Discrepancy in VIN numbers

[rubystone]

I saw a car that has a different VIN on the plate rivetted to the screen pillar to that stamped on the bulkhead behind the fuel tank. The pillar had a WPOE number, the bulkhead a WPOZZZ number. The last 8 characters of the numbers were identical. Can anyone shed any light on this?

[danww]

Two different cars welded together?

[softinthehead]

was thinking along the same lines. cant think of any valid reason for two vin numbers to be different. is the front half a porsche and the back half a skoda (they have engines in the back too dont they?)

[Melv]

Odd, WPOE indicates a US or Canada car, '87, '88 or '89.

The tenth digit will confirm the model year.

WPOZZZ is Rest Of World(ROW) or Japan.

Mel

>> Edited by Melv on Sunday 13th March 13:02

[softinthehead]

so one part of the car is from the States and the other from rest of world? still sounds dodgy, doesnt it?

[Thom]

danww said:

Two different cars welded together?

I once came across a 944 turbo that had no less than 3 different VINs
It had been bought for being parted out, though.

[Henry-F]

What car was it? A 3.2 Carrera Possibly ?

Henry

[rubystone]

Yes Henry - any idea why it should have two different numbers? It's definitely a US car.

[danww]

Does it have a label on the inner front right wing? That should have a VIN number as well.

Are the numbers otherwise consistent? ie is it just the market designators that differ?





>> Edited by danww on Sunday 13th March 22:28

[rubystone]

It appears to be just the market designators that are different. All labels (nothing on the inside of the bonnet) bear WPOE......mailed you BTW Dan

[danww]

It would be interesting to know if this is the norm - ie the number engraved on the car itself in the front luggage area is ALWAYS a WPOZZZ number, but the number on the labels/windscreen have the market designator codes (eg WPOABO for the US).

You can sort of see how this would be the case, if the chassises (wth is the plural of chassis? ) are all the same and its only the "add ons" that distinguish the cars for different markets.

Anyone know?

[melv]

A reply from an insider at a Porsche dealer:

"The chassis numbers on the cars should always be the same, wherever they are placed. So the car you saw is worth investigating further, it would not have left Porsche like that......................"

Rgds
Mel

[Henry-F]

rubystone already has mail !

Henry