We bought speedster 81000 back in 1976. the California pink said the vin was 35482, which fits the serial range for a 1500 engine. It did not have that engine case in the car so I re-registered it with VIN 81000. The pink showed the car as a 55. So far so good. I just took the tank out to re-seal it and found the data plate on the passenger side with the original round rivets and it reads 356 1600 baujahr 1955 vin 81000. In Dr. Brett Johnson's Pictorial Guide page 126 there is a short comment about when model changes took place, ie 356 to 356A, 'unusual permutations were created'. And his chassis number list does not show a 1600 engine falling within the Vin Series 1955 80201 -81234.
Anybody heard of this before?