How many 82- build 944s are there?

[Kiwi944]

The answer to my previous question was pretty much staring me in the face. According to the sticker on my inner guard, my car was built in Feb 1982, which has me thinking, how many 1982 cars were made and how many are left?

Does my VIN WP0AA0949DN450097 indicate that this might be the 97th car built? I am getting rather curious about this now!

Mine has a few weird features. It is (and always has been) right-hand drive, but wth US-spec bumpers and left-hand drive carpets (the heel pad is on the left!), yet the windscreen wipers are set up for RHD.
The car came here from the UK so RHD makes sense. As was suggested in an earlier post, the 924 bonnet support bracket is still present, and there is no economy gauge in the rev-counter. The door cards are plain black, they don't have "Porsche" embossed in them.

[Nolan197]

Wp0aa0941dn454189. I snap a picture of the sticker when i go dowb ti work on it this weekend. Sorry i didnt rey right away when you asked what the vin was. Started college this week.

[petrolhead611]

Maybe the carpets were changed after the originals wore out? Note the plate stating that bumpers meet Federal Standards-that doesn't apply in the UK.

[944 Ecology]

Since your car is so early, I would also bet that it doesn't have the rear speakers (under the quarter windows). Your VIN indicates that it is a USA/Canada car...

Your engine almost certainly has the short crankshaft (about 1/4 inch shorter, since there was no option for power steering until later). More info in this post: 1983 944 Woodruff key

[jeff968]

Go to Carfax, plug in your VIN, you will see it comes back as a 1983. The model year is the 10th character, not the production date. A "D" is a 1983. So you have an early 1983.

For the Porsche's made in the nineties, like the 968, the factory reserved the first 60 VINs so VIN #1 available for public purchase was actually #61. I'm not sure about the 944 line.

[Kiwi944]

Originally Posted by 944 Ecology

Since your car is so early, I would also bet that it doesn't have the rear speakers (under the quarter windows). Your VIN indicates that it is a USA/Canada car...

Your engine almost certainly has the short crankshaft (about 1/4 inch shorter, since there was no option for power steering until later). More info in this post: 1983 944 Woodruff key

There are grilles in the panels, but no rear speakers fitted and no indication they were ever fitted. Interesting that it is a USA/Canada VIN as it is RHD and, having removed the dash, there is no indication it had been converted from LHD, and the windscreen wipers are also set up for RHD, and they haven't been changed either. Strange...

[Kiwi944]

Originally Posted by petrolhead611

Maybe the carpets were changed after the originals wore out? Note the plate stating that bumpers meet Federal Standards-that doesn't apply in the UK.

Assuming that car has spent it's entire life in England (1982/3 to 87, then New Zealand from 1987 to now, if it had replacement carpets they would be RHD. Having just removed them myself I would say they are the originals as things were pretty worn in places.

[Kiwi944]

Originally Posted by jeff968

Go to Carfax, plug in your VIN, you will see it comes back as a 1983. The model year is the 10th character, not the production date. A "D" is a 1983. So you have an early 1983.

For the Porsche's made in the nineties, like the 968, the factory reserved the first 60 VINs so VIN #1 available for public purchase was actually #61. I'm not sure about the 944 line.

I believe all early 944s, including the 82 built cars are still classed as 83 model year, regardless of build date.

[Kiwi944]

Originally Posted by petrolhead611

Maybe the carpets were changed after the originals wore out? Note the plate stating that bumpers meet Federal Standards-that doesn't apply in the UK.

The bit about the bumpers does seem strange as it is definitely a RHD car and came here from the UK. There are all sorts of things about the car which just don't make sense!

[v2rocket_aka944]

maybe it was a special order by the US Postal Service

(a number of Subaru Outbacks got sold in the US as RHD as rural postal delivery vehicles and are now prized in the used-car JDM-lover market)

[mattdavis11]

There had to be several thousand built in 1982. My car was built in January of 1983, #7223. No power steering, no cruise.

[9FF]

There were 3921 built in 82 and they were all ROW cars, no US/Can/Jap spec cars for the first year. They had VINs in the range WP0ZZZ94ZCN400001-403921. The C in the VIN means it's an MY83. They were also 98 RON cars whereas all US cars were 91 RON. The ROW cars also had a higher compression at 10.6:1 from 82 to 87, US cars were all 9.5:1 to 87. Hope that helps.

[drift a 944]

Friend of mine owns this 3/82:

[Kiwi944]

Originally Posted by 9FF

There were 3921 built in 82 and they were all ROW cars, no US/Can/Jap spec cars for the first year. They had VINs in the range WP0ZZZ94ZCN400001-403921. The C in the VIN means it's an MY83. They were also 98 RON cars whereas all US cars were 91 RON. The ROW cars also had a higher compression at 10.6:1 from 82 to 87, US cars were all 9.5:1 to 87. Hope that helps.

Thanks for this, it all makes sense except... mine is a Feb 82 build with a North America VIN WP0AA0949DN450097, but right hand drive, with USA bumpers. So they made at least one US-spec car very early (like February) in 1982.

[Kiwi944]

Originally Posted by drift a 944

Friend of mine owns this 3/82:

The same colour as mine too! How close to mine is the VIN?

[drift a 944]

Originally Posted by Kiwi944

The same colour as mine too! How close to mine is the VIN?

His VIN is: WP0AA0946DN450624

I'm not really sure how the serial number at the end of the VIN is counted and what it represents. If 0624 means the 624th car built, then that's cool! I will have to let him know. But I would need to be totally sure of it.

[J1NX3D]

Originally Posted by Kiwi944

and the windscreen wipers are also set up for RHD, and they haven't been changed either. Strange...

Hi Kiwi, just stumbled on this thread while looking for something else. FWIW, RHD 924's and early 944's still had LHD positioned windscreen wipers. The were re-orientated properly in the late 944's but the bonnet catch and rear wiper is still the LHD orientation.

How is your car doing?

[onthesolidrock]

I've got an 11/82! VIN ending in N445446.

[FrenchToast]

Are there really absolutely no signs of an RHD conversion? As noted, that is a North American sticker and VIN. Check if your chassis number matches that VIN. Chassis number is going to start "WP0ZZZ" but otherwise should be the same. Also check the build sticker and windshield VIN. An North America VIN with no signs of ever being LHD is something fishy indeed. Unless it actually is a postal service car!

The factory built a number of prototypes that had U.S. bumpers and reflectors, so a European car sneaking out with U.S. bumpers probably isn't unheard of. But still unlikely. Could have been built with US bumpers for media or prototype purposes.

Originally Posted by 9FF

There were 3921 built in 82 and they were all ROW cars, no US/Can/Jap spec cars for the first year. They had VINs in the range WP0ZZZ94ZCN400001-403921. The C in the VIN means it's an MY83.

This is misleading because there are plenty of North American MY83 cars built in 1982. Model Year and Calendar Year, as you know, but for the purposes of this thread, are not the same.

To clarify; there were no MY82 cars for the U.S., but there are plenty of U.S. cars built in '82.

There are a lot of 944s built in 1982, especially in Europe. They are maybe rarer in the U.S., but that doesn't make them rare.

IIRC the earliest U.S. car was built either 12/81 or 1/82. But, in the case of the U.S., it is still a model year 1983. There's a thread on RL.

[J1NX3D]

i was thinking it might have been one of those tourist delivery options. is option code 900 listed? It good have been specced for US delivery and never made it.

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