Working on getting black car to paint. Chassis door plate missing, rear floor pan replaced, so no number there either. Pulled dash top out and it had 4819502E.

48: Nov26, 1973-Dec 2, 1973
1: Monday
9: Karman
502: 2nd car built
E: ??

Any one seen a letter after chassis number? Ideas ?

Neat. No idea but at least now you have the number to do a repro Karmann plate.

I have not seen that before, but the E is not really part of the Production #. Not sure if the Production # and Karmann # match at that point; they do not have to match.

mine had more jibberish on it.
(pulled it in 91 for rhd conversion, still got it).
jan 25 1974 1.8.

has 4 instead of 04 for 4th week at start. one number short.
has A at the end.

has 65 written on it in another spot.

rot. self evident - lightly sprayed blue dash into my car that was phoenix red.
production line mayhem.

dunno what the A or the 65 is for. i used to think maybe A meant america.
you know "put zis dashvoard in zat usa car dumkofph".
but seeing the E on yours. who knows?

Click to view attachment
Click to view attachment
Click to view attachment

my dashboard # matches the k plate #.
except the plate starts with 04 and the crayon scrawl starts with 4 and has the A as well.

given your car is a 73 from chassis no.
the build date is in late 72.
its week 48 of the 72 calendar year.

week 48 of 73 are 74 model year cars with 474 chassis #s.

Now that you mention it, your correct about the build year being 1972 NOT 1973

Nov 27 to Dec 3

Here's mine and I am have a hard time decoding it. Old brain I guess.....maybe just pickled. lol

Help please.Click to view attachment

week 10 (some time in march of whatever year it is).
day 4 (thursday)

21st car of the day.

you need to know what model year it is to work out date.
model years usually run from aug of year before to july of model year.

jeff bowlsby has a pic of dashboard number on his website.
has an A in it like mine.
still doesn't answer the question of why they scrawled in A or E sometimes.

E = Egon
A = Anton
H = Hans

Initials of the guy who wrote the number on there.

Can’t answer the question as to why but can add that mine has an “F” (so jot just A’s and E’s) at the end and the last number is 4 digits off from the chassis number (so dash number not always an exact match to chassis number).
Chassis number = 3039561
Dash number = 3039565F

that does make sense but i wasn't game to say it.
in the case of mine its a metallic blue painted dash with the note "rot" on it.
as if someone like a foreman or production manager approved it to go in a different colored body. probably because there wasn't a red one on the rack?

but its close, like the switch-a-rooney is going on with cars sitting in the static line together in the batch. they seemed to have been built during the main body fit out stage in a long aisle at static work stations.

maybe Franz signed off on putting 565 in your car 561 because someone discovered they forgot to drill the cigarette lighter in 561?

whatever was going on was pretty loose.

@SirAndy

while talking numbers.
i have 2 for Vin register if you want to enter them.
i checked and one of the numbers is not there.

i found records of the old Aus 914 register from early 90s.

this is the VIN number for one of the Crayford converted RHD cars that came to australia.
one that is well know to anyone who has the Brooklands Book - Porsche 914 1969-1975.
published on pages 93 - 96. reprint of Modern Motor article (australian car mag).

VIN # is 4732909340.
color white. 2.0L engine. UK delivery. Crayfords RHD conversion when car was new. exported to Australia circa 1974/75. described in UK sales spec as 914 2.0 SC.
car still exists as far as can be worked out.
believed to last be in Sydney.

trying to double check Vin # on the other Crayfords converted car.
1973 2.0 UK delivery. Exported to Australia circa 1975.
color saturn yellow metallic. (aka dephi green metallic).
this car was in Melbourne during the 80s, 90s to mid 2000s.
now in Sydney.
the Vin# from old records i have is 4732901686.
there is a listing on the vin register here for that number but no details have been entered. ???

This may have little to do with the letter being an initial but it took me a while to find out that these marking were initials.

Click to view attachment


This is where the tech would indicate the backlash, clearly it is letters TK not the typical number .xx

What I found out was the tech would indicate the backlash being spot on spec of .15 with that persons initials.

Pumpkin is a 70