Master VIN thread
 

This has been long time coming. :) Been meaning to make compilation message containing all 928 VIN sequences in order to find out how accurare info I have so far. Data is based on several sources, mainly Tech spec books, Jörg Austen's book and Carfax database. Aim is to make this list as complete as possible and to use it to calculate as accurately as possible total number of 928's made in each MY for all markets.

None of the numbers are absolutely certainly correct. If anyone has VIN which is not in range please let me know. Same thing with knowledge of smaller limits. All missing or too larger numbers will affect both MY specific and total count of cars made. I expect total to be very close to 61056 mentioned elsewhere. Getting afully close already.

Few earlier threads related to VIN's and number of 928's made:
https://rennlist.com/forums/928-forum/311463-looking-up-all-the-928-by-vin.html
https://rennlist.com/forums/928-forum/367219-number-of-row-and-japanise-cars-in-us-and-canada.html
https://rennlist.com/forums/928-forum/130727-production-numbers.html

GT's made for different markets and first + last VIN for each of them.
Edit: Fixed typo in '90 MY two Canadian cars VIN.
Edit: Samuel's '87 and '88 upper limits added
Edit: '88 ROW S4 upper limit raised again
Edit: Mistake fixed in '80 MY ROW 4.5L upper limit, it is obviously 001192 instead of 101192
Edit: VIN range upper end checked for ROW and Japanise '81-95 MY models. New cars into '85 Japanise set, '87-88 and '94 ROW sets. 4 cars removed from '89 MY ROW set upper limit. I believe upper end of ranges are now correct or at least very close to it. There might still be some prototypes hiding below normal smallest VIN for some MY's.
Edit: LHD/RHD and 5sp/aut split added. Info is not available for '78-79 MY's but its fairly safe to say more than 50% of them were 5sp. Except maybe '79 MY RHD cars where slightly above 50% might have automatic gearbox.
Edit: Jörg Austen book info about 1585 being first ROW '89 MY GT is wrong. 1585 is S4. 1332 is first GT.
Edit: '78 MY 1st VIN for each set changed to 0011 and 9511. These are believed to be first "production" cars made with normal VINs.
Edit: GT split between different markets added.

Erkka,

Thanks for sharing the results of your extensive work.

Any news to report in the search for the elusive '88 US Club Sports?

Nothing new on US CS for ages. They will surface eventually like everything else interesting also.

Cool stuff. Thanks for gathering and posting this!

Hello!

Here are the VIN I have in my database (mostly cars of my club).
1978:
928 ROW, 9288100143 to 9288102402

1979:
928 ROW, 9289100035 to 9289102573

1980:
928 ROW, 92A0800011 to 92A0800500
928 S ROW, 92A0820270 to 92A0821368

1981:
928 ROW, WP0ZZZ92ZBS800020 to WP0ZZZ92ZBS800529
928 S ROW, WP0ZZZ92ZBS840056 to WP0ZZZ92ZBS841357
928 USA: WP0JA0923BS820926

1982:
928 ROW, WP0ZZZ92ZCS800061 to WP0ZZZ92ZCS800475
928 S ROW, WP0ZZZ92ZCS840085 to WP0ZZZ92ZCS841415
928 USA: WP0JA0924CS831238

1983:
928 S ROW, WP0ZZZ92ZDS840099 to WP0ZZZ92ZDS841903

1984:
928 S ROW, WP0ZZZ92ZES840183 to WP0ZZZ92ZES842047
928 S USA, WP0JB0920ES861208

1985:
928 S ROW, WP0ZZZ92ZFS840108 to WP0ZZZ92ZFS842116

1986:
928 S ROW, WP0ZZZ92ZGS840093 to WP0ZZZ92ZGS841597
928 S3, ROW: WP0JB0926GS860440

1987:
928 S4 ROW, WP0ZZZ92ZHS840095 to WP0ZZZ92ZHS842168
928 S4 USA, WP0JB0920HS861634

1988:
928 S4 ROW, WP0ZZZ92ZJS840093 to WP0ZZZ92ZJS842335 (the last ones were S4 SE)
928 S4 CS ROW, WP0ZZZ92ZJS845061 to WP0ZZZ92ZJS845070
928 S4 CS USA, WP0AB092CJS865061 to WP0AB092CJS865062

