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I have a 1997 car also. Trying to learn more about the preproduction aspect. Know where I can find info?
Where was your car sold new? My understanding is that the first production of cars for North America was 2/98 and they were called MY99 cars. Mine is a cabrio built in 2/98 with an in-service date of 5/98 - it was the 149th cabrio built for North America. Apparently 993 production did not end until 4/98, so your car and mine would have been built alongside 993 cars as well.
Daryll
Where was your car sold new? My understanding is that the first production of cars for North America was 2/98 and they were called MY99 cars. Mine is a cabrio built in 2/98 with an in-service date of 5/98 - it was the 149th cabrio built for North America. Apparently 993 production did not end until 4/98, so your car and mine would have been built alongside 993 cars as well.
Daryll
From what I have read, the 996 went on sale in the USA in April 1998 as a 99 model. It makes sense that the first North American 996s were built in February and March. Mine was built in March 1998 and sold at Brumos Porsche. I don't know for sure if it was sold in April or May. It was registered in May 1998.
Wow, so based on the photo posted earlier in the thread showing only 14 996's made in 1997, 1/5 of those cars are presently for sale in Europe! And there is even the possibility that the car shown with 10/97 date could even be the very first 996's ever sold to the public!
I think I might own this car! Would be interesting to know a way to find out if any were registered earlier.
Mine is a 3/98. Runs like hell 96,000 miles no oil consumption no smoke, no tail pipe soot. Its set up like a go cart. Michelin Pilots I believe 4 285 30 18 rear, Turbo red wheels. The cars with low mileage that never get driven short drives, etc, etc are the ones that fail.
Any help would be appreciated here folks?....First time Porsche owner!....Do any of you guys know a build date from my label on the drivers door shut?....It's Forest Green Metallic which Porsche themselves have stated is a special order colour on my particular 996......one more thing....Should it have external full orange indicator ligbt clusters allround.....basic questions I know but best ask the experts!
Judging by your VIN (last four of VIN), I'm going to pin you around 03/98. Edit - actually yes I believe yours is an 03/98 car by the 3*98 on the upper lefthand side of that sticker. Curious about your sticker though... Maybe door was replaced? What part of the car is this sticker on? Typical VIN sticker, from what I've seen, should be black and should be on driver's side door sill.
I have have an 01/98 car. VIN ending in 0083. Runs great and is my daily. Cannot recommend these cars enough.
01/98 arena red coupe on full leather graphite grey interior with sport seats. Manual, LSD, and 4-spoke steering wheel. I have read a lot about these early production cars and it's certainly interesting. To be honest, I completely lucked out and did not seek an early one - I knew nothing about the advantages of having an early example. I chalk it up to selling my mint e36 M3 way back when - a car I still regret selling to this day. I had a chance to buy it back too, and shied away. I believe I'm getting another chance with this one.... The only 97's I've found have been 12/97 cars and they were ROW.
Couple of shots I still have - it had a discontinued Jim Conforti CAI (very rare), an M50 manifold, tune, SSK, Bilsteins on H&R race springs. I went through a few different styles of wheels from the style 32's, BBS Style 5's, DSII's, and finally the contours which were on the car when I sold it.
Any help would be appreciated here folks?....First time Porsche owner!....Do any of you guys know a build date from my label on the drivers door shut?....It's Forest Green Metallic which Porsche themselves have stated is a special order colour on my particular 996......one more thing....Should it have external full orange indicator ligbt clusters allround.....basic questions I know but best ask the experts!
Based on your car being a ROW VIN with an "X" and the last 3 digits being 524 I am going to suggest it was manufactured in the fall of 1998 (likely late Sept or early Oct). My research shows approx. 2000 ROW units were built from Sept - Dec of 1997 as 1998 model year 996's, these all had "W" in the VIN. North American production started in January of 1998 and all were designated as 1999 model year 996's ("X" in the VIN). NA cars had their own VIN sequence and do not correlate to the ROW VIN sequences.
Porsche made the transition to clear lenses for ROW cars early in production, so it is possible you car came without ambers from the factory. I used to own an early production ROW 996 (01/98 build) that came from the factory without ambers, yet cars being built for the NA market during the same month were equipped with ambers. Not sure why Porsche did this, could be something to do with the different countries and relevant lighting requirements at the time.
Based on your car being a ROW VIN with an "X" and the last 3 digits being 524 I am going to suggest it was manufactured in the fall of 1998 (likely late Sept or early Oct). My research shows approx. 2000 ROW units were built from Sept - Dec of 1997 as 1998 model year 996's, these all had "W" in the VIN. North American production started in January of 1998 and all were designated as 1999 model year 996's ("X" in the VIN). NA cars had their own VIN sequence and do not correlate to the ROW VIN sequences.
Porsche made the transition to clear lenses for ROW cars early in production, so it is possible you car came without ambers from the factory. I used to own an early production ROW 996 (01/98 build) that came from the factory without ambers, yet cars being built for the NA market during the same month were equipped with ambers. Not sure why Porsche did this, could be something to do with the different countries and relevant lighting requirements at the time.
Can confirm my 01/98 NA car having ambers. That's interesting. So they weren't litronics? Just regular headlights without the ambers? probably DOT laws with yellow turn signals....?
08-02-2019, 04:29 AM
