I'm trying to which car was built fist. Using the last 5 vin number car A)11110 or car B)06836. If we use the last 5 number car B will be built first. However, according to my mechanic he said to use the last 4 numbers. That will make car A the early built.

 

It's all 5 numbers that count. Car B is built first.

Dave

 

Then that suggests that this site (which in the past I've trusted) is wrong about the 5th from last digit?

http://www.porsche964.co.uk/technical/specs.htm

The reason I ask is because I've found a car that I'd like to buy that seems to be just the 76th car built for '91 (if the 5th digit doesn't count) or the 10,076th car built - if it does. (and I'm pretty sure there weren't 10,000 964's build by '91)

Another data point supporting it being just the 76th car built, is a delivery date of Sept '90 - so pretty early in the MY'91 production run.

What am I missing?

RK

 

To make this a little less clear - There were indeed more than 10k 964's manufactured in a single model year but only for the RoW market. According to the 964 Enthusiasts Companion book by Adrian Streather here are production mumbers for 1991/1992

1991 RoW - 15,340
1991 USA - 6,553
1992 RoW - 11,594
1992 USA - 2,082

VIN numbers change based on RoW or US. There is a good VIN decoder over at RennTech Forums. You have to sign up for an account, its free. Then look for Scousers VIN Decoder on the main page.

 

I was wrong. It would have made it a little clearer had you given the full VIN number instead of just the last 5 digits, but the first digit of your sequence is actually determined by the body type where 0=Coupe, 1=Targa etc. But it gets a little confusing because RoW cars can be different to US cars - as an example the 1 was also used for US Tiptronic Coupes. It makes it easier if you have the full VIN as I said.

Regards

Dave

 

Okay - getting a little more clear.

To get closure to my issue and perhaps move the other issue along further - are we at concensus that...

WPOAB2965MS410076...

...would in fact be just the 76th car built in the '91 Model year? (And as an aside prolly does NOT have head gaskets?).

Thanks for any clarity,

RK

 

Correct.

You can only be sure of the head gasket issue by checking the engine number. Gaskets were fitted from engine number 62M06836. As a rough guide this seems to coincide with RoW production some 3000-3500 cars into the model year but that may be different for US cars. The engine number check is the safest.

Dave

PS Sorry for misleading you in my first answer - it was early in the morning!!!

 

Okay - thanks!

I do ascribe "some" coolness to have such an ealry in the year car. I guess it stems from having owned one of the very first RX-7s EVER built, one of only THREE '93 Alltrac Turbos in Canada and one of only a handful of '90 944S2's. I guess I'm a "semi-rare" enthusiast!

Thanks for all the clarity - I'll check the engine #.

RK