Doug McDonnell wrote:3 months is probably not long enough. My 5 original wheels are dated 3/64 and my cars Production Completion date is 7/14/1964.
That is a surprisingly long spread. I wonder if the wheels were switched at the dealer-- maybe painted for chrome or vice versa. Have you seen your Kardex or CoA?
There were roughly 700 cars a month being manufactured. That's 3,500 wheels per month. They (cars and wheels) were flying out of there.
Last edited by Edwin Ek on Tue Nov 17, 2015 1:37 pm, edited 1 time in total.
Edwin,
I don't debate any of the points made by others in this thread relative to the time interval typically encountered between the date on wheels and the Kardex date of cars. But to your point, certainly at the latter C production era when the numbers you quote were likely valid, the interval on specific cars was probably less and I don't doubt that wheels dated the same month as the car was produced did, in fact, happen - perhaps somewhat frequently.
Case in point. The 4 chrome wheels on my '65 C Cabriolet were all dated 9/64 (KPZ) and the spare was missing when the car was found. Since chrome wheels were listed as accessories on the Kardex and the car was only on the road for approximately 10 years after manufacture before being "mothballed" I have always believed that they are most likely original to the car. Basically, as found, it was pretty much all original otherwise except for a few "modifications" made by the last owner and a lot of rust, so original wheels would have been consistent. Of course, while I cannot prove that they are for certain, I can say, for sure, that when the car was last "in service" nobody cared about date matching wheels to the car so I seriously doubt that a previous owner would have sought them out for "authenticity reasons". The Kardex date was 25 Sept. 1964. Others can draw whatever conclusions they wish but I believe they are original to the car. "Never say Always" or "Never say Never"
In a related point, my car was a European (Germany) delivery. All of the gauges save two were dated 9/64 as well. The two with different dates were the speedometer which was the MPH version when the car was found and the O/I thermometer. On the speedometer, I am sure that it (along with the headlights) got changed when it was imported. For various reasons I believe that the thermometer was likely installed by the dealership for the original owner after delivery and was dated 6/64. The tachometer, multi-gauge, and clock all were dated 9/64. Again a sign that with increased production the supply chain was operating on more of a "just in time" basis probably for the obvious reason to reduce inventory turns. Porsche was, after all, running a business which sometimes is lost to the enthusiast.
My 1964 356C manufactured April 1964 has four chrome wheels dated 1/65. Who knows why. Maybe the cars weren't selling well by the time the C's came out and inventory backed up? Maybe the car sat around in Germany or elsewhere with some kind of problem? But I think the more likely scenario is a dealership swap. Dealers swapped wheels, engines, and even interiors to make sales, or they could have been mixed up during service at some point. I do have optional chrome ventilated wheels on my COA so they're the correct type of wheel, but produced 9 months after my car.
I think it was back in 1904 on the 4th day of April that someone decided to abbreviate the date.
April became 04, 1904 became 04 and it was Wednesday the 4th.
At 4:00 AM someone likely a govt. worker typed a letter dated:
04/04/04
0400
Dear Sirs,
I believe we should make 01/04 All fools day. No one wanted a January fools day so it was reversed.
Ian Butt wrote:My 1964 356C manufactured April 1964 has four chrome wheels dated 1/65. Who knows why. Maybe the cars weren't selling well by the time the C's came out and inventory backed up? Maybe the car sat around in Germany or elsewhere with some kind of problem? But I think the more likely scenario is a dealership swap. Dealers swapped wheels, engines, and even interiors to make sales, or they could have been mixed up during service at some point. I do have optional chrome ventilated wheels on my COA so they're the correct type of wheel, but produced 9 months after my car.
Ian, a possibility is that the dealer switched the set of wheels because the buyer wanted a different kind of tire ...