Love it! Great to see there are a few of us that have owned our 996s since the beginning of time. We have seen it all over the years.

 

When the value was so low for so long I decided to stray from original and went for reversible mods and so it’s a modded a bit. I drive it passionately and enjoy the manual aspect to the hilt. Coilovers, Fister hacks, and RSS mounts have made it the fun machine for sure. Was rebuilt w updates and bored with nickies to 3.6.

 

So you lived thru the "go-no-go" era and all the new versions of the RMS as well. Love to hear the story on the mods and engine rebuild someday. I do believe that the longer someone has owned a 996, the more they appreciate it. Not to mention appreciation for all of the innovation and solutions that have been developed for the M96 over the years.

 

Im going to go through all the paperwork i have and research it because my knowledge is limited, and try to learn what was considered standard why some things that have option codes listed on the master list appear on my car but not on the decal under the hood. Example my window stickers list a write up about the LSA rear end with adjustable rear tow which i think is standard on all 996s and came from the 993 but not certain, or as to why its mentioned. It also has 17" wheels mentioned on the left side but on the right side i have an installed options list with m30 sports suspension and 4131 18" light alloy wheels and other items. But none of these things are on the sticker under the hood. But were on car when I got it. Not to sure about the m30 suspension or how I would know. I have coilovers now. It's all sort of irrelevant (not oem car anymore ) I did keep almost all of my oem parts there's somethings I did not keep. The lsd is what I'm wondering about the most I was looking for any info about possible serial numbers or tags or ways in which the factory may have labled the cars that had them. I'll post up what I find about my car as I go. I'll have questions once I start going through the paperwork. The original owner must have been an accountant or something because he kept records for everything lol I'm still in contact with the 2nd owner and we both just keet up the ritual of receipts and records because the original owner did such a great job of it, it only made sense to continue it, there's alot of paperwork.

 

Well, thanks to this thread, I was inspired to revisit the issue of the build date only to discover that according to the sticker in the door jamb, my car was actually built in 12/98, not Nov 99 as I had mistakenly thought! It never had amber, but as you can see in the window sticker on the earlier post, most everything else.

 

It's refreshing to begin to finally appreciate the car beyond how it drives which I have always loved. Narrow body all the way. The story of its creation is fascinating and even hotly debated. Pinky Lai and the other designers in there slugging away to make it real. My engine suffered a crack in the cylinder wall early on and Porsche comped me a motor, but the second time it did it at 85K, I rebuilt and updated to 2004 specs with L&N nickel. Tough call as the value of that thing was SO in the tank. It was an emotional decision. After that it felt blueprinted. Replaced seats and other interior parts that were wearing thin but kept it full leather. Yeah, it's got the door dings and usual wear but nothing feels better on PCH with the top down (and a non-alcoholic beer). Kind of went full on "PCA heretic" and rebadged it a few months ago. So it's just fun right now. You can always go back.

 

I also noticed you GVWR is 3957 where as most are 4xxx. Mine is only 37xx that too makes me curious as to what the differences are. I understand yours is a cab, and mines not so our weight differences are self explanatory but I dont see why my gvwr is 600 or more lbs less than the other carrera 2s that seems like too much of a weight difference to be a mistake there's got to be some major differences in equipment one would assume. 600lbs is alot of weight. I'm also very cautious about listing my vin on public forums, maybe because I'm in the used car business and delt with more cars than the average person but I have had 2 vehicle vins stolen/ cloned that were used on stolen vehicles. So I caution anyone about listing there vins so openly because it does happen and is a hell of a process and nightmare to get your vin cleared. I use to laugh when people covered thier license plate in photos. Now I'm figuring Jesus it couldn't hurt lol. The less exposure the better.

 

Thanks for the advice on the VIN. I'd love to know too, what does GVWR stand for exactly? I'd guess relates to curb weight in some way and mines a C2 Cab. It may also be adding the optional hardtop to the C2Cab makes it heavy as well? The sub structure of a convertible is much beefier than a coupe.

 

Gross vehicle weight rating the weight of the vehicle all its fluids and passengers.

