When Was Last 914 Produced? Options

[nihil44]

I have a '76 and want to buy one of George's ( dr914@autoatlanta.com ) door jamb VIN stickers but I don't know the month of manufacture to specify.

According to the Karmann chassis plate the approximate date is as follows

Decoding the number is as follows using the number of my project car. The number on the Karmann chassis plate is 5049014

50 4 9 014

50 being the 50th week in the year (mid June '76. I believe Karmann used week 1 of the '76 production as the first week of June '75)

4 being 4th day of the week (Thurs)

9 being Karmann factory in Osnabruck

014 being 14th car made on that day

That would be 14th car made on Thurs 10th or 17th June '76 - depending which week in June '75 Karmann chose to be week 1 of '76 production.

My VIN is 4762904085. According to the VIN database on 914world, the last VIN was 4762924100 which would make my car 15th from the end of production.

There are several sources which state that 914 production ceased early in '76. I am unable to find solid evidence of the month of the last 914 produced.

I would appreciate some help in this inquiry

Assuming my decoding of the Karmann plate is correct and the date for my car is Thurs 10th or 17thJune 1976 and mine was the 14th car on that day and there were only 15 cars to go until production finished, then they probably finished those last 15 cars by Friday the following day.

I have often mused over Hans and Fritz walking out he gate of the Osnabruck Karmann plant late on that Friday afternoon on their way to the local tavern. As they downed a coulple of steins of the inkeeper's finest, did they lament the passing of the 914 with affection or did they celebrate the end of a bastard little car with an evil front air box and rear trunk torsion springs whose sole purpose was to relieve a few fingers from the hand of anyone foolish enough to approach their territory?

Did Hans and Fritz ever contemplate that, 45 years later from their efforts, they would have spawned a community of crazies who actually like these little cars?

But, When was that day???

[wonkipop]

@davep

I didn’t realise you were the David Pateman the presenter of the Karmann plate decoder and historian/researcher.

My Karmann plate was just about totalled by the soda blaster despite my best efforts to mask it off and request to him to avoid the area of the plate.

The body colour on the plate is L 31 M – Scarlet (Mars) Red according to Dr B Johnson’s 914 Restorer’s Guide to Authenticity. I have repainted the car L 20 E – Signal Orange

It is interesting to note in his book he has the VIN’s for the 76 MY as
476 29 00001 – 476 29 04075, yet my 76 has the Vin 476 29 04085. The information in the book came from the Automotion and Stoddard catalogs. Perhaps the fact checking lacked a little rigor.

My car was purchased from Otto’s in Venice California in Oct ’95 without an engine and was exported to Australia.

great story nihil44.

and that car would have been good value back in 95?
no one was really looking at 75/76s.
all chasing 73/74 2.0L or small bumper cars to build into one.

did you export it in 95 or pick it up here.
the signficance of the vin # may not even have occurred to anyone back then.

its kind of nice that a last day car is in aus.

a guy i knew back in the 90s had a red big bumper car, think it was a 75. it was 2.0
nicely converted to rhd, very well done.
he had it for a few years back then and then sold it.
i think it went to QLD. might even still be there?
haven't seen him or the car since.

(IMG:style_emoticons/default/beerchug.gif)

[Dave_Darling]

What is the difference between a '75 and '76 2.0L?

IIRC, the badges on the rear were changed to stickers. I don't remember any other differences from Brett Johnson's book.

I have also read that they tended to throw every available part at each car by that point because they knew production was at an end. So the 76es tended to be a bit more option-heavy than the 75s. Not sure how true that is.

--DD

[SirAndy]

What is the difference between a '75 and '76 2.0L?

I don't remember any other differences from Brett Johnson's book

The '76 has two extra tiny "tits" on the bumpers ...
(IMG:style_emoticons/default/shades.gif)

[jagalyn]

The '76 has two extra tiny "tits" on the bumpers ...
(IMG:style_emoticons/default/shades.gif)

Only on 76’s delivered to California and Maryland. 76’s delivered to all the other states were without.

[StarBear]

Another riddle for all you Batmen: Here's my 1974 plate. According to the sequence, they produced it:
+ 48th week (late November; the 4 is offset to the left and is hard to read.
+ 3rd day (November 28, 1973)
+ 9 Karmann factory
+ 578th unit made that day??
Seems like quite a long day!
Could/did they really spit that many out in one day? (IMG:style_emoticons/default/piratenanner.gif)

[jagalyn]

Another riddle for all you Batmen: Here's my 1974 plate. According to the sequence, they produced it:
+ 48th week (late November; the 4 is offset to the left and is hard to read.
+ 3rd day (November 28, 1973)
+ 9 Karmann factory
+ 578th unit made that day??
Seems like quite a long day!
Could/did they really spit that many out in one day? (IMG:style_emoticons/default/piratenanner.gif)

Your car was the 78th chassis made that day. If the 5 was a 6, it would have been the 178th. That’s a lot of cars.

[StarBear]

Another riddle for all you Batmen: Here's my 1974 plate. According to the sequence, they produced it:
+ 48th week (late November; the 4 is offset to the left and is hard to read.
+ 3rd day (November 28, 1973)
+ 9 Karmann factory
+ 578th unit made that day??
Seems like quite a long day!
Could/did they really spit that many out in one day? (IMG:style_emoticons/default/piratenanner.gif)

Your car was the 78th chassis made that day. If the 5 was a 6, it would have been the 178th. That’s a lot of cars.

Great! Thanks. Now I remember some posting about the 5 meaning a 0 and a 6 meaning a 1. Makes more sense at 78.

[type47fan]

What is the difference between a '75 and '76 2.0L?

IIRC, the badges on the rear were changed to stickers. I don't remember any other differences from Brett Johnson's book.

I have also read that they tended to throw every available part at each car by that point because they knew production was at an end. So the 76es tended to be a bit more option-heavy than the 75s. Not sure how true that is.

--DD

Another difference is, I believe, that the rectangular aluminum data plate that was riveted to the passenger side headlight bucket in MY70-MY74 was moved to the gas tank bulkhead for MY75 (sheet metal change to accommodate the BRB bumper snubbers) and eliminated altogether for MY76.

1970
1975
1975
1976

[davep]

The manufacturer badges were deleted on the 911 & 912E in 1976 as well. They almost appear to have been removed, but were actually never installed. They returned in 1977.