Do all years have the numbers stamped in the front and rear trunks?
Mine has nothing in the rear .
Just done a full history search on mine for previous owners and registration,many things don't line up,says my car is red with a 1.7 1973 year .
My car is with out question a 74 in L96D and from the emissions sticker in the enginebay a 2.0,also had black plastic 2.0 badge on rear of car.
I can find no evidence of a repaint over the red but the car was meant to have been bare metaled and repainted throughout many years ago before going into long term storage.
Frankly I'am sh#tting myself as I'am getting closer to our countries Nazi revinning inspection and compliancing for modifications the car has.
The process is very involved,I pay a low volume certification engineer to inspect the 6 conversion,my 944S2 brakes,16'' wheels and what ever else in in the 1000 page rulebook has .
I then receive a stamped metal plate listing modified components riveted to the inside front of the car if it passes muster,I then proceed to a government approved inspection centre for a WOF (warrant of fitness ) ,this is a safety check in detail.

TIA.

There's no vin in the rear trunk. There is a number in the rear trunk but i forget exactly what it signifies. I think its located in the middle of the rear bottom panel but is often not replaced if that panel is replaced for rust repair.
Vin on a plate on your windshield frame and front trunk
Vin on a sticker on driver side door jamb
Vin stamped in the front trunk on passenger fender

Thanks Mark ,have all other numbers as you mentioned except VIN sticker,chassis number decodes as a 73 also,PO has been a bit sketchy about my questions if fact @ one point he got pissed off with me and repeated "there will be no issues''.
Just went back through emails from him and found he had 2 cars this one and another he used for parts only....could this be the red car which he eventually scapped??,just not sure and can see no evidence the body stamped numbers have been tampered with.

Does the vin on the car match what is on the title and registration?
Was the car built in '73 but sold as a '74?

In the rear trunk is the chassis number located (for four cylinder cars) in the lower right corner of the trunk. What is the chassis number of your car?

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The VINs on the I.D. plate at the right-front headlight bucket (your driver side), stamped into top of right front wheelhouse also inside the front trunk (your D-side), A-pillar/windshield frame metal tag, & on the VIN sticker on the Left side rear door pillar (our driver side - only appears here on US & Canada cars IIRC) - all 4 should match each other & the title for the car.
PS - I'm assuming Title & Registration match - they should.

The Chassis Number is the stamping in the rear trunk rear right side (your D-side) or center of the floor & the one in the top box of the Karmann plate on the L-front front door pillar (our D-side, may switch to right for RHD built cars?) should both match. that trunk stamping can easily get filled in with paint/repaints over time - especially if a weak stamping. If not there, then good chance that either a floor panel or sheet metal were replaced there - either for rust or accident repair.

You may have to take some Acetone on a Q-tip to gently remove paint from a masked off rectangle around the Chassis No. in the rear trunk floor to reveal the full number (assuming you can find where it is), but then prep & prime with rust-preventative primer (Wurth Zinc Rich Primer or similar) & color or clear coat again to prevent rust, while still leaving the Chassis No. visible for your Car-Nazi inspection.

You can get the actual build date from the Chassis No. by going to a calendar for the year shown on the above VIN sticker date in the L-rear door jamb (if there), & use the decoder below - except that anytime the 5 goes to 6 or 7, then add 100 or 200 respectively to the last 2 digits for the number built that day.

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AFAIK there is no hyphen in the 75-76 nos., & it's more likely to have the 96 or 97 in 73-74 cars when 20-30K per year were made - so ignore the 70-74 vs. 75-76 difference above, & just take it as top with 95 for Karmann Plant & XX car that day, or "95+X" & XX for Karman Plant & 1XX or 2XX car that day.

Hopefully this helps you get the -6 conversion approved! Good Luck WOF-ing!

Cheers Mate!
Tom
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4732916217 that decodes as a 73 as per the numbers on the car,haven't checked that rear number yet ,thanks

Yes, 4732916217 is a 1973 model year VIN. Looking at the member VINs, 4732916110 and 4732916227 are VINs with documented build dates of 3/73. I would think your car was built in 3/73 as well. The chassis number should align with this.

After Dave K was kind enough to send me a pic of his 75's Karmann Plate, which jogged my memory -

I need to partially correct myself in Post #6 above:

I was correct that there is no dash in the middle of the Chassis No.

However, I forgot that they went away from the 95 + X convention for the 100s 7 200s etc. cars of the day, to just being a "9" for the Karmann plant, with 3 digits XXX for the car number of the day.

Apologies for the half-zymers moment there!


Tom
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Hey Dean,

The VIN & Chassis Nos. are 2 different decodes.

