911 (not Porsche) newbie question: build year or model year?

CatsEyes · 05-20-2013, 08:07 PM

Hi folks,

I just acquired a gorgeous 1979 911 SC - pictures to follow in a few days.

I also own an '86 944, and have been around these forums for a while - but am new to the 911 world.

I searched the site for the answer to this obvious question, but somehow couldn't find one. Pardon me if I've missed it.

My car's build plate shows year of manufacture as 1979, and it's registered here as a 1979 car.

But the VIN corresponds to model year 1980 (the L series).

My question is: where parts on the Pelican site are different from 1979 to 1980 (as they not infrequently are) which year do I take? The build year or the model year?

Or do I go by the engine number instead? And if so, where's the resources for that?

Thanks,

David

CatsEyes · 05-20-2013, 08:34 PM

Oh, and a pic of the car:

timmy2 · timmy2's Garage

Some very good information about the SC's here:
Simon's Porsche 911 SC Site

CatsEyes · 05-20-2013, 09:46 PM

Thanks, Dennis.

Yes, I used Simon's site for checking the VIN.

That site doesn't answer my bog-standard question, though. Even the spark plugs were different between the 1979 and 1980 SCs. When ordering engine parts, which year should I choose?

Cheers.

Jrboulder · 05-20-2013, 11:13 PM

At least in the states titles can be very unreliable. If I had a 911 badge on my 912E at the time of inspection it would have been titled as a 911. Seriously.

So the first step would be to figure out the engine type.

It should be either a 930/03 (78-79 ROW) or a 930/09 (1980 ROW)

What is your build date?

CatsEyes · 05-21-2013, 01:04 AM

Thanks, jrboulder.

I'll have to check the build date: my memory is October '79, but that could be wrong.

The engine number I did write down: 630 1447.

According to the frwilks site, that should make it 1980 rather than 1979.

Porsche Engine Numbers

Jrboulder · 05-21-2013, 01:50 AM

It seems like it is a 1980 through and through.

schumicat · 05-21-2013, 04:07 AM

virtually everything is done by model year. typically a model is build between about july/august of the preceding year and june/july of the current model year. e.g., (just pulling these out of air, not real world), MY 1982 would be built between august 1981 and july 1982. that is why at end of summer dealers always want to clear out the current MY cars; they know they will soon have the next year and the desireability of the old MY will decrease (this is moreso with mass market cars rather than porsches).when major retooling is needed there may be a gap of 1-2 months while that is done (no cars being produced). there are exceptions and sometimes changes are made during a model year run so you have to go by build date or VIN. it is possible for a title to have typos or other errors.

Quote:

Originally Posted by CatsEyes

Thanks, Dennis.

Yes, I used Simon's site for checking the VIN.

That site doesn't answer my bog-standard question, though. Even the spark plugs were different between the 1979 and 1980 SCs. When ordering engine parts, which year should I choose?

Cheers.

CatsEyes · 04:26 AM

Yes, the registration form has the VIN recorded incorrectly, for a start! A0 rather than AO.

But yes, it looks like 1980 for the purposes of buying parts.

Thanks again, folks. And another pic.