DEL

Hello,

I had a question about the differences in my vin numbers located in the trunk area vs. those on the A-pillar and door jam.

Here are the numbers:

A-pillar/door jam: WP0EA0918CS160070
Trunk area front: WP0ZZZ91ZCS160070

Why the difference? The car is in excellent condition (other than a charging problem I'm dealing with) I've seen various things on VIN decoding. They say that ZZZ is a grey market car. The title uses the WPOEA number.

Should I be concerned?

Thanks,

MichaelW

Dave:

Go back 2 pages and you will see the exact same question from me and another one from someone with a possible grey market car.
The source would be Bruce Andersens book, but someone ran my numbers and said they were correct and that as long as the model, year and serial match it was okay to have WPOE and WZZZ on one car. I would love to have someone verify this. Because I also heard something about ZZZ being a grey market car. Any thoughts?

Michael
87 targa

[ 07-11-2001: Message edited by: MichaelW ]

DEL

I was planning to get Bruce Andersons book as well as the Bently manual. This is a good excuse to buy them now.

J-RAD

Well, DEL, I don't know for certain. This is a good question. The first VIN number you list (beginning WP0EA0) indicates a North American car. The second you list (beginning WP0ZZZ) indicates a "rest of world" car. The question is why the different VIN#'s? From my understanding, the VIN #'s in the trunk and pillar should match. It’s weird that the rest of the numbers are the same. Maybe Porsche did stamp them this way (although, I don't recall ever seeing it). None of my books mention this difference. Could the pillar have been restamped? It may not be a big deal at all (I don't claim to be a Porsche VIN# expert)...but like I said it raises questions for me, as well. However, as long as the car checks out mechanically and structurally (I know you are having some charging problems right now, but, other than that) then maybe its nothing to be overly concerned about.

I'm curious to hear the definitive on this.

[ 07-11-2001: Message edited by: J-RAD ]

Bill Gregory

My understanding is that the trunk/body will be stamped with a "zzz" number regardless of the ultimate market, and that the number that's on the pillar/door jamb is the one to go by, which is the one used for registration.

Anybody have an example that isn't that way? I'll check my '81 tonight.

DEL

Thanks for the info guys. I'm sure this is documented somewhere. I need to get more some more books and start reading.

I do have the 911 "Red Book" I'll have to re-read the 911 SC section and see what it says.

emcon5

Bill Gregory is correct. Acording to Bruce Anderson's book, that is the way it is supposed to be.

Tom
82 911sc

Bill Gregory

Just following up....my 81SC has a "zzz" number on the body stamped in the trunk, and is a US VIN number.

DEL

I browsed my Porsche 911 Red Book and didn't find anything specific discussing why the ZZZ is in the trunk and the "regular" number is everywhere else. I'm not worried about it anymore, thanks for checking Bill.

Bill Wagner

FWIW I went into a panic when I saw this on my C4...thought I had a car that had been pieced together from other cars. This is not the case. The ZZZ on the front trunk area is a "filler", meaning they didn't know whether the car would be a C2, a C4, a Tip, etc. when the body/frame were assembled. In other words, the ZZZ in the front just designates that car hasn't been pre-allocated for the type it's model type will be. I have seen some with absolutely matching serial numbers, but most have had the ZZZ designation.

If the ZZZ shows up on the pillar (the REAL and FINAL serial number) it's ROW. If it's in the front trunk it just means that at the time of construction, the final destination specifics of the frame/body weren't defined.

Nothing to worry about.

Bill Wagner