1989 VIN Question

[1974carrera]

Do 1989 911's have VIN stickers on all the body panels? Yep, that's the question.
Thanks

[Eric Coffey]

I could be wrong, but I don't believe so. There should be a sticker on the driver's door jamb, and on the underside of the hood. There should also be the "ZZZ" VIN stamped on the panel near the smuggler's box in the front trunk, and of course the VIN plate riveted to the interior driver's side A-pillar. If you see any stickers on (the underside of) body panels, they are probably part number stickers, and a sure sign of previous damage/collision repair. Especially if the panel is void of any undercoating.

[89911]

There is one directly behind the licence plate frame at the rear.

[tchanson]

I'm not sure what year exactly Porsche started adding the small panel VIN stickers, but by '89, 911's designated for the US certainly came from the factory with those little VIN tags all over the place.

In addition to behind the rear license plate, these stickers were placed on the underside of the engine lid, on the edges of both doors, inside the front fenders (open the door and look up into the tops of the fenders..) and the lower base of the underside of the hood among other spots.

As I recall, there was federal legislation passed at some point in the mid '80's that required designated manufacturers of "high theft" vehicles to place these small VIN stickers on major body panels. The intent was to (in theory, anyway) make it more difficult for chop shops to use parts from stolen cars if the individual parts were VIN tagged.

The bigger benefit, IMO, is that the little VIN tags are an easy way to check for original body parts on a car.

Good Luck
Tim

[Wil Ferch]

I always thought these multiple stickers were used when cars didn't come equipped with alarm systems...and the stickers weren't used if the car came with an alarm system.

My 85 Carrera ( with factory alarm) doesn't seem to have these stickers. My 1990 Talon ( without alarm) has them all over the place.

BTW... there is also a "bar-code" sticker on the passenger door jamb ( latch side). What's that all about?

--Wil Ferch

[89911]

I'm pretty sure all 911's in 89 came with a factory alarm, including mine.

[tchanson]

Originally posted by Wil Ferch
I always thought these multiple stickers were used when cars didn't come equipped with alarm systems...and the stickers weren't used if the car came with an alarm system.

'89's I've seen with the little VIN tags all over all had factory alarms as well (which I think was standard by that time with the later central locking/alarm system that no longer required the key in the door jamb thing?)

Tim

[1974carrera]

Thanks for all the comments! Tim, my recollection also is that the Feds did require the VIN on removeable body panels at some point. I appreciate your description of the locations to look for them on a 911. I have an '89 M3 (actually I got it for my son to learn to drive in) that has vin stickers on all the removeable panels, even the bumpers. I'm going to look at an '89 turbo-look coupe and was hoping it would have VIN stickers to help me in determining originality.