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

Heppy to look.

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.

VIN 9140431956

Paint 15 (Irish Green)

Chassis # is about 3" forward from the latch mechanism

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

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

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

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

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

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

The pic helped. I wasn't looking far enough in. (too much crap in the trunk )

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.

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

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.

oddly enough, most i have seen were either metallic blue or white
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

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

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

Dave,

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

kim.

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

Jim,

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

kim.

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

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.

9140430242

chassis #130319

adriatic blue

First off.. I love the sixes and wish I could afford Jims green machine.

The color change comment was a joke... everyone knows I hate color change cars.


B

Ah, I understand completely. I have about 10 engine lids, and I think all of them have suffered a color change. The owners should have just traded cars. Doing a correct color change would be extremely expensive.

I need to get more 1971 and some 1972 data to fully make sense of the data. Anyone know of any '72 cars around?

DaveP

hi folks,

concerning the chassis number I found a description in my archive (someone posted this on the PP board) :

first two digits : week of the year the chassis was produced

third digit : day of the week 1,2,3,4,5 ( monday , tuesday, wednesday, thursday, friday)

fourth digit : should always 9 (factory where the chassis was build) to my knowlegde there was only one factory (osnabrück, karmann)

digitis 5,6,7: runnning serial number of the chassis production for one week

Using the VIN and the chassis number you're able to detemine the birtday of your car.

benno

Benno,

That decoding was what I figured out 20 years ago for the 4 cylinder. The sixes have a different code, hence my request for data from the sixes. As you can see from the posts, the six has a 6 digit chassis number, the four has a 7 digit chassis number. In actual fact, the VW's use the same or similar system as the 914/4; my 411 did anyway. The Mittlemotor site has a different, and I think flawed, interpretation.

For the /4, the base code was 9500 up to about Sept 74 then changed to a base of 9000. To this was added the sequence number during the DAY not the week. Thus 9630 would be the 130th chassis that day.

DaveP

hi dave,

I'm sorry, I didn't knew that it was you who reengineered the chassis number plate...
nevertheless, nice to meet you

benno

What system does the early 911 use? Is it comparable to the /6? Just wondering if it's worth checking into.

contact John McClure at SportHaus in Reno. he's got a '72 M471 car ...

911 bodies were built by Reuter, 914's by Karmann. since this is a coachbuilder designation i'd expect them to be completely dfifferent ...

Good point. I hadn't considered that.

Some 911 bodies were built by Karmann. I don't have the way to decode in front of me, but part of a 911 serial number says were it was built

very, very early ones. my '65 912 was the #24 Reuter bodied 912. IIRC, t'was Karmann before that.

Just a reminder to those having an original, and not responding yet, that I still need more data. In particular, I need data from 71 and 72. I have half of it figured out I believe, but the first part of the code still eludes me.

Does anyone have a link to the site listing all the sixes spotted in the US including sale postings? I seem to have lost it through a few computer changes.

Thanks to all who have assisted in this project.

DaveP

See last post. Still need more data to be sure. There has to be more than a couple of cars owned by club members. Don't be shy, I don't bite.

DaveP

Serial Numbers

This guy had lots of info about my car! Where it was purchased, who owned it, and some owner provided history. Drop him an e-mail and he will tell you anything you want to know!!

Jeff

Thanks, that was the link I was asking for. To bad it is a year out of date.

DaveP

He updates the info everytime someone e-mails him! I spoke with him 3 months ago and he updated my car info!

I think he just doesn't do the website updates very often!

Jeff

Dave,
Here's another one for you.
1970 914/6
VIN: 9140432658
Original color: Silver

Carl

Dave,

Carl should get "car beauty" points for his.

kim.

Kim,
Thanks but there's a lot of them out there in better shape than mine.

I got it out last weekend, drove it for a while then cleaned it up and put it back in mothballs. It runs pretty well but could use a little care in a few places. When I get the other stall in the garage cleaned out the 914 will come back home again. Unfortunately, making space in the garage means building a new tool shed or leaving the wheelbarrow out in the rain. hmmmm. Not a bad idea.

C

Carl,

Thanks for the info. This is the latest 70 model in the list. It sure is a pretty car as Kim says.
Anyone have a 71 model to help me out?

DaveP

BTW, I found a 914-8 photo that shows the one-piece
fender/cowl. That's the only place I've ever seen it.
Will post pic from home later.

I have copies of DD's pics of the 72 914/6 from the 2002 WCR. To my knowledge, he didn't get any pics of the chassis number. Maybe he did and will pipe up...

I need to email Larry Lee so he can update the info on mine. He provided me with info prior to my purchase.

I'll update this tonight with my VIN and chassis # when I get home.

DaveP

Model Year: 1970 914-6
Vin: 9140432362
Chasis No.: 132 425

My Karmann plate in the driver's door jam is blank but my car is and was silver metallic, a fact supported by the Porsche Certificate of Authenticity: silver metallic / 8010.

Douglas

DaveP,

Also, you may have seen this already but the pca website has a list of 914-6 owners and their e-mail addresses. You might be able to contact these people for more information. Some of them are 1971 owners. One person is even a 1974 owner (I'm not quite sure how that happened). Try this link:

http://www.pca.org/914/SIGsiteRegisters6.html

Douglas

Kind of a short list...

I think I know that many people with sixes in the bay area...

B

Okay Brad, you're on. Lets see the data you can collect from them.
Any data you can collect will be appreciated. I'd be particularly interested in 9140430004 since that will definitely be a 69 chassis, and there are not many of them. Now, I'm not asking you to run out just to check that out for me. Just remember me the next time you get the chance.

DaveP

Number 4 is about 6 hours south of me right now..

What would you like to know about it ??


B

Just the usual Brad. VIN, chassis #, paint code, DOT decal data, and eventually the engine and trans data. No hurry, that would take a whole day round trip. In fact, that car may have a long list of differences from regular production that would be interesting to document. I'm itching to learn more, but have learned to be patient and not to push my luck.

DaveP

I documented 80% of the car in a thread here when I first shot pics detailing the major differences between it and a regular 9146.

Mike Mueller started the thread for me... I posted pics when I returned. Its a full blown prototype.


b