Weird VIN # ?????

[drola]

I'm looking at a 1980 Euro SC which was brought over many years ago.
The door jamb has a plate riveted on which is pictured below.
The strange thing is the vin. it is 91A0133607.
Has anyone seen this type of vin? is it common on a grey market car?
Any opinions appreciated.

[Peter Zimmermann]

1980 cars used a 10-digit VIN!

91A0133607:

91 = vehicle type (911)
A = 1980
0 = manufacturing plant
1 = Targa (0 = coupe)
3 = 3.0 liter 911 RoW
3607 = consecutive build number

All is well!

[Grady Clay]

91A0133607 decodes as:
91 = Vehicle type 911.
A = Model year 1980.
0 = Manufacturing plant; Stuttgart.
1 = Type supplement 911.
3 = Engine version 911; 3.0 l R.o.W.
3607 = Consecutive serial number.

You are correct, 1980 has a weird VIN.
This was the last year prior to the world-wide 17-digit VIN.
Note the unique 10-digit number with the “A”.
The prior years (’70-’79) had ten digits with all numbers.
The addition of the “A” for 1980 was to distinguish from the “0” indicating 1970.
Interesting, the VIN doesn’t indicate coupe or Targa as all other VINs.

Yes, that is the ‘standard’ plate for a grey-market import.
Carefully inspect ALL the numbers.

EDIT:
I never noticed this error before; both the Spec Book (WKD.422.720) and the Service Information pamphlet (4591.21) fail to list the 5th digit as “Body type” as previous and subsequent information.

The Service Information pamphlet says (p. 17): “The 5th and 6th digits are used together with the 1st and 2nd digits for further identification of the Vehicle. The 6th digit indicates the engine version.”.
On the next page it shows the choices for the 5th digit as: “Type 1 = 911 8 = 928” and for the 6th digit as: “4 = 3000 cc USA 6 = 4500 cc USA”.

As I noted above, the Spec Book lists the 5th digit as “Type supplement 1 = 911 0 = 930” and the 6th digit as: “Engine Version 3 = 911; 3.0 l R.o.W. 4 = 911; 3.0 l USA 7 = 930; 3.3 l R.o.W.”.

Something ‘got lost in translation’.



Best,
Grady

[Peter Zimmermann]

Ah, ha! I might have miss-spoke. It appears that Digit #5 does not designate "Targa or coupe", it designates the model (1 = 911; 8 = 928; 0 = 911 Turbo). Good call, Grady!

[djpateman]

If you look at the data in this SC registry for 1980:
Simon's Porsche 911 SC Site
you can see that there is no designator for the body type. This appears to be the only year that the VIN did not distinguish body type.

[drola]

Thanks for the replies. I almost had an "oh crap" moment there with the body designation. This particular car is a coupe and not a targa. So a 1980 row coupe seems like a safe buy. I'll be picking it up this weekend.
Thanks again