Pre the COA era

[Richard]

It seems that there have been many problems with the accuracy of COA's in the past few years.

Back in the 1980's...before "COA's" were born, you just wrote to the Porsche factory to find out about your early 911. I did that twice. First for a '73S coupe that I still own and next for a '73S Targa that I sold in the mid 1990's. Both times I got informational replies directly from the factory on factory letterhead. They obviously had the data base and both times the information in their replys was correct.

I've lost the factory reply on my '73S Targa because I gave it to the new owner when he bought it (and shipped it to Europe) in the mid 1990's. But I still have the original letter, dated 1989 from the factory for my 1973S coupe. It's completely accurate about my '73S. I've attached a copy below to illustrate what it looked like 30 years ago. By the way. The cost back then was the price of a postage stamp. Zero.
PS. about 6-8 years ago I paid PCA for a COA on a '67S I was restoring. It was accurate too.

R.

[ESully]

I think part of the problem with COA's is that just because Porsche manufactured and shipped a car built with certain equipment, does not mean the dealership sold it exactly as received. If a customer wanted their car with certain options, the dealership would accomodate them. As delivered can differ from as manufactured. If you truly want to know how the car was equiped when sold, the window sticker from the dealership is important. Some issues seem to be translation problems. One example is the rear spoiler. From my research, it seems the one thing in common when this is listed is that the car actualy has the S front bumper spoiler. Many cars listing this were before the Duck Tail was even introduced, and aside from the Carreras, seems it was not offered as a Factory option on T,E,or S models.
Take into account that most of these cars have had numerous owners and are quite old. Who knows what accidents and mechanical failures led to engine and transmission swaps. Many want their cars to be numbers matching and seem quite angry if Porsche COA's disagree. Just because you have rims that are the correct date stamp does not mean the dealer didn't install them. Yes, Porsche is human, the records were not kept on computers and some date back over 50 years. I found that if you can document things, and they do offer a discount if you have the window sticker, they will work with you.

[72targa]

Always liked your yellow S, Richard!...

http://www.dutchman-photos.com/blog/...-magazine.html

[Chuck Miller]

I sent for, and acquired for free, two printed ‘COA’s’ (on company stationery like Richard’s) when I bought my car in '89.
One from PCNA (Reno NV.), and one from Porsche Stuttgart...

They were both accurate...

[davep]

Two things come to mind. The factory and PCNA probably worked from the Kardex in the old days, and now probably work from a computerized listing. Conversion of paper to computer probably introduced errors. The people doing the job these days are primarily clerks without detailed knowledge of the actual cars. Translating option codes without a good crib sheet is very difficult. Option codes were recycled, so what was correct for one year may not apply to any other year. The option crib sheets need to be model year specific, and based on what I have seen, they are not. As my database matures I will be able to send them a better crib sheet.

[ErVikingo]

How can we get the Kardex and ownership history these days.

I'm trying to complete the documentation of my 2 69S and my 68S

[Biancaneve]

What about starting up a petition and ask Porsche to make Kardex available again (for a fee)?

[tpdorsey]

Two things come to mind. The factory and PCNA probably worked from the Kardex in the old days, and now probably work from a computerized listing. Conversion of paper to computer probably introduced errors. The people doing the job these days are primarily clerks without detailed knowledge of the actual cars.

My recent experience (which Dave and I have discussed) suggests this is exactly what's happening. However, I found that, with polite persistence and a little patience, you can get them to do the necessary further research and produce a more accurate COA. The PCNA staff I dealt with were eager to do the right thing.

The option crib sheets need to be model year specific, and based on what I have seen, they are not. As my database matures I will be able to send them a better crib sheet.

This would be a great thing for everyone, I think. Hopefully Porsche and PCNA will be receptive to the information.