Body serial number. . . from Karman, How to decode Options

[toolguy]

I know there was a thread about this but I can't find it. . . anyone remember how to decode the Karman body number thats stamped in the trunk floor by the lock ?? Mine is 131657. . it was something about the first 3 digits are the month and day ??
Also I think I remember reading about another number stamped under the dash. . . Am I making that up, because I don't have one there . .
Thanks for any help
Dave

[SirAndy]

• For '70 - '74 914-4 cars the Chassis Number is stamped on the "Karmann" plate that is attached to the drivers-side front door jamb. It's a small black plate that also has your paint code on it. In the example below, the Chassis Number is 0759607.
• For '75 - '76 914-4 cars the Chassis Number is also on a small tag riveted to the passenger side headlight support. In the example below, the Chassis Number is 361-9022.
• The Chassis Number is stamped into your rear trunk floor, either in front of the rear trunk lock (early cars) or to the right of it (later models), in front of the passenger side tail-light.
• The Chassis Number is handwritten on the backside of your dashboard subframe.
• The chassis Number should always have 7 digits, except early 914-6 cars, which can have a 6 digit Number.

(IMG:http://www.914world.com/bbs2/uploads/post-179-1217453231.jpg) (IMG:http://www.914world.com/bbs2/uploads/post-179-1217494683.jpg) (IMG:http://www.914world.com/bbs2/uploads/post-179-1217454646.jpg) (IMG:http://www.914world.com/bbs2/uploads/post-179-1217454909.jpg)

[Tom_T]

BTW - to use the decoder that Sir Andy posted above, you use the year of build - which can be either Aug-Dec of the year prior to the MY, or Jan - June/July of the MY - based upon the Month/Yr on your VIN sticker on the rear driver door jamb. Then Google that year of manufacture for a calendar & start counting the week #1 even if only one day (e.g.: 1972 Jan. 1 is Sat & = week #1 even though it's only 1 day).

Note that the VIN sticker month can be the same or different than the month you come up with by counting out the weeks (e.g.: my buddy has a 73 built about a week before mine in 8/72 but it's dated 9/72 on the VIN sticker, while my Chassis no. decodes to 8/31/72 with 8/72 on the VIN sticker).

[SirAndy]

Note that the VIN sticker month can be the same or different than the month you come up with by counting out the weeks (e.g.: my buddy has a 73 built about a week before mine in 8/72 but it's dated 9/72 on the VIN sticker, while my Chassis no. decodes to 8/31/72 with 8/72 on the VIN sticker).

VIN stickers are US only, chassis numbers are not.

My uneducated guess would be that there was a rather large gap between the initial stamping of the chassis number into the sheetmetal and someone slapping on a sticker before the car went on the boat to America.

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[Gustl]

Mine is 131657. . it was something about the first 3 digits are the month and day ??

to me it looks like a 1970 914-6 body number

there's no way to decode the build date from a 914-6 body number

but it seems to match your VIN pretty good

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[toolguy]

Yes it's a 70 914-6 the porsche number is 9140431617 heres a shot of the Karman number [131657] and it's located in the center of the trunk floor. I remember reading a post about decodeg it and it had something to do with the month and day the body was made, but I can't find that post again. .

Interestingly, my transmission serial number is 7501656. . seems like there is a pattern. .

[SirAndy]

I remember reading a post about decoding it and it had something to do with the month and day the body was made, but I can't find that post again.

I think that post was made by "davep" (Dave Pateman), if i recall correctly he said he had found some sort of decoding for the /6 chassis number.
The table i posted above is only for the /4 cars ...

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[toolguy]

Yeah, I found a very long post late last night that Dave did on this subject. . In essence, he was compiling numbers to try and figure it out. . . the post went on for a long period but the end was that the last four digits were always close [within 50 numbers ] of the Porsche Vin. . . nothing about what the first 2 digits '13' meant,
I found my transmission number was 1656, one from the Karman 1657 number and wonder if other sixes are that close ??

Anyway, thanks for all the response, maybe years from now someone can use all this info to get a definitive answer. . It would be nice if someone from the factory would speak up and end all this guessing. .

[Gustl]

I found my transmission number was 1656, one from the Karman 1657 number and wonder if other sixes are that close ??

at the 914-6, the Karmann body number as well as the transmission number were running numbers - no date code included

so - in most cases, the last 4 digits of the body #, tranny # and the VIN are in a very close range (approx. +/- 50)

due to production "in real life", they are hardly ever identical, but somewhat close

my six has got:
vin 2526
tranny 2546
body 2589

the engine numbers - especially the later ones - differs more, because there were different engine types (901/36, /37, /38 and /39) which had running numbers on their own

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