An amusing mystery: 1971 911S Coupé

[911T1971]

Not very late but still a special 1971 911S.

Ex Milou - Ex Jo Siffert 1971 911S has 911 130 1180 with Engine 6311580 (2.2litre), then experimental engine 632 9003 (2.4l sporto) built April 28 1971.

Following VIN was 911 130 1184.

[911T1971]

Btw above press release (post 5)
talks about 1971 production, including a two week strike.

Where do we know its strike was in “November 1971”...it makes no sense to talk about the current production year which in the text not even ends..if possible the two week strike indeed was in the 1971 production year (August 1970 - july 1971) if true, it could give a clue why VIN numbers are out of order for 1971 production models.

1971 was indeed a recession year and production (and sells) down. My 1971 911T was produced end of 1970, imported by amag to Switzerland in January 1971 and paper show, sold in June 1971 only. A few Christophorus talk about 1971, maybe i can dig out the article.

[manu72S]

Hi from Le Mans

my chassis has got 4826 production number.

Manu

[manu72S]

and last engine 1959

[911MRP]

Btw above press release (post 5)
talks about 1971 production, including a two week strike.

Where do we know its strike was in “November 1971”...it makes no sense to talk about the current production year which in the text not even ends..if possible the two week strike indeed was in the 1971 production year (August 1970 - july 1971) if true, it could give a clue why VIN numbers are out of order for 1971 production models.

1971 was indeed a recession year and production (and sells) down. My 1971 911T was produced end of 1970, imported by amag to Switzerland in January 1971 and paper show, sold in June 1971 only. A few Christophorus talk about 1971, maybe i can dig out the article.

Source: Factory press release December 1972 context the annual review.





I was interested to see that my model 73 Carrera RS being a first 500 series that was completed in calendar 72 according to its fahzeug auftrag it is one of the 2.2 percent.
Steve

[davep]

The numbers quoted by the factory do not match the model year production figures, so must be calendar year figures with a mix of model years.

See also:
https://www.early911sregistry.org/fo...k-2nd-printing

[911MRP]

As said its the “annual review” so relates to financial perspective. I don’t have the original source Porsche annual report but assume the cycle is calendar or close to calendar? Maybe someone has the annual reports - assume it would be audited and gaps in vin range noteworthy even in a KG ?

For 1970/1971 my copy of March 1971 factory multi year factory tech specs book gives these figures for TES (with K being Karmann and P being Porsche). I assume this information is nothing new for historians but I put it here for folks who haven’t seen it also because the end of calendar vin numbers must have held enough significance to be worth recording and sharing on these booklets even though it’s not production year aligned and aren’t necessarily built in strict vin order?

It’s not clear to me if the final chassis shown on these allows for the practice of the first few handfuls of vin numbers of the nominal ranges being reserved. For example in the Carrera RS model 1972/73 year it is accepted that for practical purposes Vin range starts at 9113600011 ( not 0001) and we see the tech specs book that year records 0319 as last RS vin of the model in calendar year 1972— presumably from wording that printed figure refers to chassis stamped 0319 being last but with range start being 0011 actual cars would be couple of handfuls less; would’ve been clearer to print number of examples built but seems they recorded vin on both booklets. This is equivalent for my tech specs booklet 72/73 print date May 1973


I can relate to this because as mentioned my RS has fahzeug auftrag ( it’s production order) with exact day car was completed and it’s vin tallies with the content of the photo extract above. Also with RS being launched beginning October 72 the 2.2 percent within the total doesn’t potential to be mix across model years as Carrera at that point a one model year
only.

