Kudos to you for your detective work, Rich. However, every pic you post of this car makes me wonder why in the world you would want it. Unless you're getting it for a thousand bucks or something. It's an interesting story to follow, nonetheless!

Very interesting, and certainly not what I expected. The stamped VIN looks real and unaltered to me (no expert) making the car a 70 E Targa. Experts on production # can comment on those, but they too look like they've not been tampered with--rusty, yes.
Not finding evidence of a VIN plate on the pillar is not too serious as early ROW cars did not have them.

So....maybe this was a legit conversion to a short hood look and in the process the VIN plate on the latch bulkhead was tossed along with the bulkhead itself. A new VIN plate was made using the correct # for the car and placed in the location of a short hood model. Probably done in Europe, given the VIN tag or done here by a PO using a new Porsche tag.

But questions remain. Was the above scenario done with government authority (whatever government that may be) or did the owner do it himself? Is there any paperwork to back up the new tag? Is it even necessary to follow up on the VIN tag since the stamped VIN is matching? And, of course, what about the motor?

Like a good mystery, every answer generates new questions. Can't wait to hear what comes next. Car looks more legit than last week, but still something to run from.

I respect and admire your perseverance, Rich. We are all getting schooled by your efforts.

---whistle, whistle whistle, avoid eye contact---
I've likely been out bid on the thing anyway, so I don't have any financial stake in the thing. It's all just moral obligation thing now. If the cops say it's not stolen, I'll tell the owner what I've found, and wave goodbye as the car likely will be transported to Colorado for parting out.

If it comes back stolen, I'll take whatever advice the cops give.

Richard

Regardless if the VIN comes back clean or not, this is still a homoglation of parts that does not fit either 1970, or 1974.

Engine: The Engine is CIS Injection, which could fit 1974 But the 5 Blade fan says 1976-1977

I'm a complete novice at identifying the different year body styles

What does the front end look like it should be? I'm guessing it was made to look like the late 70s early 80s turbo models.

Here's the back end shot:
http://forums.pelicanparts.com/uploa...1258603002.jpg
http://forums.pelicanparts.com/uploa...1258603040.jpg

Richard

Oh geez you just did it again!

Please disregard my previous post, and change where I said $1000 to $500.

That is a '70s turbo tail. Maybe the wheels are 9s, which is a nice thing.

:D:D

it is in pretty ruff shape

Yep there's enough parts to make it worth the effort. But it's not going to ever make it back to road worthy....

What? you think this is a Ruff Porsche?
Oh, you meant Rough.....:)

And this is the PRETTY side!!!!

$20-$25K would make that a nice car.

20-25 Hours would make it a nice pile of profit...

If you can get it for the right price.

Probably the Last Post on this thread...

I had the VIN number checked out by the local police. it did not come back as stolen. But because of the age it didn't come back with any known history either.

I had them run the license plate that was in the car.
It came back registered to a 1974 silver Porsche 911 Last registered in 1991.

I'm going to let the owner now know all of my suspicions and ask that he fully disclose all of this to who he sells it to.

Any which way, this car is likely soon to be parts only, as there is no title.

I never got an opinion on the production number under the dash. It looked rough, does it look Porsche factory or tampered with?
Richard

Richard in my experience the Production Nr unfortunately independant from the VIN Nr. If you cop friend cannot help then I´d either try run it by porsche or if you have a lawyer friend ask if there is some way of making the purchase legit and permanent thus avoiding future claims.

Was reading through old posts and saw this one. On a somewhat related question. Would a European LHD 911 have a riveted VIN ID plate in the trunk? Or just the scribed numbers by the smugglers box? Thanks.

I believe that up into the 1980's there was always a stamped aluminum tag in the front trunk along with the VIN stamped into the body by the smugglers box.

vin plate
 

thanks. yeah i just noticed the rivet holes in the 74 i was looking at

Perhaps some good that could come out of this is to assemble a "buyers guide" for potential Porsche purchases. It could be a manual of sorts showing where all the pertinent serial numbers are with photos of accurate examples for reference.
-C