

one of you guys here with old-timer factory-worker contacts in Germany might be able to tell us what was sprayed on the pre-'76 bodies before they were pushed out the door - or if they were dipped, or both?

?