[1.2gees]

I can't sleep so I'll pick this apart some more...

There were (a handfull of) 944s produced in 1981, but not sold as 81 model year cars. The GTP should not be included in the "43" figure as it had a modified 937 chasis, and indeed it was a prototype. To back my statements up, I will quote the first 944 chasis #, "ZZZ94ZCN400001", for the 1982 year. This is a Europe/ROW # as the cars were not officially sold in the US.

Porsche introduced the 968 in 91 but started selling them as 92 models, but you already knew that...

To clarify the 1988 944 turbo S vs. 1989 and later turbo issue, as far as the factory is concerned the only cars labeled/sold or recognized as 944 turbo S' were the special batch of 88 model year turbos. Later models got some of the features of the turbo S cars as standard, most notably the k26/8 turbocharger, but the changes are far from being limited to this. I'll save that for another day...
Ahmet