Remember that the MY runs from about July/August of the MY "Number - 1" to June/July of the actual MY year.

So any 73 MY could be made anywhere within the Aug. 72 (maybe July) to June 73 (maybe July) timeframe.

Your VIN coding is 47 for 914, 3 for 73 MY, 29 for Karmann Plant, & 16217 for the number of 73 914 it was - which probably puts it into the 1973 calendar year.

16271 of the 27660 73s built, so it's probably safe to guess it's in 1973, if no Chassis No. is there at all.

So the easiest was to get the build calendar year, is to get the XX/YY Mo/Yr build date off the VIN sticker on the L-rear door jamb.

If you can find a Chassis No. on your rear trunk floor &/or Karmann Plate - then use a 1973 calendar to translate per the chart in Post #6 above - & start the week count even if only one day 1/1/73 in the week. Also, the Day number is 1-5 for M-F to tie down the actual day of the week & date built.

If not on the trunk floor, you should still have the Karmann Plate at the L-front door jamb.

Note that these aren't exact numbers, cuz the day the Karman Plate & VIN door sticker ("US-DOT Compliance Sticker" officially IIRC) were stuck on the car may not represent the actual total time taken to build it.

For example, my early 73 2L would be a 1-day fast build, since the VIN sticker says 08/72 & Karmann Plate decodes to 8/31/72 - only leaving one day for Hans & Fritz et al to bang it out!

But it still gives you a build date point, if it's of any consequence for your Kiwi process.

Good Luck!
Tom
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Well its good that docs match to the car, chances are the inspector won't decode a vin.
Not so good that the year built and model year don't match up as they should. I don't know where you got the car from but going back to the seller might get you some compensation if he committed fraud but if everything passes and you get your paperwork, you might just move on. The other issue is if you decide to sell the car, you want to disclose this and it may bring you less money. Tough spot. I have a bad vin on my car so I get your frustration.

That's true so I have a multi coloured car that never was,sent the OP an email yesterday ...don't expect an answer soon .
Been and checked in the rear trunk no number and any evidence the rear tray has been changed as I already knew .
Tom thanks for the reply,done all you mentioned and car aligns with documents but the car I have isn't the same,oh by the way the alloy vin plate has been pop riveted back on not on the existing holes but think that was done with the paint job.
No panel replacement/repairs anywhere on the car I have ever found, car is very original which is an indication the mileage traveled since new (85,172 kms) however I have found some strange wear items,some indicate the use it has had and some don't.
I think the PO has mixed and matched parts from this car and the parts car which would indicate why I have found this.
I paid a very fair price for the car around 10K USD including original oil tank ,headers and more but if I can't get it on the road it is not worth peanuts if I can't comply it.

Ahem.

To the best of my knowledge, chassis numbers on June 74 through the end of production 914s are not stamped into the rear trunk, but on a metal plate riveted onto the right front brace in the front trunk. The chassis No. has a hyphen on this plate, even though the chassis No. plate at the drivers door jamb does not.

Thanks for the replies,in my country there is little I can do against the seller,if I proceed and prove he has not been honest and that won't be hard I risk the car basically and then it can only be sold as a track car.
Have invested a far chuck of money on this build in fact the most of any car I have put together and theres been a few .
I guess in a way I can swing this as the car has never had previous certification as it was new to my country and not imported.
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More pics to follow;

Car was sold new in Dec 1975 seems strange it would be that that old before it sold ,however back it those days cars often came into the country as being a previous year as New Zealand was generally last to get stock and people knew they had to wait a long time for importation.
My father waited 10 months to get a new series 1 XJ6 Jag from the UK for example.
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The PO said the car never came with the vin sticker on the door post as far as he knew,did the ROW cars not have these perhaps.

Post a photo of the chassis plate number on the square metal tag on the drivers door jamb. This plate has the chassis number and paint code.

Thanks Jeff forgot that one will get back on that ,cheers.

Been searching around and it appears the ROW cars never had the door pillar sticker because it was only a requirement for US market cars for emission specs ,can anyone comment?
TIA.

It was a safety compliance sticker not emissions, if you are referring to the large black or silver vinyl label on the rear door jamb. USA-market only.

Yes ,you are right Jeff was thinking of the sticker in the engine bay.
Pic of plate on lh side door post.
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I'am presuming the end number indicates the year 1973???

What is bizarre is the use of that chassis plate in the front trunk on an early 1973 MY cars. I had only known of these on June-1974 cars and later. Must be a ROW car thing.

I don't believe so. I think it means the ...93rd car of the build day. (See post #6 for info on that.)

--DD