Tracing Car History

For those who obsess about exactly how their 356 left the factory!
Message
Author
User avatar
Dennis Vogel
356 Fan
Posts: 492
Joined: Sat Oct 25, 2008 6:10 pm
Location: Santa Rosa, CA
Contact:

Tracing Car History

#1 Post by Dennis Vogel »

Does anyone have suggestions on learning history of a particular car? I am very interested in learning more about the history of our 1960 356B/1600 S-90 Reutter coupe project car. In particular the origin of the large Golde manual clothe sunroof. I have exhausted my options by looking for previous owners.

I have tried:
  • Previous owner (deceased)
  • Carfax - only works with 17-digit VIN
  • COA - Doesn't list sunroof
  • ELEVENPARTS AG - who appear to have access to original Kardex records
  • CheckThatVin.com / National Motor Vehicle Title Information System (NMVTIS) - One hit from 2012, seems incorrect
  • Porsche Cars North America
  • Porsche Classic Partners - All in North America
  • International Association of Auto Theft Investigators and regional chapters- Thinking they could get DMV records
  • American Recovery Association (car repo specialists)
  • ALS Resolvion (car repo)
The COA doesn't list a sunroof, but my understanding is they are not necessarily complete. The car while in rough shape, is mostly original. If the sunroof was dropped in by someone, they did a pretty good job. There's no obvious cuts or welds. We may discover more when we strip the car down.

Thanks for any suggestions.

User avatar
Trevor Gates
356 Fan
Posts: 1089
Joined: Thu Dec 10, 2009 6:52 pm
Location: San Clemente, CA

Re: Tracing Car History

#2 Post by Trevor Gates »

Hello Dennis,

Sounds like a great car! Here's a thread I started on cloth sunroof cars with more information and plenty of pics: Golde / Webasto - Folding cloth fabric sunroof

Can you post up some pictures of your car? If possible, please include a few from the inside of the car with the headliner removed.
https://www.instagram.com/trevorcgates/

User avatar
Dennis Vogel
356 Fan
Posts: 492
Joined: Sat Oct 25, 2008 6:10 pm
Location: Santa Rosa, CA
Contact:

Re: Tracing Car History

#3 Post by Dennis Vogel »

Trevor Gates wrote:Here's a thread I started on cloth sunroof cars with more information and plenty of pics: Golde / Webasto - Folding cloth fabric sunroof

Can you post up some pictures of your car? If possible, please include a few from the inside of the car with the headliner removed.
Hi Trevor. Thanks for your reply. I had read your sunroof post some time ago, and bookmarked it as part of my research. Very helpful.

We've not removed the headliner yet, but will update when we do.
Attachments
SunroofInside.jpg
SunroofOutside.jpg
1960 356 S90 Sunroof Coupe
1970 914-6
2014 Carrera S

Bob Watts
356 Fan
Posts: 418
Joined: Wed Jul 16, 2008 11:55 am
Location: Pocatello, Idaho

Re: Tracing Car History

#4 Post by Bob Watts »

Do you know the original car and interior colors and/or the current car and interior colors.
Maybe this inventory will help:

(general information: note the new right hand drive cars listed)
Attachments
356SRInvenVIN26.docx
(465.32 KiB) Downloaded 155 times
Bob Watts

User avatar
Dennis Vogel
356 Fan
Posts: 492
Joined: Sat Oct 25, 2008 6:10 pm
Location: Santa Rosa, CA
Contact:

Re: Tracing Car History

#5 Post by Dennis Vogel »

Hi Bob. Thanks for the reply and attachment. I had overlooked that file in the other threads. There are more sunroof 356 out there than I expected. The Golde Sunroof Installation Manual: 1956 – 1959 Karmann Ghia in particular is interesting!

I have the CoA, which matches the surviving door jam tags. Exterior: Slate Grey. Interior: Red Leatherette.
1960 356 S90 Sunroof Coupe
1970 914-6
2014 Carrera S

User avatar
Doug McDonnell
356 Fan
Posts: 6061
Joined: Sat Apr 05, 2008 8:21 am
Location: Augusta,Michigan

Re: Tracing Car History

#6 Post by Doug McDonnell »

It looks like the sunroof headliner has a different pattern from the rest of the headliner. It this in line with your inspection?
1965 356C 2000 BMW 740i Sport 1967 Honda CL77 There is never enough time to do it right, but always enough time to do it over.