[davep]

Steve, most likely the financial year as you suggest. I do not know what dates are the financial year end either. As you state, the last VIN of the calendar year is the highest VIN completed, but not contiguous from 0011 in all likelihood. At least if calendar year 1964 is a guide the VIN's jump around like a cat on a hot tin roof. So I treat the year end figures as guides to production. Dave

[911MRP]

Not sure how many here have been the group operations director of an automotive OEM but I find it intriguing that there appear to be large as yet unexplained gaps in Porsche vin sequence that year. Having myself had the role including oversight when commissioning of a new-build factory of similar scale to Porsche output that year (capacity to build about 10,000 units) assembling famous own-brand sports cars and sports cars we built under contact for one of the largest OEMs where things had to meet various formal international quality standards and client’s own quality controls I became familiar with the detail normally delegated when in a more a routine stable phase. While new models being introduced in brand new factory is not the same as disruption to Porsche’s bedded in ways of working for 911 I can empathise because of my experience in a OEM of comparable scale and complexity in turbulent phase. Believe me those situations affecting core product production get a LOT of attention of something is outside the norm.

For this reason I can’t imagine the folks in Porsche the equivalent most senior executive roles overseeing Porsche group operations in 1971 weren’t all over it like a rash during that very challenging year. The problems due to the reported strikes and the sales forecasts from some major markets on which the group operations operations plans would’ve been built ans approved were falling well short. Nightmare for the folks in the hot seat I’m sure! S&OP in a multinational OEM even in that modest by automotive industry scale is complex but far more so when faced with the problems reported in the article I posted. A set of moving parts to orchestrate in a complex value chain and product many model and country and customer choice configurations. The issues affecting the demand-side and the uncertainty on the fulfilment-side would’ve impacted not just the assembly those perturbations would have sent waves throughout any third party assembly contact manufacturing arrangements and the just on time parts supply partners I’m sure they were feeing the heat as the issue would’ve been escalated.

While obviously I don’t know specifics it seems more likely if there are significant vin gaps during 71 it’s likely related to and a consequence of actions taken to manage and control the disruptions — particularly if the vin control either side of the affected year didn’t have the same seems rather a coincidence it happens in that difficult year. I’d expect this issue would’ve quickly escalated to the most senior leadership. 911 being the main product set probably among highest priorities so expect information will exist that shines a light even though internal operations memos etc don’t seem to appear as much as other more “sexy” period documents about racing etc.

Maybe someone here has the relevant annual reports or other Porsche internal papers in their literature stash. If something like J Barths toolbox that is pretty irrelevant in history of Porsche can show up at auction who knows what’s out there that’s about situation that could’ve put the whole business at risk. Correspondence from the much more senior but less well known people gets less attention even those executives running the whole complex group of businesses.

I’d be keen for glimpses into the operational things from Porsche at that time in early 70s but it seems one of the less well documented parts of the little early 911 hobby. I hope any internal papers or annual reports folks have squirrelled away get posted as they’re might prove interesting.

Steve

[davep]

Steve, your perspective is greatly appreciated, and is certainly well founded in experience. I find the gap in the 1971 911S coupe VIN's to be very perplexing also. I cannot think of how it happened or why it was allowed to happen, but the gap does appear to exist in the production record, and no cars in the gap are known to exist. There is also the matter of the shortfall of engines to cover the needs of the missing cars. It would be possible, at some expense, to dig more deeply into the production record and determine if the stamped production numbers add up correctly.
There are other "gaps" that I am aware of. The bigger ones are at the transition of the 1966 to 1967 model year for the 911 and Porsche built 912: 304956 to 305100 and 353593 to 354000. At least for the 911, it seems the 1967 models went into production (in small quantities perhaps) in advance of the 1966 model year production ending. So an arbitrary VIN was established for the beginning of the 1967 model year. Eventually, the entire series of 1966 VIN range was not required thus resulting in a gap. This was recorded and is not considered to be significant. The only other instance I am aware of is 300114 which is not found in the production book as late as Feb 2, 1965 when some 400 cars had been completed. Surprisingly VIN's 300474 & 300597 were completed by that date already. But 300114 is recorded in the Reutter book as having been delivered for production and yet the Kardex is blank indicating it was never completed or sold.