Porsche 987 Gen1 Cayman Chassis numbers

[johnpwh]

Hi

Don't know if someone can help.
I have a chronologically early 987.1 Cayman registered 30/11/2005. I am interested to know 'early' this car is in terms of production number.
I have read all I can find on the 17 character VIN numbers, but that implies a 'sequential number' (ie last 3 characters) of over 71,000. Seems unlikely as I understand delivery of Caymans only started in about September 2005.
Anyone enlighten me?

John

[F6C]

Don't think it will have been a terribly low number. They cranked out about 16,000 987.1 3.4 Caymans in the first year (and they were well up to speed knocking out the 987 / 997 platform by the time the Cayman was released). So a couple of months into production would think they'd have already made somewhere between, say, 1,000-2,000.

Depends on what you define as low, but seems improbably that it would have been within in the first few hundred may, for instance.

[johnpwh]

Hi
Appreciate that, just wondered if you could tell from the VIN. As you say they would have stockpiled for the launch as I doubt they were produced to order initially.

[Pope]

The serial number is the last 4 digits with body/engine type being the 9th and 10th digit.

An example WP0ZZZ98Z5U721234

WP0ZZZ - They all had that (US VIN is slightly different)

98 - The beginning of the model code

Z - filler

5 - Model year (5 = 2005; 6 = 2006 - til 2010 when the code reverted to letters again, B is 2011; up to M now for 2021)

U - factory/production location (S - Stuttgart / U - Finland)

7 - The end of the model code (so far then, from the above you can work out the example is a 2005 987 built in Finland)

2 - model type

1234 - serial


Just took this from the freely available online Parts catalogue:


Model: 987 05 Model life 2005>>2008

19.07.2018 - 1 Kat P27
VIN-Numbers Overview

Model year Date VIN Remark
2005 01.08.2004 98-5S700061 >98-5S710000 Boxster
2005 01.08.2004 98-5U700061 >98-5U710000 Boxster
2005 01.08.2004 98-5S720061 >98-5S730000 Boxster S
2005 01.08.2004 98-5U720061 >98-5U730000 Boxster S
2005 01.08.2004 98-5S710061 >98-5S720000 Boxster
(USA, CDN, MEX, BR)
2005 01.08.2004 98-5U710061 >98-5U720000 Boxster
(USA, CDN, MEX, BR)
2005 01.08.2004 98-5S730061 >98-5S740000 Boxster S
(USA, CDN, MEX, BR)
2005 01.08.2004 98-5U730061 >98-5U740000 Boxster S
(USA, CDN, MEX, BR)
2006 01.08.2005 98-6S700061 >98-6S710000 Boxster
2006 01.08.2005 98-6U700061 >98-6U710000 Boxster
2006 01.08.2005 98-6S720061 >98-6S730000 Boxster S
2006 01.08.2005 98-6U720061 >98-6U730000 Boxster S
2006 01.08.2005 98-6S710061 >98-6S720000 Boxster
(USA, CDN, MEX, BR)
2006 01.08.2005 98-6U710061 >98-6U720000 Boxster
(USA, CDN, MEX, BR)
2006 01.08.2005 98-6S730061 >98-6S740000 Boxster S
(USA, CDN, MEX, BR)
2006 01.08.2005 98-6U730061 >98-6U740000 Boxster S
(USA, CDN, MEX, BR)
2007 01.08.2006 98-7S700061 >98-7S710000 Boxster
2007 01.08.2006 98-7U700061 >98-7U710000 Boxster
2007 01.08.2006 98-7S720061 >98-7S730000 Boxster S
2007 01.08.2006 98-7U720061 >98-7U730000 Boxster S
2007 01.08.2006 98-7S710061 >98-7S720000 Boxster
(USA, CN, CDN, MEX,
BR)
2007 01.08.2006 98-7U710061 >98-7U720000 Boxster
(USA, CN, CDN, MEX,
BR)
2007 01.08.2006 98-7S730061 >98-7S740000 Boxster S
(USA, CN, CDN, MEX,
BR)
2007 01.08.2006 98-7U730061 >98-7U740000 Boxster S
(USA, CN, CDN, MEX,
BR)
2008 01.08.2007 98-8S700061 >98-8S710000 Boxster
2008 01.08.2007 98-8U700061 >98-8U710000 Boxster
2008 01.08.2007 98-8S720061 >98-8S730000 Boxster S
2008 01.08.2007 98-8U720061 >98-8U730000 Boxster S
2008 01.08.2007 98-8S710061 >98-8S720000 Boxster
(USA, CN, CDN, MEX,
BR)
2008 01.08.2007 98-8U710061 >98-8U720000 Boxster
(USA, CN, CDN, MEX,
BR)
2008 01.08.2007 98-8S730061 >98-8S740000 Boxster S
(USA, CN, CDN, MEX,
BR)
2008 01.08.2007 98-8U730061 >98-8U740000 Boxster S

Edited by Pope on Sunday 14th March 16:33

[GT4P]

Not sure if I remember this correctly but where the 72 is that not gearbox type?
ie 71 = Auto, 72 = manual

[Pope]

https://www.porsche.com/uk/accessoriesandservice/c...

All the spec codes/numbers and build date ranges can be found at the start of the document for each model on the .pdfs available from Porsche's site.

[johnpwh]

Thanks Pope
Just surprised that only 4 characters are allowed for the actual car number, as this is only allows 9999 cars a model year of that particular type. I suppose Alphanumerics could be used if necessary?

[Pope]

Opens the possibilities up with a few changes; potentially 9999 of each from just one model year if needed (the first four would be for RoW; the last four would be USA).

WP0ZZZ98Z5S71
WP0ZZZ98Z5S72
WP0ZZZ98Z5U71
WP0ZZZ98Z5U72
WP0CA298Z5S71
WP0CA298Z5S72
WP0CA298Z5U71
WP0CA298Z5U72

A much better explanation and more:
https://www.stuttcars.com/technical/vin-decoder/

Internal; development and test cars would all have a VIN assigned.

Offf topic but the only time I have worked on a Porsche with an undocumented VIN was when working on a pre-production 959 - sold by Sothebys a few years ago.....

https://rmsothebys.com/en/auctions/po18/the-porsch...

[InitialDave]

If you ask Porsche nicely, they'll tell you the build date of the car, which may be of interest?

[johnpwh]

Thanks everyone. My first ever Pistonheads posts! Very helpful