Discussion elsewhere about the different editions and print runs of the maintenance book editions for FOW in English has raised some interesting questions.
This made me think it might be interesting to build up a picture for other languages, markets and for all model years.
This forum with its broad reach is quite well placed to build a fairly completoe chronology of all the different versions editions of these books over the years. In these days of personal data privacy concerns there is no need / request to show original purchaser details, chassis numbers etc. Date of delivery adds a bit more context to timeline and could be typed if a poster wishes to share without showing the full details in photo.
A lot can be learned just by showing the small print on the reverse of the first page which gives the six digit print reference, the print month and year, the quantity in the print run. Alongside the banner showing the model lineup.
Here is an example of mine to start the thread that does not reveal anything specific or confidential to the car in question.
Decoding book' Print Reference 4309.20 etc as best I understand it:
- 43 denotes the function/ department as well as the type of document within the function.
- 09 seems to be a number that just gets incremented within that first pair -- possibly denoting a notable change content of version? Not quite sure what triggers the increment of this second pair of digits but have seen 430x.20 on similar books with different number in x as well as seeing different print dates and print quantity editions showing the same 4309.20? Maybe upisdue increment broadly aligns with model year refresh ?
- Date in month /year ( Roman numerals often for month -- the mm/yy denotes first print date)
- The other number often in hundreds denotes the print run quantity. Sometimes the number is followed by M to abbreviate the print run quantity to thousands (in similar way we would use abbreviation k today).
- Suffix .xx denotes target market. NA , ROW, German markets, French Italian. The suffix of the number of the example above denotes the market xxxx.20 so here it refers to rest of world English language including Britain, Australia, South Africa, NZ etc. Often correlating roughly .20 to RHD markets but not necessarily. The first digit 2 in suffix denotes English in all its forms. The second digit denotes the more specific target market within that language. RoW vs NA distinction being the most obvious well known example of this.
- not sure meaning of the capital M at end but it often appears?
- The KG AG ( sometimes spelt out in full) change in boilerplate appears during in 73 which is not a surprise. However there are examples where it seems to regress from AG back to KG late in 73 which is a bit odd?
From the discussion elsewhere, I know there were at least four versions of the 430x.20 rest of world markets English maintenance record for model year 73 alone. Four editions in such a short time for a just a subset of English speaking markets! Four versions row before we get to complexity of model year 73 NA (also English, Germany, France and Italy -- all would be different versions and probably various print editions in that one 73 model year. So likley we could see lots of variety assuming a similar pattern and richness exists acrossother model years, all country markets and all languages.
Model range varied by market for example well known Carrera RS wasn't officially sold in USA in model year 73 so Carrera 2.7 is not listed on NA maintenance record books in 73 but was listed on RoW English books as well as German, French, Italian that 73 model year.
Typically there is a number kundendienst heft number in these books. Often found sped or printed inside on reverse of the first page. Some have *, some have No. My understanding is that when the book was completed by official agent on delivery that instigated linking of chassis # engine # to the tracking of its after-market and warranty work etc. Link paper based to Kardex up to circa 69 and presumably to the system that superseded Kardex. Some might regard this number as confidential info specific to their car so mentioning it upfront in case poster chooses exclude from any photo.
On the basis of interesting discussion and questions raised by just a handful of examples of ROW in English in other threads and fourum it might be informative expand scope here to see the examples from other markets.
The transition of record books to various model years with their different different model lineup might be interesting to see. Also curious if versions changed for other reasons. I know in early part of model year 73 in some markets there was an interesting way of temporarily handling the transition to the new 73 model lineup on these booklets!
Possibly with other photo examples this thread could grow become a useful reference to the chronology and evolution of these different editions of maintenance records over time and across languages and country markets. Often these original documents get lost from glovebox but I'm sure there are plenty original versions still out there ( not so interesting to see current classic repros with different print reference nor known reproductions by other parties as while as less informative in building understanding history).
I know there are historians and literature collectors who might add more to help understand or correct the above. Maybe being German this is a DIN print reference numerical coding system. Even without such interest in literature or owners of cars can add a jigsaw piece to build the overall picture collectively.
My personal interest is model year 73 row English , for the most part, I've already got the Info I'm interested in from the discussions and posts elsewhere. Over to the community here to see if there is interest in building this thread out as a reference.
There are pages giving a minutia analysis of toolkit variations -- unless I've missed it -- didn't find comparable thread as collective resource for understanding a much more fundamental maintenance documentation versions, chronology etc for these longhood cars. Doubt too many original owners looked at toolkit contents but suspect many used the maintenance records linked to their new car.
Steve
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Originally Posted by 72targa
