The 10,000th Porsche

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Bruce Edge
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Re: The 10,000th Porsche

#16 Post by Bruce Edge »

Allen, I am also interested in knowing the chassis number of the 10,000th car. would like to see where my 1956 A coupe 56731 (originally) blue fits in.

James, Thanks for clearing up the information on the production numbers, I had taken my info from the Maestro's book.

Thanks,
Bruce
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Re: The 10,000th Porsche

#17 Post by David Pateman »

Bruce, at least a rough guide would be the transmission serial #. We do not know how the factory determined the car to be the 10,000th, but the trans serial would get us very close.
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Bruce Edge
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Re: The 10,000th Porsche

#18 Post by Bruce Edge »

Thanks David for that information. Are you saying there is some what of a accurate transmission serial number by date available.
One would surely think that if Porsche came to that build number and decided to have a celebration about it, that serial number would have been documented. Has to much time pasted to check with Porsche to see if there is any history of the car in there archives.

May be we can narrow it down if we keep putting serial # and dates together.

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Jack Walter
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Re: The 10,000th Porsche

#19 Post by Jack Walter »

I've always wondered about the chassis number for car 10,000 as well since both of my A coupes were produced around that time. I know that neither of mine were that car but my sunroof coupe - #56724 - was aquamarine blue metallic with a grey interior.

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James Davies
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Re: The 10,000th Porsche

#20 Post by James Davies »

The transmission serial number gets you nowhere, as those numbers started from the 519 transmissions in Aug 1952, after Porsche had already produced ~2000 cars. Before that Porsche used VW transmissions which were numbered by VW. Of course they kept track of all these things in production logs, including numbers of engines made, which was the internal number on the engine. But of course they made more engines than cars. More transmissions than cars too.

Certainly Porsche knows which car this is. Or if nobody at Porsche Archives knows, the information is there to be found.

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Allen Henderson
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Re: The 10,000th Porsche

#21 Post by Allen Henderson »

The 10,000 Porsche will have a Chassis number ~55850 (yes, it could be up to, say, +/- 150-but I bet not) . Cars around this number were finished production around March 16, 1956. Here is my "eye chart" spreadsheet with 356 Production-click on it to enlarge. I'd forgotten my number was around 78,000 (not 79k). Corrections welcome. Thanks!
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James Davies
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Re: The 10,000th Porsche

#22 Post by James Davies »

How do you get chassis number 55850? If I total up your production numbers through the end of 1955, I get 9712 cars produced. That's 288 short of the 10,000th car. Did they only produced 288 cars through March 16th in early 1956? Seems quite low.

If the first coupe of 1956 was 55391, and with the knowledge they were also making cabs and Speedsters in early 1956, 288 cars (minus the cabriolets and Speedsters) from 55391 is much less than 55850.

Perhaps your early numbers are a bit off somewhere?

Looking through the 1951 and 1952 Reutter coupes, you're definitely off there. 1951 coupes went to ~11130. 1952 coupes went from 11131 to 11280 and 11301 to 12084. But that just shifts cars from 1951 to 1952 in your sheet. Perhaps there is an error is elsewhere?

Basically, there's a 391 car difference in production numbers between you and Brett Johnson up through the end of 1952. Hmm.

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Allen Henderson
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Re: The 10,000th Porsche

#23 Post by Allen Henderson »

James Davies wrote:How do you get chassis number 55850? If I total up your production numbers through the end of 1955, I get 9712 cars produced. That's 288 short of the 10,000th car. Did they only produced 288 cars through March 16th in early 1956? Seems quite low.

If the first coupe of 1956 was 55391, and with the knowledge they were also making cabs and Speedsters in early 1956, 288 cars (minus the cabriolets and Speedsters) from 55391 is much less than 55850.

Perhaps your early numbers are a bit off somewhere?

Looking through the 1951 and 1952 Reutter coupes, you're definitely off there. 1951 coupes went to ~11130. 1952 coupes went from 11131 to 11280 and 11301 to 12084. But that just shifts cars from 1951 to 1952 in your sheet. Perhaps there is an error is elsewhere?

