I got my COA yesterday and have a few questions that I will contact PCNA about, but thought I'd run these by the experts beforehand to make sure I don't ask something silly.

1. I supplied the transmission # but COA shows "not confirmed." Does this mean they have no record of he original # or does it mean they don't match? I think I have all the receipts from PO (2nd owner) on this car that start in 1976. Seems unlikely that the tranny was replaced after only 3 years. I was thrilled to see they did confirm the matching engine #

2. Paint code: My Karmann tag lists L96D silver metallic as the paint code, COA lists Silver Metallic/80. Is that just the Porsche code for the same color?

3. Options: COA just states "US Equipment." My car seems to be a bit of an oddball and the main reason for ordering the COA was hoping to confirm it. It is a '73 2.0L WITHOUT appearance group (no vinyl pillars, chrome bumpers, or fog lights) but it DOES have Performance group options (front and rear factory sway bars, center console, and fuchs wheels (all 5 of them)). Shouldn't that show up on the options list?

I did consider the highly unlikely chance that appearance group equipment was removed when the car got some body work and poor quality respray (probably in 1978), but there were no filled holes for the bottom roof pillar trim when I stripped the car down. That seems pretty good evidence the car never had roll bar vinyl.

Any special documentation I should send when contacting PCNA? Photos of factory sway bar mounts maybe?

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I agree your COA is somewhat vague, but not unusual.

L96D and 80 are the same, but the 80 paint code is usually called out for 914-6 (Porsche vs. VW codes)

With the massive price increase for 1973 the cars became more Ala Carte which lead to unique optioning. I had the same combo as yours on my early 1974 build which was silver, 2.0, black bumpers, center console, 5 Fuchs, front and rear bars. Sometimes dealers added options as well.

Transmissions seem to be never recorded on 914 COA's

The COA I received for my '73 looks essentially like yours. Mine has the appearance group but also states only "US Equipment". I took that to mean, "we have poor records and can't really tell this detail for your car". The car is fully documented from the original owner and I have all of the purchase documents. So, it appears I have far more information on my car than Porsche does. I have heard that the more documented info that you send them, the better chance that your COA will have more detail. I did not know that at the time I requested a COA.

I may go back to them at some point and send copies of all of my original paperwork to see if they will re-work my COA. It's not really that important to me in this case though because the car is a survivor with an very high level of documentation so the car's original equipment can't really be in question.

Good luck in your quest....

Steve

Thanks guys, this is good feedback. Ultimately, inoculating against someone questioning the original equipment is all I'm after in this COA too. Confirming matching numbers and NOT having Appearance Group show up in the options is all I need. Had it said the car came with Appearance Group, I'd have had a mess on my hands because it's in the middle of a full restoration and I personally prefer black bumpers and painted roll bars. In a way, it seems like the vague options on the COA might be good. I'll be adding a factory rear window defogger during the resto, and some day might want to add factory foglights. Wish I'd have kept the ones from the old '73 I gave to my nephew years ago.

COA's are NOT detailed like they used to be. They are getting lazy.

+1 on 914Sixer's comment. PCNA used to supply accurate info on older cars. The new "COA" is a joke. Basically it's just a revenue stream for PCNA. They used to be like $40 and were pretty accurate, now it's not unusual to get wrong information.

What are the now $125?

$100 - just sent in for mine, filled it out etc also sent in printed out picture of the original sales receipt(bill of sale) and the window sticker with all the options, mine is a 75 with appearance group and special order color L99k(copper Metallic) will be interesting to see how that plays out. probably not worth the $100 if they cant even verify my engine and transmission are numbers matching,

I'll be interested to see what yours says. I sent them an email about mine this morning. Mostly want to confirm that transmission number "Not Confirmed" just means they don't have a record of the correct number. I wish I had sales receipt and window sticker, but I do have all the receipts from the PO I bought the car from and who bought it herself when the car was only 3 years old. Unless the original owner blew up the transmission when the car was just a baby, this transmission is original. We'll see what they say.

And yes, it's the most expensive sheet of paper I ever bought. $125 for non-PCNA members. Ridiculous. But at least it's an official document that at a minimum doesn't contradict the equipment on the car.

I also tried to track down and contact the dealership where my car was originally purchased in PA. That was fun since the old Porsche-Audi dealerships have been dissolved, renamed, split up, or what have you. I managed to find and email address for the most promising existing dealer and shot them a message as a hail Mary to see if they had any old sales records. I didn't expect to hear back from them and so far I have not been disappointed.

I just received a reply to my questions from Sara at PCNA:



This will do for me. I'll put a copy of this correspondence in my COA folder to show there is no evidence that my transmission is not the original. Bummer they don't have more info on equipment but that's not a surprise.

so i guess they only recorded engine chassis and vin numbers.
i am glad i have the window sticker and sales receipt as it documents an appearance group car and options- when i bought it it was missing the fog lights, center console, stock steering wheel, 2.0 fuchs, etc so one of the 3 p.o.'s scavanged stuff off for another car i guess- how long does it take to get these back? sent mine in 2 weeks ago, i figured it might take a month or so?

I forgot to mark down the day I faxed my application in, but I think it took about a month, and four days to respond to my email. Not bad

I said it before, but I envy your documentation. I do at least have the original warranty and service record. My best case outcome for the COA would have been a detailed description of the equipment on the car as it left the factory. Second best was having a document that didn't show that what I have is wrong. I'm happy with second best. Well... worst case would have been learning that my car started life as appearance group and had been stripped of the goodies like yours. My car came to me optioned almost exactly the way I would have special ordered it and I'd like to keep it that way. Ignorance may be bliss in this case.