This may sound like a stupid question, but what exactly does it mean? Is 'A' supposed to be the first character of the vin? I'm trying to order a part, and it was in the description. The representative on the phone (unfortunately she didn't sound like an expert...) said it is the 8-th character. In my vin '4' is the 8th character, and I presume same for every 944. Anybody? thanks.
1983 Porsche 944

 

Who are you ordering it from? And what part is it?
If its a regular bricks+mortar part house, she's pretty much trained to tell you the 8th character. Where I work our catalog system almost always uses the 8th character for reference.
I really doubt that the vin would make a difference on 944 parts, but alot of times it matter for domestic cars, as it would denote different F/I systems used and what not.

 

I need the manual steering rack (without tie rods) for 1983 944. The distributor is called 'Race Pages', and the part is remanufactured by A1 Cardone.

 

Positions 4-8 of the VIN are model specific. All #8 would tell her is that you have a 944 rather than a 951 (the turbo would have a "5"). From what we've figured out on Rennlist, positions 4-6 are: AA0 = US market, ZZZ = ROW

Positions 7-8 are: "94" for the NAs, "95" for the turbos

Positions 1-2 of the VIN denotes the region and country of manufacture; "WP" = Europe/Germany

Positions 3 would show the manufacturer' "0" = Porsche (but only if positon 2 was P for Germany)

Position 9 is a check digit

Position 10 is a letter for year code; G=1986

Positon 11 is an assembly plant code

Postions 12-17 are the serial number

 

thanks alordofchaos. Although it's not clear to me why they call it "A-base" when the 8th character is either 4 or 5?