Red Book Chassis/Engine Numbers
 

I'm going to look at a very nice "matching numbers" 1969 E. The seller has an older COA (format is unfamiliar to me, but looks official enough in the fax), but the numbers are not quite consistent with the Red Book. The VIN is correct for a 69E non-Karmann coupe, but the engine number is a 629xxxx, type 901.09 as indicated on the COA. If I'm reading my Red Book correctly, the 69E coupe should have an engine number that begins with 619xxxx. Any thoughts on whether Red Book, COA or seller might be inaccurate? Thanks

The information in the Red Book is correct. I checked it against Peter Morgan's book and they both say a Porsche and Karmann built '69 E coupe and Targa should have a type 901/09 with serial # 6190001 to 6192455.

Edit: Both books are incorrect with respect to '69 E model engine serial #s. Type 901/09 shoud read 6290001 to 6922270.

The sporto '69 E coupes have 901/11 with # 6298001-6298583.

I think the reference books are wrong. The way the engine serial numbers break down are: 6= 911 engine; 1=T, 2=E, 3=S; the 9 is the year and the last four the sequential build numbers.

Anyone have a factory Technical Specifications book handy?

Yep your right Mike. I wondered about the second digit being '1' in both books for an E model. Your right both books are wrong. I just looked at the Porsche Techinical Spec. book and it is listed correctly there.

Thanks guys. Seemed odd to me that both the T and E coupes would have the second digit as '1' I'm not familiar with the Technical Specification book - is this something that is model/year specific?

Here's what I was using to get the correct information. This is a really great little booklet.

http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/Porsche-911-t-e-s-1969-71-Technical-Specs-book_W0QQcmdZViewItemQQ_trksidZp3286Q2em20Q2el1116 QQhashZitem250090361855QQitemZ250090361855QQptZMot orsQ5fManualsQ5fLiterature

I'm pretty sure this price is way too high. You should be able to get it for less if you look around.:)

Thanks Brian.

It looks like the Red Book uses Peter Morgan's book as a source, so there error starts there. I'm going to look at the car tomorrow.

I did go look at the car today. An honest car that has some needs and a little rust, but nothing too severe and drives ok. The car has had one repaint, original headliner (yellowed but no tears) and carpet (worn thin in many spots), but still has original soundproofing inside, with decent panel fit. One curiosity though - below the engine type stamp on the case is another five digit number stamped in the case. This number has no correlation to the VIN or engine number that I can see. Any ideas what this number might be? Thanks