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Originally Posted by MT2thDOC
So, I had told WERK I about this and had decided to wait to see if I got any more info on my 82 Flachbau. Since Porsche is being absolutely ZERO help, here is what I learned.
While attending Rennsport V, I ran into several high level folks in the classics division. We (myself and the other 2 owners of this car) have had nothing but difficulties getting any info about build numbers, sequence and frankly anything else out of Porsche, I thought I'd try in person. Showed photos of my car (which was sitting around the corner) to the reps and asked for help. They both smiled and stated, "we know that car". HUH?!? This car or this production model?!? After much back and forth, I asked them straight out, "how many of these were fabricated?". Both answered in unison, "oh, maybe 10". TEN!!! I've always read somewhere between 30 and 40 (depending on the source).
I was then told that Porsche FOUND THE OLD RECORDS. Yep, we were always told the records were lost/gone/destroyed. Nope. They found "boxes" of old records from Zuffhausen in an unused basement room and hadn't had the time to sort or archive them yet. The boxes were unsorted with files placed randomly and no sense of date or any order at all. This is NOT urban legend.
I personally spoke with these 2 reps. After multiple assurances that they had an older tech who was near retirement and loved going through old records, they would be in contact with more info. Well, as usual, after many emails back and forth, I got ANOTHER COA stating "slant nose body modification".
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MT2thDOC,
You got lucky as you were able to at least speak with someone that had a clue, knew what you were talking about, and actually knew your car! We recently displayed a 74 Carrera at a concours, had two young gents from "Porsche Classic" come over.. we quizzed them about several early production cars and one special wishes car and they totally had no clue, and could provide no input whatsoever.. we knew more about the inner workings of the Porsche hierarchy than they did! Ok.. so lets give them a break, the car we were showing was older than the both of them!! However, in many cases.. this is what you're dealing with.
As you've stated... the records issue, with boxes being lost/found, need sorting etc.. is in fact true, and not urban legend. I have over time developed some contact that was able to validate this as a previous employees of Porsche etc.. in addition to understanding that in the beginning with the CoA program, part of the problem was that the service itself was contracted out.. (yes there is a back story to that) and that the actual preparation of the certificate was done by the service provider with much of the information being omitted or misunderstood between Porsche and said service provider...
By the same token, and from a different perspective.. I can't bash Porsche for there effort on this either.. as back when these cars were produced, they were considered a small manufacturer by the numbers, and they were trying to produce and move units as quickly as possible, given the hand-built nature of their cars at the time. I'm sure the records then were merely just to process the build and/or "special order." Sure, they were aware that they built a great and very desirable product, but never in their wildest dreams did they expect these old cars to become so coveted, and the 2nd and 3rd + owners to become so demanding... this not only relates to the special wishes cars, but all the way down to the 356's! So I can kinda understand some lost records.
I remember, being at a parade one year.. in PA, (Ha! the same year Alois Ruf turned 50 as I attended his birthday party!) and I was standing nearby some members of the Porsche family, as they were discussing a couple of 356 cars on display, the jest of their was "how nicely restored the cars are, I cant believe how much money the Americans spend on them, as they are now better than when produced." Keep in mind, this was well before the run-up in prices that we've seen over the last few years.