Carrera VIN # Mystery
 

Looking at a 1987 Carrera I noticed the VIN # in the trunk was different than on the door jamb. In the trunk the VIN started with WPOZZZ while the door jamb was WPOABO. The rest of the VIN # was the same. Front fenders and hood were original. Anyone else notice this with their Carrera's? Thanks.

WPO = World Manufacturer's code
A = Coupe
B = Code for Engine Variants [USA Only]
O = Restraint system - O=belts

Also look at:
http://www.porschedecals.com/VIN87s911.htm

That is so odd because looking at the VIN # in the trunk you would think it was a ROW car but the VIN stamped in door jamb implies it is an US car. Now I seriously doubt this was two cars welded together. Any Carrera owners want to look to see if they have a similar discrepancy. FWIW, the Carfax comes back clean.

Give us the complete VIN and we can tell you if it's a US or Euro.

That's just the way they are. My '86 US car has the same thing. The VIN nera the gas tank has ZZZ and the one on the door jamb has ABO but other than that they are identical. When I first got my car I was looking around in the trunk and I came across the "Euro" VIN. I nearly had a heart attack thinking my car was made from two different bodies until I compared the VIN's.
-Chris

Thanks. That was the reassurance I needed. Now on to the PPI. Now if the car smokes (blue) during startup but clears up when the car warms to operating temparture and does NOT smoke during acceleration/deceleration, how worried should I be? Car has over 140k miles with no record of any top-end rebuild. For the record, the car sat for 1 month and when I started the car, I noticed light colored blue smoke for over 1 minute. I looked at another SC with 165k and the car had sat for months and no blue smoke at startup. This car had a top-end done at 120k miles. Opinions?

My 87 has the same VIN issue. Like Chris said, that's how they are for some reason.

I'd be concerned about the smoke at startup. A puff of smoke is fine. But continuous smoking would be cause for concern. A quick check for valve guide issues (but not a 100% definitive answer) is to check the plugs. Hopefully they're relatively old. Any plugs that are fouled-looking around the tip could be signs of failing valve guide in that cylinder.

Good advice Kevin. I am very concerned about the blue smoke. My 993 with 35k miles does not emit blue smoke when it is started after sitting for over a month. I have searched the archives and the various opinions on how much smoke is unacceptable. The owner would not quote a figure on oil consumption. So if it is the guides it is now a question of how much I should pay for this vehicle. The problem is that almost all cars with over 100k have this potential issue looming.

The VIN issue is not a quirk..or some unkown area...it's simply this:
Euro cars use the ZZZ in the middle of their designation...and that will happen to match the "official" VIN.
For USA..the door jamb numbers count, and the ZZZ is not used in this "official" position. The bodies all come off one asembly line...and the bodies don't know if they'll end up in USA, Japan, or Europe....so the ZZZ is common to all the bodies....

But you're right...causes many to skip a heart beat or two ....

--- Wil Ferch

My valve guides were toast at 70,000 miles. It smoked on de-acceleration more than at any other time. The exhaust guides were much worse than the intakes so the plugs looked pretty good. If you do most of the work yourself, it will cost around $4000 max.