think its an on the ground job in germany dave.

i don't have any plans on going there any time soon ------ if ever.

i know some folks in the karmann club here that have been into them for decades.
but they probably don't have much either.
i might ask next time i see them.
sometimes someone has some stuff you have never seen before.

@davep

i have worked out a bit more of the pattern.

fairly sure this is how it goes from examples of karmann ghias i could find relatively easily on BAT.

74 Karmann Ghia Cabriolets used 0 as the 5th numeral in the PKN number.

Click to view attachment

74 Karmann Ghia coupes used 1 as the 5th numeral.

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

KG production ceased at the end of june 1974.

1975 914s took over the KG PKN numbers using 0 and 1 as 5th numeral.
(except for those small number of exceptions that MCShack found - still unexplained - but maybe are errors?).

------

this car is currently for sale in australia.
pure luck coming across it - just hit the market.
1976 VW Scirocco. built dec75-jan76.
pkn # would say dec 18 1975.
just as the last 914s went out the door.

the PKN number is just legible in the images.
its 504-9590. the last two numbers are hard to read and not 100% but the 5th is clear as a 5.

looks like the scirocco did take over at least one of the earlier 914 numbers.
#5

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

in summary from 75 on.

914 = 0 and 1.
VW beetles use 2 (and potentially 3).
sciroccos use 5 (and potentially 4 and/or 6).
(EDIT INSERT. forgot i found a 79 scirocco a few weeks back with the 6 in as 5th number. safe to say that both the earlier 914 numbers of 5 and 6 went across to the sciroccos).

those three are the only vw models being made by karmann in model year 75/76.
no other cars being assembled/manufactured by karmann for other makes (eg BMW) use the PKN #. its a VW assigned number and is across all VW manufacturing sites and is not a unique Karmann convention.

@davep and @JeffBowlsby .

i saw in that sale ad for scirocco owner had a certificate from the VW museum.

wondering if this is an alternative source for certificates of authenticity for 914/4s - given that you can only get it via an expensive technical certificate program from porsche these days.

@wonkipop
I have my own sources for data and make up my own pseudo-CoA type of Report with more items and greater detail than the CoA. Also Kardex for the 1969 and earlier cars. Helping clients with these items keeps me occupied when I am not hanging out here. If anyone is interested in this service, then email me for my order info package PDF.

Click to view attachment

Click to view attachment

Click to view attachment

Thanks for that data point. Did your compliance decal survive?

Is that this one

Click to view attachment

That's the one.

Here's the body tag from my '75 Scirocco (#11186) - made at the Karmann factory while 914 production was still ongoing, at least for another year.

@cholland_

thats pretty interesting - the sirocco plate with 2 as fifth number.

thats week 41 of 1974 which is about 3-4 weeks after those 914s with the 2 and 3 in the PKN plate that @MCShack and @DaveP have picked up on.

it must be a very early production sirocco you have?

Yep, it's 11,186 of 58,942 for 1975. Currently a somewhat mechanically butchered survivor, but will get a full rebuild one day - sometime in the next 10 or 20 years going by my usual timelines.

@cholland_
- hang on to that car mate.

apart from a handful of factory assessment cars of which probably about 1 survives - none of those down here in upside down world. they are very pretty cars.

Alrighty finally got around to taking photos of the information you're looking for. My 74 1.8 build month 4/74 (4/10/74 to be exact per a post on how to decode the body tag). Build plate on riveted to right headlight bucket, vin stamping on right fender, chassis number stamped on right rear corner of trunk floor pan.

stumbled on a VW historical film on you tube.
got some stills.
also got the confirmation date on when scirrocos started production at osnabruck - production commences feb 04 1974.
(this is from VWs own website - where you can download annual reports going back over the years).

film stills show scirroco coming down karmann production line with a 914 and a ghia cabriolet. ghias cease production with end of 74 model year at june 74. so the film had to have been shot between feb 04 74 and june/july 74 during that 5 -6 month period.
these would have been the very first scirrocos sold as 74 model years (mainly in german domestic market at that point).

so for the first 6 months of calendar year 1974 things must have been pretty cramped at karmann factory. 914s, karmann ghias, beetle cabriolets and the new scirrocos were all coming down the line together! they would have been making space for the scirroco line and the 914s must have gone across to be built alongside not only beetle cabs but also the last of the ghias.

the date the 914s get the VW production number rivetted in the front trunk is likely the moment when the line was shifted across and scirrocos took over the old 914 production aisles in the factory.

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


of interest in relation to 914 production for 74 MY.
approx 7,500 2.0 cars are produced in a batch from aug to late oct 1973.
only 2.0s were produced during that period.
from there approx 6,500 1.8 L-Jet cars are produced in a batch from late oct 1973 to early Feb 1974. only 1.8s were produced during that period.
from early Feb 1974 to the end of June/beginning of July 1974 a further run of 7000 74 MY cars were produced. these were a mix of 1.8s and 2.0s including the limited editions.
2/3 of 914 1974 MY production was accomplished in the first 6 months of 74 production.
the remaining 1/3 of total were produced in the second six months.
they were definitely making space for scirroco production and stockpiling the 914s before the scirroco line started up.