Porsche certificate, for my 914 Options

[daytona]

Hi guys,
Can anyone tell me where I can get a certificate from Porsche showing all the particulars about my car? I decided to sell one of my 914s and I like to have a certificate showing it is a numbers matching car.
Thanks,
Bill.

[djway]

I have purchased several "Birth Certificates" as the VW world calls them for some cars.
You provided the serial and case# and VW said yes or now as to the engine being original. No information is given away to allow for misdemeanors to occur.

[bbrock]

I have purchased several "Birth Certificates" as the VW world calls them for some cars.
You provided the serial and case# and VW said yes or now as to the engine being original. No information is given away to allow for misdemeanors to occur.

I got a COA for my 914 shortly before they ended them and that's how it worked for me. They verified my matching numbers case but no info for the trans. They also failed to note the optional "Sport" package my car was equipped with.

[Superhawk996]

I have purchased several "Birth Certificates" as the VW world calls them for some cars.
You provided the serial and case# and VW said yes or now as to the engine being original. No information is given away to allow for misdemeanors to occur.

I got a COA for my 914 shortly before they ended them and that's how it worked for me. They verified my matching numbers case but no info for the trans. They also failed to note the optional "Sport" package my car was equipped with.

@bbrock
So when you told them . .. . did they "adjust" their records? (IMG:style_emoticons/default/av-943.gif)

The reality is that 1973 was a long long time ago in a galaxy far far away. Quality control what not what it is today, computerized record keeping didn't exist, and dope smoking was rampant! Not surprised that even Porsche's records are only semi-reliable at best.

I'm glad you had some luck with them! OT -- your car is coming along nicely! Keep up the great work!

[davep]

Quality control what not what it is today, computerized record keeping didn't exist,

Not true, there are a few people with a computer list of cars with the info included. I have a photo of such a page of 60 cars that I think were 1972 911T by Karmann. Over the last 4 decades I have developed a relationship with a few friends that have the access I need to such information.

[Superhawk996]

Quality control what not what it is today, computerized record keeping didn't exist,

Not true, there are a few people with a computer list of cars with the info included. I have a photo of such a page of 60 cars that I think were 1972 911T by Karmann. Over the last 4 decades I have developed a relationship with a few friends that have the access I need to such information.

Maybe a bit of overstatement on my part. Yes, OEM's had IBM mainframe computers as early as the 60's. However, those mainframe computers were not integrated to the production floor level of manufacturing.

I didn't mean to imply some sort of computer list didn't or couln't exist after the fact. I have first hand awareness of OEM records having been maintained initially on paper, and later having been optically scanned, and the information extracted to a database for record keeping and/or quality control analysis.

My broader point was the 17 digit VIN system had not yet been implmented (started in 1981) There was no Just-In-Time production system that would scheduled a VIN to be built on a given day when the supplier would ship the needed parts, and then marry a given engine and transmission to that VIN. Bar code readers were not yet implemented to scan an engine, transmission, and VIN to marry all that information together into a centralized database automatically wihout human intervention.

In the end, I believe it would be someone looking at which engine went to which VIN and recording that data (likely by hand, on paper) and it would later be transferred via a data entry clerk into a mainframe for long term storage. Same for paint codes and optional content. That critical step of mainframe data entry would have been bascially a manual data entry by a person and therefore prone to human error. Even if the production facility had a mainframe terminal on the plant floor for data entry, it still would have been prone to human error. That human error at the data point of entry is the nature of the beast, and that is the reason all OEM's have moved toward fully automated data collection on the plant floor for critical data.

My point was that the 1970's were not "computerized" as we conceive of it today with automated bar code readers that read numerous parts (and now Sofware Version too!) and automatically match them to a VIN and stores that vehicle as-built data to a central repository all without human intervention.

It seems Karmann never even recorded the transmission numbers based off the COA's I've seen online that all show N/A. Likewise, the rest of the vehicle data would be subject to human error in data entry as it was translated from production floor into a mainframe. This is why the COA's often contain errors that are later "corrected" by owners arguing with Porsche and/or having to present thier original documents showing that their vehicle's orignal paint was blue as delivered, the door plate shows blue, but yet COA said it was Hot Pink. (IMG:style_emoticons/default/dry.gif)