Special 914 model, made on a monday!!! Options

[dr914@autoatlanta.com]

very rare!!!! (we have seen these factory mistakes before):

[Root_Werks]

Okay, someone please explain this one to me. A VIN that starts with a 5 seems out of sorts, the rest I dunno what I'm looking at.

[wonkipop]

Okay, someone please explain this one to me. A VIN that starts with a 5 seems out of sorts, the rest I dunno what I'm looking at.

this might assist with rest of "dunno what i am looking at"

some vins for the 411 {type 4 regular models).

71 MY 411 4 door

42 stands for 411 4 door. (i believe 42 = automatic. 41 would be manual).
1 stands for 1971
2 stands for 1970 production onwards (second decade) - but more on that later because even that 2 is weird and is a convention based around beetle Vin #s given the astonishing production rates and numbers for beetles. but for the sake of lower production volume cars this was 1 prior to 1970 and 2 after 1970.
then there is a zero. this i believe was because VW had the vain hope that the 411 might get up to 1.000,000 cars a year as per beetle. never did.




71 MY 411 variant (square back)

46 stands for 411 2 door variant. 46 = auto. 45 would be manual.
1 stands for 1971
rest as per above.




72 MY 411 variant (squareback).

46 stands for 411 2 door variant. 46 - auto. see how its the same as for the 71.
2 is now the second number. its 1972.
next 2 stands for second decade of production.
rest of numbers as per above.



examples of the 2 door fastback version of the 411 used the numbers 43 and 44 as the first two numbers.

and the 914 - which started life initially as conceptually a VW karmann ghia type 4 was assigned the number 47 as the first two numbers and retained those two numbers for its vin allocations.


-------

now as to that number 2 which is the 4th number.
it really goes like this.
VW assigned it first with the beetle in mind.
and it was 1 before 1970. (or look closer and its not even there for the first million).
i think the date on this new vin type sequencing is that it was introduced in 1968.
anyway by the end of model year 1969 (mid way through calendar year 1969) they had almost hit 2 million beetles.
so they clicked it to a 2 with the start of model year 1970 mid way through calendar year 1969. and then.......kept going. you can see it clicked over to a 3 a short time later and on it went. 4 , 5, 6 and so forth.




and as a result of this milestone in VW production with vin numbers hitting 2.0m right around the start of model year 1970 VW decided to transfer that 2 across as the base line number for all other model VWs beginning in my 1970. including the 914 which starts its production in my 1970. so thats why they all get the 2.

then after the 2 the number is a raw 6 number set which is cumulative chassis numbers as they are produced beginning 000,001 up to 999,999. which a beetle could easily be made in those numbers for a model year.

and as noted they vainly hoped for the type 4s. (dream on as it turned out).
but the 411 still got the 6 raw digits beginning 0.

however it was weird with the 914. they arbitrarily used 9 as the first digit.
knowing full well they would never get to a million. so its 9 followed by the cumulative chassis numbers produced in a model year.

the karmann ghias are similar. they seem to use a 5 where the 914s used a 9.
don't ask me why they chose 9 or 5 for those cars. they just do.
it might have meant something but no one knows. i was wrong it stood for karmann factory but i half thought that. since ghias and 914s were both made at karmann the 9 would not stand for that or otherwise ghias would have had it too.


hope that helps.
you can actually read those chassis vin numbers.
they do mean something.