Basically, there's a 391 car difference in production numbers between you and Brett Johnson up through the end of 1952. Hmm.
Thanks for excellent input. Detail (corrections?) will be addressed. As for the Chassis number, I get this from MANY Kardex dates AND Steve's Carrera book. I'm pretty sure it is, as I said. DON'T try and total Production Numbers, etc. The DATE is what matters, as that is what PORSCHE thought was 10,000 and so it is. Again, the VIN comes from many Kardex I have. Thanks.

-Allen-
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Bruce Edge
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Re: The 10,000th Porsche

#24 Post by Bruce Edge »

I have be trying to do a little research on this topic the past couple of days. Other than Porsche telling us the actual number of the car(which, I'm sure they could locate) It will probably take a group effort of people willing to give their kardex build date and chassis number that was around that time period..
I did see a interesting paragraph in The Porsche Book by Boschen/Barth- "A great celebration took place on March 12 1956. The Dr Ing hc F. Porsche GmbH company celebrated its Silver Jubillee, having been founded on March 16 1931. On this occasion the 10,000th Porsche car, a 356 A, was unveiled and driven out of the final assembly hall by DR Porsche's youngest son, Wolfgang. By this time the export quota of Porsche cars had reach 70 per cent of the total !."
I have been going through old classifieds, finding some 1956 Aquamarine/red interior, with chassis numbers, if I come up with anything interesting I'll let you know.

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Allen Henderson
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Re: The 10,000th Porsche

#25 Post by Allen Henderson »

I do see that in the Barth book but the photo from the Conradt book is dated March 16 (see first post above). So, March 12 celebration would not appear to be the right date, especially when the next line reads March 16 is the anniversary. But it is strange that we have 10,000 cars on that exact date. We have a dozens of kardex around March 16, many cars in those days were Aquamarine/Red but the in-body lights are special. Here is another mention of the special day. Another reference from Conradt

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James Davies
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Re: The 10,000th Porsche

#26 Post by James Davies »

Agree Allen. That date is what matters.

An important note though - the Kardex date is not the production date. Porsche's production date is usually a few days to a week before the date on the Kardex. So a car that finished production on March 16 and then had its Kardex filled in on March 21 would be consistent with what we know about Porsche's practices then.

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Allen Henderson
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Re: The 10,000th Porsche

#27 Post by Allen Henderson »

James Davies wrote:Agree Allen. That date is what matters.

An important note though - the Kardex date is not the production date. Porsche's production date is usually a few days to a week before the date on the Kardex. So a car that finished production on March 16 and then had its Kardex filled in on March 21 would be consistent with what we know about Porsche's practices then.
Yes that is true. We guess the car was pulled off the line, probably just or recently completed. I'd THINK the Kardex would have a note on it. I've attempted to get folks I know go through a range of Kardex but no one has..and not too many (but several) have reference the Kardex files. We need a Aquamarine Metallic over Red with in-body fogs and a radio antenna, on or about March 16.
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Joris Koning
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Re: The 10,000th Porsche

#28 Post by Joris Koning »

I would imagine the car to more likely be a euro car than a us car. The 12th was a Monday and the 16th a Friday. Not sure if weather reports for zuffenhausen on those days are available but I remember seeing some pictures of the 10k car and it was clear it was a nice and sunny day.
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Allen Henderson
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Re: The 10,000th Porsche

#29 Post by Allen Henderson »

Joris Koning wrote:I would imagine the car to more likely be a euro car than a us car. The 12th was a Monday and the 16th a Friday. Not sure if weather reports for zuffenhausen on those days are available but I remember seeing some pictures of the 10k car and it was clear it was a nice and sunny day.
Joris, Indeed it was!
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James Davies
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Re: The 10,000th Porsche

#30 Post by James Davies »

Yes, and definitely not a Hoffman USA car, as it has Bosch headlights.

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