 

I don't see 600 pounds difference? I'm getting more like 165 difference which makes sense

 

Yes in our cars but if you scroll through these threads and look at the tags posted by other users you'll see almost all of them are anywhere from 43xx to 47xx for GVWRs. Other than your car I only saw one below 4xxx. Your cars a different model than mine so yes it weighs a little more that's self explanatory. I'm more curious about the other carrera 2 coupes that have much higher gvwrs on the tag. Presumably weigh much more than mine/and or rated for much more weight as mine. Not saying ones better than the other just trying to understand the lable process off these early cars because if you read my questions regarding my car I believe mine is a no tc, no obc, factory lsd car which is said not to exist or they haven't found one yet. And most of these post are relying on what the car stickers say under the hood as the definition of what came on the car from the factory. However like I said my frunk sticker doesn't list anything other than my seats. But my car and window sticker and paperwork list more options. Most of the physical things on my car aren't listed as options on the frunk stickers but are listed as options with codes on the 996 master list and aren't marked as standard equipment. So I don't think that all options were put on the early cars frunk stickers. My paperwork says I had sport suspension 030 its not on my frunk sticker. The car came with the 408 18 inch wheels not on the frank sticker. On the window sticker the car says 17 inch wheels on the left side as standard equipment than on the right ride they're labled as 18 inch 4131 light weight alloy wheels under installed options on the right side of the sticker with 030 sport suspension. Once again not on the frunk sticker. I'm planning on going through all the paperwork I have this week I have only skimmed it and can't remember the sale dates. But I'm also curious about if my car has a build date of Jan 98, was presumably started in 1997. Where did the car sit for over a year before being sold new in the USA as a 1999? Wondering if they sat around for a year or what was happening with them. Is it possible that after they were built and sitting there could a dealer in the USA order it with additional options added at the factory but not to the frunk sticker as it's already been built . I mean where would a dealer in the USA get sport chassis and light weight wheels to be added under dealer options? He wouldn't get then anywhere but the factory. I assume they were added after the car was marked and stamped built in Jan 1998.

 

If my memory serves me, the dealer I bought it from had an inventory list of cars allocated, like triple blk C2, set to be built and a date when it would arrive, and you ordered what you wanted piggybacking on that TBD car. I may be wrong, but that's what I recall. In my case, BBS rims, Hi-fi etc. Custom colors took longer. Still mad I did not get heated seats. I don't believe they did wheel swapping at that time locally. I'm sure someone else could fill in the blanks or correct me. Funny, the salesman who I bought it from STILL works there. Those vets would totally know this.

 

In addition to the wheels i have some paperwork from Porsche regarding one set of coded wheel bolts with serial numbers. Basically looks like wheel locks to me but for whatever reason it's separate paperwork. I also have key code cards , radio cards, and a card that's all in German with a different number on it and I believe that number is what i used I used to program the keys to the Imobilizer when I bought it 4 almost 5 years ago. It didn't start or run the keys had gone dead and battery dead. Hasn't been a problem ever since. Still using the original keys. I'll probably start going through everything as soon as I'm home because my interest is peaked to full curiosity now lol.

 

It will be kind of hilarious if it turns out to be a true no tc no obc factory lsd (rare car) considering all the changes I did to it lol. When I first got it I was so excited and took alot of abuse online being told it was junk and 996s won't ever be anything aren't real 911s bla bla. I bought a 997 S and 991 4s within a few months of buying this 996 because I loved the 996 so much I thought I would like the newer ones so much better. Well I still have the first 911 I ever bought, this 996 and I don't have the other 2. So to each thier own. Didn't know than what I know now, it's always been so much more engaging to drive. It's fun at every speed, and didn't cost much money at all mine was literally almost free. I didn't know why when I had all 3 cars and was new to all of them. Why the newer ones didn't give me the joy the first one did. It's definitely the annalog, mechanical drive that my 996 has the newer ones didn't. I have never been in an aircooled 911 but I'm sure I would love them for the reasons I love my 996. I have a friend that has 2 early 996 cable driven no tc no obc cars in the UK and says its night and day to the newer 996s he's owned he prefers them for the same reasons. I spent alot of time making this one my version of what I wanted out of a driver so no doubt it's special to me, ruined to others. Treasure to me, trash to others. Its Even lighter, even quicker, upgraded, updated, suspension transformed it, to find out it's rare or special from the beginning would just be icing on the cake for the abuse I took defending it, loving it. The knowledge learned about the annalog and lighter car has already justified why I did prefer it whether I knew it or not. Regardless I think we all love our 996s. Some maybe a little more fanatical about them for thier own reasons but to all the 996s people who love them 🍻🤘🏁

https://youtube.com/shorts/DWBx-yGenOs?feature=share

 

Your car is awesome, and I felt the same way after years of abuse and said "if it's that worthless what's the harm of modding it? You've done far more, I'm into updating the look and like you love driving the thing. The early build aspect is truly the icing like you say and other than the OBC computer, it is stripped of all nanny gear. I did the silver console as well with granite accents.