Owners of Original 914/6's, need some info please Options

[davep]

I've been asked how to decode the chassis numbers on the 914/6. Not the VIN's, but the Karmann body number. If I recall, the number is not on the paint code plate as is the case with the 914/4. There are two places I can think of where it could be found. The easiest is in the rear trunk floor in front of the lock. About 1/2" high characters. If someone can post a picture of it, that would really help. I need to correlate VIN's with the chassis numbers. If the paint code is included that would also be useful. The other location for the chassis number is on the bottom of the dash; at least with the 914/4, not sure about the six. I need as many sets of data as possible to be able to work this out. Results will be posted in the '914 Info' section when completed. Thanks for your help.

DaveP

[krk]

Heppy to look. (IMG:style_emoticons/default/laugh.gif)

Didn't see anything in the trunk -- however, I just looked by the lock. I'll empty it this afternoon and look more closely.

Where under the dash would you expect to find it? (i.e. do I have to remove something?) How big would it be? (i.e. I took a quick look and didn't see anything)

kim.

[Porsche Rescue]

VIN 9140431956

Paint 15 (Irish Green)

Chassis # is about 3" forward from the latch mechanism

[davep]

Excellent, just exactly what I need. Thanks for the photo. It sure is not the same scheme as the /4.
If it is under the dash, then it is on the bottom side of the metal dash top, just about the ashtray. About 2" characters, be careful, the German 1 looks like a 7, and the 7 has a cross like a t. Handwritten with a crayon or magic marker.

DaveP

[davep]

I was just checking some old info, and it may be that the number on the underside of the dash is different from the trunk floor number. So, if you can stand on your head, please check to see what you can find there. As you can see from the picture, the 914/6 chassis number is one digit less than the 914/4 chassis number.

DaveP

[SirAndy]

I was just checking some old info, and it may be that the number on the underside of the dash is different from the trunk floor number.

dashes were mixed'n'matched during assembly.
a lot of dashes have completely different color than the original body color. it looks like they just grabbed one out of a big bin every time a car rolled by on the assembly line.

dashes were NOT pre-installed by karman, but rather added during final assembly ...

Andy

[davep]

That may be true, but I can say that the 914/4 dashes have the same number on the bottom as the chassis has, so they certainly seem to be matched.

DaveP

[Jeroen]

Speaking of dashboard frames... on both my cars they are light blue metalic
First I thought they just got "any painted" one off the rack, but then how big would the chance be that both of my cars have light blue metalic ones???

cheers,

Jeroen

[davep]

I remember thinking about this years ago, and perhaps they just sprayed them with whatever leftover paint they had. It would have been just to prevent instant rusting, so the color did not matter.

DaveP

[krk]

Heppy to look. (IMG:style_emoticons/default/laugh.gif)

Didn't see anything in the trunk -- however, I just looked by the lock. I'll empty it this afternoon and look more closely.

Where under the dash would you expect to find it? (i.e. do I have to remove something?) How big would it be? (i.e. I took a quick look and didn't see anything)

kim.

The pic helped. I wasn't looking far enough in. (too much crap in the trunk (IMG:style_emoticons/default/laugh.gif) )

It's dark now, but with a flashlight I got the number -- 132009. VIN: 9140432034 Paint code: 14 (maybe? it's dark) (was originally some sort of red/orange color -- it's silver now)

This is cool -- I didn't know there were chassis #'s on /6's.

kim.

[davep]

Paint code 14 is signal orange. With your data point I am starting to see a pattern, but the VIN's are a bit too close together to be sure of anything yet.

DaveP

[krk]

DaveP,

I got some original snapshots from the PO -- and I think he probably got them from the PPO. It was definitely orange. (it's a pretty good respray, but not perfect)

On a different note ("oh look, a moose") Brad and I spent an afternoon studying two cars, and there was quite a bit of info he was mumbling that I'd not heard before. (The seam sealer in the trunk is different between the /4's and /6's -- I can't describe it as we were looking at two /6's -- but apparently they are different -- which led to a discussion of the differences in the manufacturing techniques and practices that might differ)

So the thinking that afternoon revolved around practices that work in volume and those that don't. Porsche only made ~3K /6's, while the number of /4's is numbered in the100'sK range.
When a manufacturing process doesn't scale up, it is replaced by one that does. Manual processes are replaced by machine processes.

We looked at the VIN plate from a /6 and one from a /4. The /6 has a (originally) black faced one that looks a lot like a 911 VIN from the same period. (surprise) They look like they could have been cut with tin snips and bent on a brace. The /4 vin's have a rolled edge and look a little more professionally manufactured.

I'm babbling a bit, but you get the idea. Limited runs of low numbers can live with labor intensive processes which will change when scaling up.

I'll take a look in daylight under the dash and see if there's anything w/numbers. I'll be quite interested to hear what you discover!

kim.

[SirAndy]

First I thought they just got "any painted" one off the rack, but then how big would the chance be that both of my cars have light blue metalic ones???

oddly enough, most i have seen were either metallic blue or white (IMG:style_emoticons/default/unsure.gif)
most of them had black overspray (some have yellow) that looks factory.
i have also seen 1 or 2 that were just in primer gray.

Andy

[davep]

Kim,

One thing I noticed was that the 914/6 had flat black paint (or something) on the top of the shock towers in the front trunk. It is just aft of the gas tank bulkhead. I'm not sure how far down it goes. Anyone have a picture of this to illustrate my point? This contrasted with the body color, so it stood out. A repaint would surely hide this, but I found it any easy way of detecting an original six quickly. The next question is why they did this, and I have no explanation.

DaveP

[SirAndy]

One thing I noticed was that the 914/6 had flat black paint (or something) on the top of the shock towers in the front trunk. It is just aft of the gas tank bulkhead. I'm not sure how far down it goes. Anyone have a picture of this to illustrate my point? This contrasted with the body color, so it stood out. A repaint would surely hide this, but I found it any easy way of detecting an original six quickly. The next question is why they did this, and I have no explanation.

yes, all 914/6 have this. it seems to be brushed on rather than sprayed.

as for a explanation, no, just a lot of speculation.
but i do like the look of it ...

Andy

[krk]

Dave,

Yeh, Brad did mention that as we were rummaging -- I think he mentioned that it made color changing a little easier :-)

kim.

[Porsche Rescue]

Sure enough, never noticed but my 4 is all body color around the strut mount.

[krk]

Jim,

Actually, that's different than I was thinking. Thanks for the pic!

kim.

[davep]

I'm not sure why it makes a color change easier. Is it more like undercoating than paint? Thanks for the pic.

We'll have to get Brad in on this thread. I have so little access to 914's up here. Almost no 914/6 came to Canada except for owner imports. I need to get out more, and head south while I'm at it.

We've had a thunderstorm tonight, and we're expecting significant snow by morning. Ah well, spring is on its way.... eventually...I hope.

DaveP

[krk]

Dave,

I'm guessing it was a tongueincheek sort of comment.

(btw, I lived in TO for a zillion years, and grew up in MJ -- spring is really close! (yeh, right))

kim.