rixter

I've now seen another "77" on Ebay... according to 928 Spec site there were 175 "77" Euros and 13 "77" US spec, excuse me if I'm wrong but wouldn't that mean
77 = 9288100001-9288100175 are 77 Euros and all else are 78?
like wise
77 US are 9288200001-9288200013, all later VIN #s are 78?

clarification anyone?
I am aware that "officially" there is no 77 model

pewter82

I wouldn't go on vin's alone, Porsche did things a little different.

jason

rixter

please educate me so I can understand this

Dennis Wilson

The data provided in the July 97 Pano shows 177 total produced and 13 "sold" in the US for 1977. In 78 there were 1070 produced and 1584 "sold" in the US. I understand that vin #'s 1 thru 50 were vehicles produced for internal use. Also, they didn't use sequential numbering. Considering my 78 US (produced in Jan 78) has a vin #348, my 78 euro (unknown production date) has a vin # 2149 and there was only 1070 produced, they had to skip quite a few numbers. BTW the 177 produced in 1977 were actually 1978 models.

Dennis

rixter

let me see if I get this straight.. so this means
9288 100101
9288 200102
9288 200103
9288 100104
could all be sequential whether Euro or US?
and if #s 1-50 are for internal use then the story of my cars history (via my mech who knows the guy who brought it to the US) could be true that is was owned by a Porsche bigwig?

Dennis Wilson

Rixter,

Going from vin # 34 (yours) to vin # 2149 (mine) when only 1070 were produced would lead one to believe they skipped a lot of numbers. The vin serial# is derived from the body serial number whether it was US or ROW. I am not sure if the serial numbers were grouped by destination. Concerning the first 50 produced, I have heard and it would seem reasonable that at least that many were used for testing, show and VIP (bigwig) use. Hang on to yours as the NADA values have doubled in the last 4 years. Pretty soon it will be worth more than a GTS.

Dennis

rixter

I can only wish this was worth a GTS, but I've seen more early models for sale lately and it got me to wondering about the sequencing and actual production numbers, I wonder if Porsche has records on this other than what is in Panorama

Steve J.

FWIW - My '78 euro is #975. Bought new in Holland.

rixter

I wonder how many of the 1st 50 are still out there, #16 Euro last seen in NV, #42 US in MO, I heard #20 something was in VA somewhere,,, anyone know of any others and if so is there any way to determine their original destination, ie show, track, VIP etc

Dennis Wilson

Steve and Rixter,

What is the build dates of your euros? The plate on my euro was removed when federalized. If yours are still there, the date will be perforated into a black sticker on the drivers side door sill.

Dennis

rixter

Dennis,
mines been removed as well, I spoke to Porsche about a Cardex and they said they weren't sure they could even do it for this car, but for $150 and hour they'd hire someone in Germany to look into it

autochicago

Just confirmed. # 9288100948 here. No build date sticker.

Steve J.

Looks like my build date was removed when federalized. #9288100975.

Vilhuer

928 production numbers are a mess.

https://rennlist.com/forums/928-forum/130727-production-numbers.html

I believe there where one to three different numbering sequences for different markets for different model years. '92 being sole year for one set due to US GTS's being labeled early '93's. For all others there where two (ROW and USA + Canada) or three (ROW, USA + Canada and Japan) sets. Based on several different production numbers I'd say Pano's numbers for first year are too small. Jörg Austen lists three sets of chassis numbers for '78 model year:

From 928 810 0001 to 928 810 2646 for ROW
From 928 820 0001 to 928 820 1139 for USA + Canada
From 928 820 9501 to 928 820 9575 for Japan

Of those I would expect numbers 810 0001-810 0060, 820 0001-820 0060 and 820 9501-820 9560 to be prototypes (0001 to 0049) and special models (0050 to 0060). This would leave 2586 ROW, 1079 US and 15 Japanise cars for model year '78. They ad up to 3680 which is 150 less that 3830 Austen gives as total number for '78. Possibly those 150 numbers are inside prototypes and thus do exist. On later years I bet they didn't do that many protos and much less of 0001 to 0060 is used.

If they had used one single sequence for all markets it would mean US production stopped in middle of production year because I don't believe anyone has '78 with chassis number much higher than 928 820 1139. They would have to be crazy at the factory if they had used one sequence and given US cars numbers between say 0001 and 1200 and euros 0001 and 2700. Pano being wrong and true production number being in region of 3700-3800 is much more likely.

AFAIK Euros do not have build date sticker. It's US DOT requirement demabded for customer protection. It's hard to sell old stock as new car when sticker says when it was done. In Europe this wasn't required at the time. Porsche at least gave model year inside chassis number. Ferrari for example didn't give even that. Only way to find out when certain Euro model Ferrari was done is to check what same period US models show as build date. Ferraris have one single running number for all cars as part of chassis number or last 6 digits of VIN since VIN has been required.

'78 US model 928 820 0016 is nowdays in Finland. It has 08/77 build date I believe. It's 5sp. What's lowest known chassis number with auto gearbox? Think some magazine articles at the time stated that auto box is coming available some months later than 5sp.

rixter

thanks for the numbers, not sure if I get it or if I'm just more confused than before...