Numbers on Internal Panels

[Pascal A J Maeter]

A quick question comparing the Porsche world, to the British car world. I am used to finding body/chassis related numbers on the internal (usually wood) panels inside British cars (see attached picture of the interior trim of a 58 Aston.) Is that also the case in the 356 world?

Pascal

[James Davies]

Yes, they are everywhere.

[Pascal A J Maeter]

And what do they consists of, last three digits of chassis number?

[Hendrik Moulds]

Yes or the last two digits if it's an early car.

[Pascal A J Maeter]

Thank you.

[Jan Kolm]

Karmann-bodied 356s (1961-65) also used two digits on their internal panels.

[Martin Benade]

He might like a more specific answer than everywhere. I know of doors, hoods, and sometimes front hood latch. Any others?

[Jim Karaba]

The aluminum closing panels for the door hinges. Dash on Pre-A's. Engine lid upper latch on late cars. Also written in pencil or crayon on some interior panels.

[Mike Wilson]

The rear latch on my '63 Karmann-bodied car has the last two digits n the upper piece.
On my friend's very original '58 Speedster, the last three numbers were written in chalk on the inside of the doors.

[Pascal A J Maeter]

Thank you for all the replies. I was mostly concerned about trim panels as we are cleaning up the interior of a 57 Coupe and I did not want to trash items that might have been original although as it turns out, due to water damage on the passenger side, we had to replace vs fix some of the items underneath the original vinyl.

[James Davies]

Wood and fabric panels are often marked with the last two or three digits too. For instance, the bottom of the rear seat cushion on my '53 coupe. Also the back of the rear firewall panel (in pencil) and the bottom of the wooden front seat frames. And the fiberboard inner door panel. Much of this stuff gets covered over or glued to the car upon assembly, so you never see it.

[Dennis ODonnell]

As James said, everywhere. Every panel and piece of trim screwed or glued inside my car was marked with either a yellow crayon or a pencil as were the wood frame seat bases. Bumpers were stamped as well as lids, doors etc. That degree of hand-fitting reminds me of custom HP engine building. As expensive as 356s were at the time, it's surprising they didn't cost twice as much.

[Martin Benade]

Bumpers have numbers on them? And the crayon and pencil marks had the end of the serial number?

[Dennis ODonnell]

Yep. My bumpers are stamped inside towards the bottom. (The width of bumpers varies from car to car.) Door cards, back panel, dash pad steel panel have the number in yellow crayon as do the seat frames. The door caps and corresponding pieces under the back windows are marked inside with a pencil. All = last three digits of S/N like the door, hinge cover, hood & engine lid stamps. Car is a '57 T1.

[Diane Mierz]

I had the door cards off of #160345 this weekend to do a little work on them and was pleasantly surprised to find the last 3 digits on the VIN on the passenger side one. Couldn't find a mark on the driver's side. Both cards are original to the car.