The VIN numbers for all RHD units are included in ‘Porsche Speedster. Legends live forever 1989 – 2011’1 except those supplied to Hong Kong. Andreas Gabriel was unable to identify the Hong Kong VIN numbers as he explained. He writes:
"Dear Dr. Archard,
I" was good friends with a manager of the Porsche Zentrum in Berlin. I got the chance to do the research part of the Speedster book and got out all colours of the 964.
But – nowadays the ex manager of Porsche Berlin sells e-bikes and has left the company since 2 years. So I can´t get out the 4 missing numbers, sorry."
Porsche and the Porsche museum were, as usual, completely uninterested and unhelpful.
W West Germany
P Porsche
0 Sports car or Panamera
Z
Z Europe / ROW
Z
9 ____________________ |
6 ____________________ |
Z Europe | 964
R Model Year 1994 |
S Stuttgart |
4 ____________________ |
5 |
5 |
4 | Serial Number
7 |
3 |
All RHD VINs are included under the section 'Maritime Blue'.
All chassis numbers after WPOZZZ96ZRS455473 (the Little Blue Porsche)have been found as LHD numbers1. Interestingly the chassis number WPOZZZ96ZRS45511 appears twice in the lists – once for West Germany and once for ‘Various Markets’ – whatever that means! Again, despite him writing the book, Andreas Gabriel was unable to help me with this.
From the above it appears that the Little Blue Porsche has the last RHD serial number. This would suggest to me that this was the last to come off the production line.
Kevin Young’s famous example in Hong Kong (imported from UK so UK spec – Hong Kong Reg number BK 9099) is claimed by the owner to be the last made, but the VIN number is 455408. It would appear that this car was subsequently altered extensively by Porsche to include the production site as ‘X’ rather than ‘S’. The car was delivered late after these modifications and so Kevin Young claims that this was the last of the series. It all depends what this means as I have no idea how soon or late after the production of the Little Blue Porsche she became available for purchase following her modifications and my submission is that mine was the last one made.
In 'Total 911' magazine2 which includes an article on Kevin Yeung’s Speedster, it is stated “just 936 examples of the Speedster were built between 1992 and 1994 (incorrect – 771 made in 1993 and 154 in 1994 – those in 1992 were 5 prototypes although it was thought they were all sold to private buyers - and there is some dispute as to whether 925 or 936 were made - Andreas Gabriel states 9311 p 246) and of those a mere 14 had right hand drive. (Incorrect – 13 UK versions1 page 244 – a total of 29 RHD were made1 pp 243 - 245). Kevin’s is the only Speedster finished in Slate Grey (incorrect – according to Andreas Gabriel there were 2 Slate grey but Kevin’s is the only RHD example1 page 246) and was the last ever 964 Speedster to be made.” (Incorrect in my view as above).
Kevin found his Speedster in Scotland when owned by Alan Laing. Kevin states that Alan would give him first refusal if he chose to sell the car and they became “good friends”.
Alan’s car was a Sonderwunsch (Special Wishes) model which came from Werk1 in Stuttgart where one offs and limited editions were produced. This source of modification was changed later and transferred to Porsche AFN for UK modifications using Techart parts. This became the standard format for post production modifications at this time.
Kevin started looking for a 964 Speedster in 1998 – the search took him to Scotland where he met Alan and the Grey Speedster. How me met him is not stated. However, another magazine article3 shows the same car (Slate Grey) was for sale in the Porsche Centre Bristol in 2005 for £39,995 (sic) which was considered a high price for the car despite it being in mint condition with 10,000 miles on the clock. Interestingly the registration mark at the time was J 40 BJP – a 1991 plate although this could have been a personalised plate. The car shown is definitely Alan’s and Kevin’s car.
It seems strange the car was for sale in 2005 – and if bought by Alan at that time it must have taken Kevin a great deal of time to find his if he started looking in 1998. Also it would appear that Alan’s car ended up in Bristol in 2005 having been bought for an “Edinburgh owner” in 19994. So it seems unlikely it was offered to Kevin on a first refusal basis.
Indeed – the Speedster History website4 states of this model:
“In the end, the Sonderwunsch Speedster took almost 9 months to complete (from start to finish) and was finally delivered to its original owner in London in September 1994 but it was first registered in January 1999 by its second owner in Edinburgh Scotland.”
My car came off the production line on 20th August 1993. The above article states that the modifications to Kevin’s car took 9 months to undertake (this seems an extraordinarily long time) and was delivered to the original owner in September 1994. The VIN number shows his was the 19th coming off the production line (not taking account of the Hong Kong models whose VIN numbers I do not know). Thus the car would have had to be made in January 1994 but this does not tally with the VIN number.
The 964 Speedster did not sell well and most models languished with dealers for a long time until sold. The Little Blue Porsche was produced on August 20th 1993 but not registered until 31st May 1994 – a period of 9 months later.
Thus there appear to be some inconsistencies and inaccuracies in the information I can find. I did actually write to the only Kevin Yeung in Hong Kong I could find on the net but received no reply.
He states that his car was made rather than converted at Werks 1. He states that the only other 964 Speedster made there was an Amazon Green Speedster (the only one made in this colour and bought new by Gordon Maclean). This car has a VIN showing it was made in Stuttgart (WP0ZZZ96ZRS455411) -unlike Kevin’s which shows two different VINS - WP0ZZZ96ZRS455408 and WPOZZZ96ZRX455408. The first VIN confirms this was made in Slate Grey – the only RHD of this colour – and the S shows it was made in Stuttgart whereas the second VIN shows it was made elsewhere unspecified which to my mind means a modification. Whatever, the VIN is significantly earlier than mine and, with the other inaccuracies in his knowledge, this would suggest that the Little Blue Porsche was probably the last one made.
It is not my intention to prove the information regarding Kevin’s car wrong for any other reason than to try to certify the correct information and, given the above, I would suggest that the Little Blue Porsche has, indeed, very strong evidence to be the last 964 RHD Speedster made.
1 Porsche Speedster. Legends live forever 1989 – 2011 Andreas Gabriel and Tobias Kindermann. Pub Berlin Motor Books 2016 pp 206 and 240 - 245
2 Total 911 Issue 46 pp32-41 Philip Raby
3 GT Purely Porsche September 2005. Ed Stuart Gallagher pp 60 – 68. Chris Harris.
4 http://www.speedsters.com/h-yeung.htm Speedster History
