1975 Door DOT/VIN Sticker - Was CA different? Options

[wonkipop]

checked a few more 912Es on BAT.
all of them have WEST GERMANY.
so they flip over from the start.


very quick check on beetles on BAT.
looks like they keep GERMANY on vin label until end of 76MY and flip to WEST GERMANY for 77MY which is mid 76 calendar year if they did the flip at model year change.

76

77


this one is pretty cool.
roger daltry's vw cab. 77 model. rhd - english market.
they were still using the stamped metal manufacture id plate for the ROW cars.
old style.
WEST GERMANY.
its a nice car.
great color.
man it was well documented in advert. a ton of photos.




so basically it was all going down in that time period. 75-77
changeover from status of country and its name.
and all the products are getting sorted.
my belief is they probably hoped to transition to west germany on these labels once it all got oked by internation treaties. diplomatic stuff but the feds like any random bureaucracy got them by the neck in the USA and didn't care. insisted on a name there and then no matter what was in the pipeline just ahead.

[davep]

The manufacturer tag was not used on most 1976 911 & 912E & 914 but reappeared in 1977

[wonkipop]

The manufacturer tag was not used on most 1976 911 & 912E & 914 but reappeared in 1977

that would be correct for usa market cars davep.
technically the vin label does the job for a USA car.
912E = usa only and i now been educated that a 76 914 is too.

the manufacturer id plate would have stayed on a ROW 911.
they did not have vin labels here.
the closest thing to that is an additional plate that was fixed on here by the importer,
termed a compliance plate. its a metal plate similar to id plate.
affirms car complies with australian standards and regulations.

i can have a look at that one. my mate has a 76 aus delivery 911 he has had since new.
kind of be interesting to see what country name is stamped on the plate of that.

[wonkipop]

@davep

i phoned up my mate.
i was in error. he has a 75 (constructed in 74). aus delivery.

id plate attached anyway.
same as US cars? identical i believe.
interesting how porsche get around it - don't say germany. turn themselves into a city. stuttgart-zuffenhausen.
never really looked at a 911 plate before!

nothing else on car body apart from the old fashioned plate in the door jamb similar to karmann plate. which says western germany like the old fashioned k plates.
nowhere else is there mention of germany or west germany on the car body itself.
(individual parts might have it, but not a major stamp or plate on the body).

you got to wonder how porsche were getting them past the feds in the USA as well with earlier vin labels with no country on them - and then no manufacturer id plate with matching number and country either.

[wonkipop]

here is a compliance plate from around the same time.
gets affixed to the car in australia by the distributor/importer.

no mention of germany ( a bit like basil in fawlty towers ?).

of interest to american viewers.
note officiousness of australian plate listing all the various codes and standards.
not sure where they put these on the cars, would have been a struggle to find the space.

[wonkipop]

my mate rang back with more info.
admittedly we are just australians with whatever we get.
but he has mercs from 60s, 70s, 80s and 90s.
a 600 series.
some stuttgart taxis.
a harmless 4 cylinder 80s middle class station wagon.
and a fried early 90s v8 sedan.

all the plates are remarkably consistent.
made in germany.
mb could not be swerved.

as to VW.
its owned to varying extents by the german govt.
state of saxony.
i forget how it works but it may as well be nationalised.
20-30% shareholding, however you do the numbers and when you do the numbers.
but always 51% of the board.

for want of a better word its subject to being "politically correct".
in line with govt.

as to porsche.
very coy. village cottage industry identity.
the boys from stuttgart.
where is that again?
and aren't the family austrian.

i don't know about bmw.

but that sticker is fascinating that snuck through.

and if porsche had anything to do with it, like VW they would have turned sideways and said, i dunno, whatever. but i doubt they had anything to do with it. the sticker came out of vw inventory for a vw produced car.

porsche were making 9000 cars a year.
reprint a vin sticker if its wrong.
VW were making 9000 cars a day.
thats a big decision placing the sticker order.

i dunno how big the order was for supply of vin stickers.
a month. a week. a quarter.
but i reckon that sticker that the feds ordered the recall on (and they must have) got someone sacked in VW or sent to the cleaning department. there would have been a scapegoat for management indecision/what do we do etc"
because they just would not put a name on it? despite the us feds coming at them.
and its so obvious it is designed to allow the name of the country to be included.

but VW was not a private company or didn't have fully private shareholders like all the other. auto companies
it had the govt. breathing over its shoulders with a hefty 51% distorted interest in it, to stop foreign takeovers. despite the govt. owning only about a quarter to a third of it.

must have been very funny when the feds ordered the recall on the stickers.

and why not recall the 5 years of cars before that while they were at it?

[dr914@autoatlanta.com]

we have three varieties that we currently punch with your date of manufacture for 75 dollars including the sticker: silver 914-6 black early 914 without weights, late 914-4 with weights. Trying to get copies of the rest so we can duplicate and then punch those as well

[StarBear]

we have three varieties that we currently punch with your date of manufacture for 75 dollars including the sticker: silver 914-6 black early 914 without weights, late 914-4 with weights. Trying to get copies of the rest so we can duplicate and then punch those as well

Could you post pics? Not posted on website. Also, do they have the anti-tamper circle cuts? (IMG:style_emoticons/default/confused24.gif)

[wonkipop]

As I recall Porsche reassumed a controlling interest in the 914 in late 1974, so I wonder if the change in labeling was related to that?

