Adrian

Well Michael, you learn something everyday. Makes the day worth living when this happens.
This should help out those who keep asking about these colours. I wonder why nobody ever mentioned this before. John go and check your decal if installed above the battery. Would have been nice to have one on mine. Took me ages to work out colour code 550,
Ciao,
Adrian.
911C4

John McM

The mechanic finished all of his work on the car, and it's now in the hands of my 60 year old father, until my return to New Zealand.

I'll send him an e-mail and he can look for labels in the front compartment.

I'm not a betting man, but if I was I'd wager that the car has had a good respray at some point in the past. All will hopefully be revealed in the next day or so

John McM

Further to the above, I rang Porsche Singapore. They said many owners like to change colours, just for the sake of it, but they won't supply any info until I supply proof of ownership.

I'll do that by fax on Monday so we can solve this mystery once and for all. An added bonus is that they might give more a more detailed service history than I have now!

Adrian

So Guys. Because I had my C4 in the hangar yesterday thawing out I decided (in work time of course) to look for this label. I did not find the label yesterday but I found where it had been attached. It was far too cold last night so I waited until this morning. Put the C4 in the hangar and searched for the label. A nicely water soaked and hardly readable label was discovered lying on the floor pan behind the battery. I have cleaned it up as best as I could and though it is hardly readable it shows the colour code 550 and the colour name Linen Grey Metallic. There is also the number 5 but nothing else.
So it seems that this label is certainly installed on all 911s. I will make mention of this in my book because it does provide yet another little clue in checking for authenticity.
On ROW models the options numbers are stamped into the VIN plate which is rivetted on the other side of the luggage compartment as well as on the label under the hood.
Ciao,
Adrian
911C4

PS: Just for info, the label part number is 928 701 167 04

Patrik S

Great!

Now that we know that all cars was equiped with this label, lest hear what John and Sonny has on their labels.

/Patrik

SonnyV

Ok, here is what on my label.

92A 9 3
ZermattSilberMetallic (that's how it's spelled on the label, on the certificate it's spelled Mattalic. Go figure).

The part number for the label is 926.701.167.04

There you have it.

Sonny Vo

John McM

I'm about to go nuts. I can't get any sense out of Porsche Singapore and my father came back with the following:

"The VIN no you quote is where it should be, just above where I found the overalls, in the middle of the trunk. There is a plate on the right side of the trunk (looking forward as a driver). The manual calls this an "Identification Plate" and it has on it the VIN no-same as quoted before plus german words and loadings such as 1810 kg
- - -kg
1-740kg
2-1150kg
I cant find a paint data plate affixed to the left side of the trunk as illustrated. Mind you, the illustration shows the brake fluid reservoir on that same side, when it doesn't appear to be there.
The data bank just beneath the the trunk lock is not affixed, but stamped in the plastic as 964555585 00 BBP 0917 <PP>"

Good grief more numbers!

Adrian, any idea what he's looking at? Shouldn't the colour be on the Identification Plate?

Adrian

Dear Sonny,
92A does not show up in the part catalogue which means it is a special order shade of silver. This makes it for your model 964 quite rare and desirable.
92 is the Silver Metallic range of colours.
The spelling onthese labels does leave something to be desired. They printed by people who do not speak English as their native tongue so such spellings should be expected sometimes. I have also seen the spelling Mitallic. I is pronounced E in German,
Ciao,
Adrain
911C4

Adrian

Dear John,
Standing in front of the Turbo 3.6 with the hood staring skywards and wit the whole carpet removed you should find the following.
On the LH side forward above the general area of the ABS control unit and the front of the spare wheel is the VIN plate which has the weights and the VIN. This you have found. Directly opposite on the RH side above the battery or in the surrounds of the battery is a stick on silver label which has the paint code and the paint description on it.
Now in the middel of the front of the hood itself should be a large white label (mine is sort of discoloured brown now). On this label is the engine serial number, the VIN, the paint code, options list etc. If this label is missing then almost guaranteed that this Turbo has been repainted. If both labels are missings them I think it is a sure bet it has been repainted. Certainly the underside of the hood has been done or the hood has been replaced which we found for another owner recently,
Ciao,
Adrian
911C4

SonnyV

Adrian,

Thanks for the information. My car is confirmed as a special order color. But I still don't know how many '92 C2 Turbo was ordered in this color.

John,

Another way to detect a repaint is to look for bolts on the inside of the trunk. If you don't see another color of paint (often yellow, or orange) on the top of the bolts along the inside of the front fenders.

Also, the inside of the trunk's color should not be glossy as the outside of the car. It should have a rough texture, like without clear coat.

Sonny Vo

John McM

Sonny, I've just e-mailed the only picture I have of the trunk (Adrian has it from a previous e-mail I sent him). The underside looks rough, but I think I'll have to wait until I get back to New Zealand to sort this out.

- Porsche Singapore still haven't gotten back to me.

- My father is starting to become annoyed at the "inquisition". He stated that when he went into renew the registration, the car was registered as blue (you don't get this info on the intial change of ownership in New Zealand)and now wonders whether he stuffed up. He also said the VIN plate was riveted and showed no signs of a repaint and can't see why I'm concerned. Fair's fair, he's looking after my car as a favour to me, he doesn't deserve to be hounded because I'm pedantic about these things.

My take at the moment is that this car has had an immaculate repaint at some time in the past from Horizon Blue Metallic to Polar Silver. In Singapore the original cost of the vehicle would have been about US$270,000. In terms of that cost it's nothing to spend US$15,000 and get a glass-out full respray. It could have been due to accident damage, but it could just as easily have been someone preferring the new silver and wanting a change.

Whatever the reason, the car is what I wanted, I got it at a good price (US$45,000) and it drives perfectly. In other words, I've got to look past this minor imperfection and enjoy the car for what it is - one heck of a driving machine.

Adrian

Dear John,
I think the initial registration as being "blue" answers your questions. However over time maybe the blue tint has been lost.
You will only be able to check this when you get home. It is a bit tough putting the load on dad. A good high quality repaint, especially one carried out to Porsche specs is going to be tough to show up anyway.
Good luck and do not worry too much about it. You still have one heck of a machine and in a year or two you will have it perfectly tailored for your needs and all this will be forgotten,
Ciao,
Adrian
911C4

John McM

Hi Adrian,

Pretty soon you should have the four photos I sent you, so you can see for yourself. I finally got hold of the Porsche Specialist in Singapore. He said it was definitely Horizon Blue Metallic, and can't remember the car being repainted. He also thought that the colour could be mistaken for silver. I sent him a digital image, but still waiting on the final answer.

Only four weeks to go until I'm back in New Zealand and can drive the wheels off this car. The ratio of talk to action on this beast has to be rebalanced!

John McM

Porsche Singapore have reverted with the following words "The colour from the photo is definitely Horizon Blue from my monitor. I would suggest you refer to the local importer/dealer to reconfirm the
colour as the photo may differ a little."

In opera terms 'the fat lady has sung'. Short of my crawling over the car in four weeks time when I'm back in NZ on holiday there is nothing more I can do to verify the colour.

Thank you all for your help. Like many questions posed in this forum we've all learned something in the process.

Patrik S

I took some pictures of my colorlabel as I promised. My digital camera was not able to take that kind of close up pictures. And you can not see the text at all! Sorry!

/Patrik