User avatar
Dennis Vogel
356 Fan
Posts: 492
Joined: Sat Oct 25, 2008 6:10 pm
Location: Santa Rosa, CA
Contact:

Re: Tracing Car History

#7 Post by Dennis Vogel »

Doug McDonnell wrote:It looks like the sunroof headliner has a different pattern from the rest of the headliner. It this in line with your inspection?
Hi Doug. Best I can tell, the material, hole pattern, and color of the main headliner and sunroof are consistent. The limited quality of my phone camera may make it look a bit off. The placement of the seams are not aligned though.
1960 356 S90 Sunroof Coupe
1970 914-6
2014 Carrera S

Edwin Ek
356 Fan
Posts: 1898
Joined: Sat Jun 21, 2008 11:16 am
Location: Santa Monica, CA

Re: Tracing Car History

#8 Post by Edwin Ek »

Have you gotten a copy of the real Kardex?
#6386

User avatar
Dennis Vogel
356 Fan
Posts: 492
Joined: Sat Oct 25, 2008 6:10 pm
Location: Santa Rosa, CA
Contact:

Re: Tracing Car History

#9 Post by Dennis Vogel »

Edwin Ek wrote:Have you gotten a copy of the real Kardex?
I would love to get a copy of the original Kardex. I was under the impression that Porsche was no longer making that available.

I did get the Certificate of Authenticity (CoA), which appears to have recently been renamed Porsche Production Specifications.
1960 356 S90 Sunroof Coupe
1970 914-6
2014 Carrera S

User avatar
Wes Bender
356 Fan
Posts: 4861
Joined: Wed Aug 27, 2008 10:54 am
Location: Somewhere in the Gadsden Purchase, USA

Re: Tracing Car History

#10 Post by Wes Bender »

Search for Kardex here on the forums. Contact David P.
Some days it's just not worth chewing through the restraints.....

User avatar
Doug McDonnell
356 Fan
Posts: 6061
Joined: Sat Apr 05, 2008 8:21 am
Location: Augusta,Michigan

Re: Tracing Car History

#11 Post by Doug McDonnell »

1965 356C 2000 BMW 740i Sport 1967 Honda CL77 There is never enough time to do it right, but always enough time to do it over.

User avatar
Dennis Vogel
356 Fan
Posts: 492
Joined: Sat Oct 25, 2008 6:10 pm
Location: Santa Rosa, CA
Contact:

Re: Tracing Car History

#12 Post by Dennis Vogel »

Thanks for recommendation for David. I was able to connect with him and get a scan of the Kardex. Not a lot on there, but it did yield the original importer. Did not know that before. So now we know the beginning and end. I just need to figure out the middle. :wink:
1960 356 S90 Sunroof Coupe
1970 914-6
2014 Carrera S

Edwin Ek
356 Fan
Posts: 1898
Joined: Sat Jun 21, 2008 11:16 am
Location: Santa Monica, CA

Re: Tracing Car History

#13 Post by Edwin Ek »

Does your car have the sunroof drains on the rear pillars?

The California DMV has a form called INF-70. For a very small fee, it will trace a car's registration and ownership history. The form asks for a reason for the search. I have always used the line: I have information about the car which would be of interest to previous owners. I get the sense that the DMV doesn't really care what you give for a reason.
#6386

Dick Roth
356 Fan
Posts: 350
Joined: Tue Jul 14, 2009 4:01 pm
Location: NYC, Amagansett, NY

Re: Tracing Car History

#14 Post by Dick Roth »

Could easily be an aftermarket installation. Be interesting to know where that car spent its life. In NYC there was a very high end custom shop with a 100 year pedigree called Humer-Binder that did many of these Golde installations, and you would not be able to tell them from a factory installation. I know, because a friend of mine had an installation done on an XK-150 S coupe.
You can find some information about them on the web...

User avatar
Trevor Gates
356 Fan
Posts: 1089
Joined: Thu Dec 10, 2009 6:52 pm
Location: San Clemente, CA

Re: Tracing Car History

#15 Post by Trevor Gates »

Edwin Ek wrote:Does your car have the sunroof drains on the rear pillars?
Cloth sunroof cars do not have drains.
https://www.instagram.com/trevorcgates/

Post Reply