@JeffBowlsby @Davep



the glitch (or rare) vin stickers that lasts for only a month or two at the beginning of 1975 is VW wide.

it looks almost as if they rearrange the layout to create enough space for further words (name of country?) for the start of 75 calendar year and then don't include the name until the next batch of vin stickers in about late feb/early march 75.

here are kombi/bus vin labels.
same pattern of types as 914s in same chronology.
slightly different text arrangements as they are not passenger cars.
(two vin dates as some are kamper vans, second vin is interior kamper fit out).










difficult to easily find van labels from 76 and 77.
but by beginning of calendar year 78 it seems VW replace Germany with West Germany.

some beetle info i had on file shows that in 76 and 77 vin labels on beetles were using Germany.

Reasonable conclusion = VW adopt the name West Germany in 1978.
but only for USA bound cars on USA Vin Labels.
this all applies only to USA market cars.

cars for the ROW / Europe (EU/Common market as it was known) go over to using the name West Germany in 1976 calendar year. these cars retain manufacturer ID plates.

US market VWs lose the ID plates and transition to only having the Vin Label in the door.

------

USA cars

VW probably drop the ID plate in USA cars as a rationalisation and economy.
insignnificant on perhaps individual cars but across daily US export production it added up to a definite saving.

as a result of dropping the manuf i.d. plate for USA, vw had to transfer the country of origin/manufacture on to the USA vin label.

this appears to have been a series of changes for the first 6 months of calendar year 75.
914s probably illustrate the same transition on other VW product.

1. re designed sticker with space allocated for name. Jan/Feb 75.
2. addition of name - Germany - March 75 to end of MY 75 / approx july or aug 75.
3. introduction of 76 MY car, drops manuf id plate, has only vin label = to later 75MY cars.

at step 1 VW seem to hesistate. possibly attempting to clarify when the name change of germany will be recognized by the US govt. after a couple of months it is confirmed.
not a problem at that stage of the year as they still had man. i.d. plates on cars.

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ROW/EU cars

The EU is the first to recognize the new modified official name for Germany as West Germany. its adopted throughout those markets and territories for the ID plate in 76.

It is highly likely that the USA did not formally recognize the modified official name of West Germany until some time later. safe to say just before 1978 if VW labels are trustworthy indications.

I think they would be. VW was the only auto maker in germany where the german govt. was a significant stakeholder and had a place on the board (controlling interest).
everything would have been crossed t-s and dotted i-s.

conclusion.

the Vin labels are the province of VW and have nothing to do with porsche.

the Vin labels are tailored to the USA market only and reflect the protocols around wording and names particular to US - German relations.

the ROW of world cars diverge and adopt a different protocol.

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of interest.

other car makers in germany seem to plough their own furrow regardless of official govt. protocols etc.

MB are just made in germany from whoa to go.
post war occupation / independence / economic miracle era/ post re-unfication.
they never change their tune.

Porsche adopt West Germany in 1976 on their USA vin labels.
a full two years before VW.
probably less proper. they don't wait around.
but they don't have the german govt. looking over their shoulder on the board.

i don't know about other carmakers.

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i found a few more 75 Vin labels for 75 cars easily and quickly off BAT.
the redesigned stickers without Germany written on them are restricted to the first 8 weeks of 75. the first stickers with germany included appear at the end of week 8.

[wonkipop]

What to make of this label?

Now that's a funny one, I've had that in my database of 914s with odd VIN or Chassis number for one reason or another. I found this question on Pelican:

"I'm considering a 1975 914 in Burgundy with a cream interior being sold by a car dealer in Syosset NY. It's a 1.7 liter and a beauty with only 17,567 miles on it. The interior is all original. Virtually no wear. I haven't seen it in person but the extensive pictures show no rust. the vin is 4752901632. The car was repainted it's original color at some point, but it was a quality job so it looks factory."

Obviously should not be a 1.7 liter, most likely a 1.8L, but just a coincidence that you posted that one. The "9" is a little funky in the VIN, 1 too many dots?

Here are more pics including VIN and Chassis tag of 1632:

(IMG:http://www.914world.com/bbs2/uploads_offsite/cdn.dealeraccelerate.com-25305-1647381820.1.jpg)(IMG:http://www.914world.com/bbs2/uploads_offsite/cdn.dealeraccelerate.com-25305-1647381820.2.jpg)(IMG:http://www.914world.com/bbs2/uploads_offsite/cdn.dealeraccelerate.com-25305-1647381820.3.jpg)(IMG:http://www.914world.com/bbs2/uploads_offsite/cdn.dealeraccelerate.com-25305-1647381820.4.jpg)

@JeffBowlsby + @MCShack .

here is a second one of those funny vin labels i came across looking up 75 1.8 evap emission material.

the one posted above is 1632 car for the 75 MY. built 36th week of 1974.
vin label should say 09/74? am i right.

and this one is very slightly earlier. 966th car. built 35th week of 1974.
vin label on this one should say 09/74?





in originality section of the website.

http://www.914world.com/bbs2/index.php?sho...76497&st=40

found vw cabrio PKN numbers (sometimes called karmann #) from around 37th week of 74 - there was a batch of 914s around same week that used the beetle cabrio PKN# fifth digit instead of the 5 or 6 they used earlier and the 0 and 1 they used later.

maybe there were a few mistakes going on in the karmann factory at that time with PKN numbers and Vin labels. someone had the number stamping machines for chassis plates and vin labels set up incorrectly?

@davep and i were thinking this is around the time that karmann shifts the 914 production line over to be with the beetles just after karmann ghia was discontinued.

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there is a long gap in dates between #633 above getting its PKN# plate and getting its Vin Label. 35th week of 74 = 26-30 august. #1632 is similar. almost like they were stockpiling bodies in august? then pausing production, while rearranging the production lines, then getting back to business in october?