1989:
928 S4, 928 S4 CS, 928 GT ROW, WP0ZZZ92ZKS840084 to WP0ZZZ92ZKS842440

1990:
928 S4 and 928 GT ROW, WP0ZZZ92ZLS840180 to WP0ZZZ92ZLS842503

1991:
928 S4 and 928 GT ROW, WP0ZZZ92ZMS800259 to WP0ZZZ92ZMS801650

1992:
928 GTS ROW, WP0ZZZ92ZNS800082 to WP0ZZZ92ZNS800978

1993:
928 GTS ROW, WP0ZZZ92ZPS800086 to WP0ZZZ92ZPS800662

1994:
928 GTS ROW, WP0ZZZ92ZRS800302 to WP0ZZZ92ZRS800505

1995:
928 GTS ROW, WP0ZZZ92ZSS800092 to WP0ZZZ92ZSS800364

Here you are Erkka ;)

Samuel

Do .E and .L mean "early" and "late"? Is there any record of what changed between E and L for a given model year? Didn't Porsche save up several small things (like the change from Cup 1 to Cup 2 wheels on my late '94 GTS) and do them all together to be the "L" version?

There's no breakout by VIN between US and Canada, is there?

Yes, E = early and L = late. Early is those cars which were done before normal model year change time in summer. These cars always have option M718. It seem to indicate just and only VIN change to make car look on the surface like its next years model. This was legally possible after January 1st of previous calendar year. So what changed between E and L is same as what changed between model years in ROW cars.

Early '93 means car has same parts as '92 MY ROW cars like studs to keep engine block halfs together and simpler breather system in valve covers. Obviously these have US equipment like impact bumpers when parts differ from normal ROW setup. I expect these cars to have '92 N engine and gearbox numbers which are within same set of numbers as those ROW cars which were made at same time.

Early '94 means car has same parts as '93 MY US cars and do not have '94 MY updates like CUP II wheels, RDK delete and pollen filter. I expect these cars to have '93 P engine and gearbox numbers which are within same set of numbers as those ROW cars which were made at same time.

Cars made for USA and Canada share same VIN sequence and are mixed together. Everything points to conclusion that they were made based on orders in random order. Only indication is in options to where car was heading. Specifically C option code which tells to what country car was made for. This determined what kind of equpment was put in like speedo in mph or kph etc.

'90 MY can be minor exception as I suspect two cars were made for Canada without airbags. Those two had different VDS code in VIN which tells what safety equipment is included. In JB0 zero means no airbags and in JB2 two means one bag each for both driver and front passanger. 9061 is GT in Canada and it would make sense if 9062 is in there too be it S4 or GT. They were both very likely made in very beginning of MY as there wouldn't be much sense to start adding bags first and then make just two non airbag cars later on. By using 9000 series VIN Porsche was probably making things easier for themselves and setting up separate sequence for Canada. Very likely they realised soon that it would be much better to just add bags to all Canadian cars too. This makes it much more easier to sell used car into US. I suspect US authorities would not likely allow '90 MY cars into USA without bags. Now someone will obviously come up that 9062 was in US since new but this is my theory until something new comes up.

Thats great info thanks guys.

I have just noticed that 92A08000011, the first ROW 1980 928 is in my club.

Samuel

Just a short note to inform Erkka that wp0zzz92zJs842342 is now in my club.
This changes the know limit of the 1988 MY for the ROW S4s.

Samuel

Has anybody Carfaxed them?

Many times. See for example this thread:
https://rennlist.com/forums/showthread.php?t=311463

Problem is that no one seems to know for certain what is their VIN. I have tried practically every combination I can think of but Carfax hasn't given out anything yet. So still work in progress...

Thanks for the update Samuel.

Samuel thought my 928 was a prototype because the VIN ended in 60. But I understand this type of numbering only started in 83.

my euro 82 registered for road use in August 81 has the VIN WP0 ZZZ 92 ZCS 840 060; the euro 82 series in this list starts WP0ZZZ92ZCS840051. Consequently I strongly doubt that I have a prototype.

:_otopic:
BTW, I heard the 2008 euro 928 will be in Germany in September at the Nurburgring; anybody can confirm this rumour?

Marton

Have you tried a FOIA (Freedom of Information Act) request through US Customs service? You might need to get a US resident/citizen to do it for you.

No, gets little too much work for VIN hunting. Now if I lived in US and had some extra $$$ for CS purchase then...