Porsche Certificate (Zertificate) NLA Options

[JeffBowlsby]

I just learned that Porsche (Germany) has now limited their access for the Certificate (Zertificate) because the 914 is too old – nothing older than a 993 is now possible.

I wonder if this is related to the new system of PPS and CTC for classic Porsche here in the US?

[wonkipop]

@davep

i found again some of the primary material i had on the 7 digit VW production code plates found on VW produced cars after 1969. these are the riveted plates that appeared in the front trunk of 914s late in the 1974 MY, but which were on all other VW models produced at least at the german factories from 70MY on.

the first three digits are well understood.

first two = week of calendar year of production. weeks are measured in full weeks of production beginning the year. ie week 01 = the first full week beginning a monday.

third = day of week.

the second group of four numbers is a little less simple.
the second group is often separated from the first three by a hyphen on the riveted plates.

its a combination of the factory where its made and the expected or known/anticipated production volume per day of the models in question.

for instance:
vw beetles produced at wolfsburg factory from 70 to 74.
the first of the four digits is either a 0 or a 1.
the next three are the number of the car produced that day in sequence or order of production down the line.
given that in excess of 1000 beetles were made a day at wolfsburg at peak production it would go like this.
0 then 000 all the way to 999.
then 0 would click over to 1 and again 000 to 999.
they never made more than 2000 beetles per day at w/burg.
so those numbers worked to cover cumulative beetle production order numbers daily.

i have vw 411/412 production plates.
when it comes to the final 4 digits it seemed to go like this.
the first of the 4 was an 8.
then the next three were the sequential number for the day. 000 to 999.
i don't believe 411/412 daily production ever exceeded 1000.
as far as i can work out the 8 was applied at wolfsburg when the 411 was produced there and the 8 went with the cars when they were transferred to production at salinzer factory.

i also have some later production beetle plates on file post 1974.
at this point beetle production shifted to the embden plant.
these cars seem to get a 6 as the first of the final four digits.

as to karmann.
all the models there have 9 as the first of the four digits.
from 70 to 74 the following applies to the final three digits.

beetle cabs get 3 - and then 00 to 99 for first hundred.
then 4 with 00 to 99 for second hundred.

karmann ghias get 0, 1 and 2 as far as i can figure out.
last two numbers as per beetle cabs.

914s get 5 and 6.
last two numbers as per above.

in late 74 the numbers get a shuffle as the vw scirocco enters production.
the scirocco get the 9 as the first digit of the last 4 as per previous karmann built cars.
it seems to inherit then the numbers 5 and 6 previously assigned to the 914.
and possibly it got more as it became a successful model selling in numbers never achieved by the 914. i have not seen enough plates to know for sure.
but if production volume exceeded 300 per day then it may have received a 7 as the first of those last three numbers and so on.

the 914 appears to get the karmann ghia numbers of 0 and 1 (at least) at this time.

the cab continues to be built with 3 and 4.

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there appears to be some mistake cars in the mix around that time that got assigned beetle production order numbers. either the plates were stamped incorrectly or there was some glitch in the ordering/build sheet information given to the production line.

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it is at this time that karmann ceased to stamp the production order number in the trunk and switched over to standard vw production methods of a riveted plate in front trunk.

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sometime later on the production line the karmann plate was affixed in the door jamb of all three models and the same number was stamped into that plate. this was a little nod to karmann tradition where the plate had always been on the cars to notate they were special karmann made cars as distinct from run of the mill vws made at the big main vw factories and also to a time when karmann was an independant sub contractor to vw and other manufacturers.

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point being the karmann plate number was always synchronised to the vw production plate code through all years of 914 production - apart from some glitch cars i believe, which date from the rearrangement of the production lines for the manufacture of the scirocco.

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the only departure i am aware of outside of that is that karmann would sometimes reduce this 7 digit number to 6. this applies for the first 4 weeks of any calendar year.
instead of say 04 for week 4 they would stamp 4. at least on the karmann plate in the door jamb. i have such a car. 4th week of jan 1974. its a 6 digit number starting with 4. no 0. but thats not really a different number to the number under the dashboard or the trunk stamped number. its still synchronised. they just left off the 0 on the door plate.