Chassis Number Mystery- HELP!

[PSben]

Hi Everyone - I am looking to purchase my first air cooled 911 and I'm concerned that the car I am looking to purchase is fake or has been tampered with

The car is supposed to be a 1970 911E but the 6th digit on the vehicle id is a 3. From my research "3" was for the 914/6 and 924. The engine number is blank stamped. The transmission is a 901 and the serial seems to match that of a 1970s 911E.

I appreciate your help!

[damsroy]

This is my understanding as well that the 6th digit for a 911 1970E coupe should be a 0 or a 2.

[PSben]

So possibly the plate was tampered with... would a car like this be worth purchasing still? Any chance the 3 signifies a prototype or race chassis?

[dporsche74]

nah they made mistakes early out .. my 69e had a 4 stamped in the vin number ..

[davep]

Yes, that is certainly odd. Either the factory goofed on all 3 VIN stampings or someone faked them. It would be very useful to get the production # from the dash frame, below the radio opening and hidden by the knee pad. This would help identify the body. I would also check to see if there is any report of the car being stolen. Should not be a Karrmann body; Karmann E went to only 667. You did not say coupe or Targa.
This could be a lovely Factory oops, or a nightmare.
I can help further if needed.

[davep]

nah they made mistakes early out .. my 69e had a 4 stamped in the vin number ..

What about the other VIN stamps? Were they consistently wrong as well?

[dporsche74]

indeed.........

[PSben]

Thanks for the help! I'll get the production numbers from under the radio. It does seem odd that all the numbers would be stamped incorrectly in all 3 places. Not sure if I'm reading into things too much but the plate looks very clean for a car that's 46 years old. Also the numbers from the trunk look like they are a different character/font.

Blows my mind that someone would go through such efforts to fake a cars numbers.

Thanks again for all the help!!

[PSben]

indeed.........

Well that's somewhat reassuring...

Does anyone know if you lose a significant value in the car if the engine is blank stamped?

Also the Band on the engine is GREEN which correlates with the 911E.

[davep]

Well that's somewhat reassuring...

Does anyone know if you lose a significant value in the car if the engine is blank stamped?

Yes, I have been collecting a few "oops" over the years. The trick is to do a bit of research to verify what it truly is.
A blank engine case means that a new crankcase was used to rebuild the engine. In some ways this is better than having the wrong engine #, but not as good as having the correct number. If this was a full concours car, then perhaps a significant loss in value, but I would guess that in your case it may make little difference. If the VIN is a factory typo, then there may be more value in the novelty VIN than the loss in engine value.