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Originally Posted by Karter18
The above sounds very accurate from my experience working for different manufacturers. There are several factors can affect this process and remember you guys are talking about 30 year old cars and what they came with from the factory. There could have been dealer, owner, independent, 2nd and 3rd owner installed accessories, options, etc. The best thing to do is check the VIN with Porsche and what the options came from the factory.
Other factors are the dealer and their willingness to place an exclusive order at the time. While it is much more common today it may not have been in the 80's. Plus a dealer would rather sell you a car they have on the ground than one that will be here in three months, another is the personnel at the dealership awareness of any kind of exclusive ordering program at the time and what was available, etc.
With many manufacturers there are default items when ordering their cars such as the black as an interior color as the dealer may be allocated a car and they physically have to go in to change the build by a certain date to get a beige interior or add some different options, etc. There are different time frames for what type of changes can be made and when they can be input as well.
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Not that this is related to Porsche, but it gives a little insight. In 2003, I ordered an Audi RS6. Audi was going to build around 1,000 of these for the US market, in the end I think they made 1,200 and change. They were at the end of the 2003 production, as the base A6 was transitioning to the new 2004-on platform.
I wasn't all that thrilled with the color choices, but I ordered one anyway. I don't remember the date but it was the better part of a year before the car would be produced. The bodies for these cars were built alongside the normal A6/S6 production but they were finished separately, sort of like some of the original quattros and the early BMW M cars.
Audi set up a special network for the propective owners and sent them all sorts of promotional crap, along with weekly status updates and whatnot. The summer of 2003, I traveled a bit to look at some of the color offerings in person. I picked Avus Silver, but there was another silver on the regular A6 that I liked better. I had some connections to Audi (ironically, the same guy that got me in the door with Porsche in 1981) and I asked for them to paint the car this other silver color. They agreed, for the price of $2,500. Not a bad deal for them, as all they had to do was pick up a different spray gun when my body rolled through the paint booth.
About 2 months before they were to begin building my car, I got an email that said the deal was off, because there "wasn't enough time before the car got built." That was obviously horse****, but that was also the end of the discussion.
JR