Strange VIN number

I hope for your sake that the most common reason is not true. This that you have two cars, cut and welded together ! It is not a good sign as I do not think it is possible to get two VIN numbers on a car without parts being taken from a donor car. It is likely your car has been in a serious accident at some time.

It's possible that the engine was swapped, but nothing else was done, I assume. Europe got more powerful versions of the turbo engine than we did here in America, so maybe it was a European engine swap? Other than that, the only thing I can think of is that Audi, for some strange reason, VIN numbered the engines seperately from the rest of the car.

Paul Sure wrote: : Hi

: Since saturday I am a proud owner of a 1988 Turbo S. A strange thing is that : the car has 2 VIN numbers. WPOZZZ95ZJN154178 at the right side in the engine : compartment and WPOAA2955JN154178 at the windscreen tag and at the sticker : next to the fusebox.

I believe they all have this... the ZZZ number is just a chassis number. Later, when they know where the car is destined for and are putting in country appropriate smog equipment, they put on the proper vin, which I beleive in the U.S. is AA2... so you have a car that doesn't have quite as much pep as its native counterparts due to our smog requirements, but on the bright side, you have bumpers that work...

Check Peter Morgans 944 book or rennlist as I believe there is a thread about this from someone who totalled their 944 and was being tormented by their insurance co over mismatching numbers.

Yes only the country codes do not match. No idea if this is common. It could be that the car was meant for Europe first but that it was changed to an american model before it left the factory. The car was imported from the US by the previous owner. It still has the ugly american rear bumper ;).

Paul

The VIN number is the one on the windscreen. The chassis number is the one with the ZZZs, which would match the windscreen on the Euro cars. They changes the windscreen tag for the US but don't bother with the others. My 944 and 928 have the same scheme. Emanuel

The VIN in the engine compartment says that you have a 1988 944 Turbo S Coupe, manufactured at the Neckarsulm factory in Germany for the European (World Market)

The VIN in the engine compartment says that you have a 2ltr 1988 944 Turbo S Coupe with driver and passenger air bags, manufactured at the Neckarsulm factory in Germany for the US market. You might want to check the code you gave for the windscreen I believe that it should be WPOAA295ZJN154178 (although the different character is a fill character and could theoretically be anything.)

The only difference in the VIN's you gave is the market they were produced for. I would contact Porsche and see if they changed the production destination mid run on any models.

Steve Hall

Paul Sure wrote: : Yes only the country codes do not match. No idea if this is common. It could : be that the car was meant for Europe first but that it was changed to an : american model before it left the factory. The car was imported from the US : by the previous owner. It still has the ugly american rear bumper ;).

I dunno why, but I could have sworn that I said that... it is common (which was why I refered to the Peter Morgan book), look at your own car... chassis number is not vin number... chassis start out equal and get tweaked along the way depending on final destination.