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

[ConeDodger]

If he really wants a VIN there's this guy in Atlanta... (IMG:style_emoticons/default/blink.gif)

[Tom_T]

If he really wants a VIN there's this guy in Atlanta... (IMG:style_emoticons/default/blink.gif)

Again, a licensed shop in most states can reassign a VIN to a BIW or other body by following that state's legal process for same. I don't know GA law, but I do know that they can do it in CA. If I'm guessing "the guy you know" then they are a licensed shop in GA since 1978. .... just to keep the discussion on the legality of dealers & licensed shops doing VIN reassignments/repairs/rebuilds clear. (IMG:style_emoticons/default/wink.gif)

Back in the `70's I knew a guy who had a bad accident in his brand new 911S which he loved, who had Chick Iverson Porsche in Newport Beach do a rebuild with a BIW at a cost all in equal to almost what the car was worth. IIRC he had to pay his deductible & then some, but I don't know what sort of title he ended up with (normal, rebuilt, salvage, or ??).

PS - I also had a HS classmate a year ahead of me who wrecked his `69 911S (Grad present for Class of 69 - rich kid), who simply had a shop transplant his 911S's drivetran, suspension/etc. into a old `59 Splitty Van for the ultimate "Sleeper" painted in partial gray primer. He used to recruit a few of us to sit in the back seat so he could pop wheelies in the school parking lot, & take on all comers at red light drags, he being a big guy in the front seat putting too much weight forward! (IMG:style_emoticons/default/biggrin.gif) (IMG:style_emoticons/default/yikes.gif)

I was also talking with one of our OCR 911 aficionados at our Concours last month about Andy T's/SoCalAndy total resurrection & BIWs etc., & he said that there was one of Jerry Seinfeld's famous 911s, which before he bought it was sent to Porsche Classic in Germany for a restoration & it had it's original body swapped for a BIW according to a factory employee he knew who told him about it.

His point revolved around whether that car (a #1 or #2 off the line) is really still an original car - vs. what Andy did to resurrect his original body with a large percentage of new sheet metal & a similar massive reconstruction of another member's 356 pre-A. Sorry, I don't recall the exact car - it was a tail-dragger after all! (IMG:style_emoticons/default/dry.gif)

All of this BIW discussion still doesn't answer whether this car the OP asked about is real without a VIN though.

The fact that Rory G. posted that all of the 911Rs are accounted for & had VINs, it makes me wonder more about this one, but not impossible to find another 911R or similar race/purpose built/customer request car was done. But it's going to be a ton of time to research it out if the OO or seller doesn't have paperwork!

(IMG:style_emoticons/default/beerchug.gif)
Tom
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