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[VWO4L]

A Porsche B32

Not your average VW Vanagon with a Porsche engine, but an actual model built by Porsche.

Apparently, it was built by Porsche as a support vehicle for the 959's they used in the Paris-Dakar Rally and they built 11 of them.

http://forums.finalgear.com/general-automotive/the-porsche-b32-a-porsche-factory-built-vw-t3-26673/

http://www.autoblog.com/2008/04/15/did-you-know-porsche-built-a-vw-t3-vanagon-based-b32

[DutchVDub]

Thats pretty sweet, take that to your local POA meet.

[Rukh]

Shockingly, this is news to me as well.

[Giggidy]

I actually got to see a 959 in person once.......... ..it was at the dealership for service.

[kutark]

thats pretty interesting.

[sad_rocc]

That's cool! But man, going 130mph in a vanagon would be some scary shit. I think it's funny that they also upgraded the seats to leather. Gotta have some cowhide when cruising thru the desert!

[LOS]

LOL... you found something josh didn't know... good job

[thf944]

LOL... you found something josh didn't know... good job

yeah, that is quite an accomplishment . btw, i didn't know about those either....

[VWO4L]

Even the Porsche page on Wikipedia is stumped by it.

It was like the precursor to the Touareg.  Well, at least until Porsche gets a version of the Routan

Here are a few more links I found in the finalgear thread

http://forums.vwvortex.com/zerothread?id=3365820 - One for sale from last year asking 70K Euros

http://www.bartl.cc/b32/

German skills would come in handy for some of the pics in both links

[Rukh]

LOL... you found something about Porsche josh didn't know... good job

Fixed that for you. There's lot's of stuff I don't know - but most of that stuff is not about my favorite marque.

[LOS]

Even the Porsche page on Wikipedia is stumped by it.

It was like the precursor to the Touareg.  Well, at least until Porsche gets a version of the Routan

Here are a few more links I found in the finalgear thread

http://forums.vwvortex.com/zerothread?id=3365820 - One for sale from last year asking 70K Euros

http://www.bartl.cc/b32/

German skills would come in handy for some of the pics in both links

What do you wanna know? I've got german skills...

[VWO4L]

Even the Porsche page on Wikipedia is stumped by it.

It was like the precursor to the Touareg.  Well, at least until Porsche gets a version of the Routan

Here are a few more links I found in the finalgear thread

http://forums.vwvortex.com/zerothread?id=3365820 - One for sale from last year asking 70K Euros

http://www.bartl.cc/b32/

German skills would come in handy for some of the pics in both links

What do you wanna know? I've got german skills...

I knew someone did and I thought it was you.  There's nothing in particular I'm looking for, but the 2nd link I posted did have a few pages of German that appear to talk about the B32 and how it came to be etc. 

Just curious more than anything.  If you want to take a look at them, I'm sure we'd all gain some insight.  I can make some assumptions in some areas(particularly when numbers are involved), but mostly I'm as confused as a baby in a titty club when it comes to the paragraphs and such.

[LOS]

THe first page basically talks about how the project was initiated w/a VW bus w/ a 100 hp 914 4cyl engine for support vehicle use. After testing in Algeria (assuming the dakar rallye as I think the call it Algerien) in 1981, the bus was fitted with a 911 motor so that it could be better used as a support vehicle since it could go faster.

The build of the prototype vehicle began in fall of 1981. 2 yrs later that vehicle had 58000 km under its belt. (3 algerian races as support vehicle and 2 le mans races as personel transport) The vehicle still had a 3 liter K-jetronik motor from the 911 SC. Another prototype was later built with the 3.2 liter DME engine (930/20) for better use and higher torque.

The very useful bus intiated alot of interest in the open public and it received requests from business customers so 3 more prototypes were built.
With the commercial sale, the VW bus w/ Porsche engine had begun. With contract 970/52, 9 vehicles were built under code# 2656 and vehicle name B32 by the end of 1983.  As producer of the vehicle, Porsche used 17 digit registration plates (vin #'s) starting with WPQ ZZZ B 3 ZE S2 0001. The porsche facility Wiecherath by the Nurnburgring was selected as the production point.

The whole action gave another reason for the capacity of a development center to be built. Eventhough in following times the development center was full of development work, there was no more capacity for the project B32 development. Thus the production of the B32 ended.

There is the first page.  Man its a pain to read and translate to paper since I have to rearrange the whole sentence structure and translate some words to something similar in English since there are some words that dont exactly translate. Maybe I'll do another page later. LOL

[Rukh]

As producer of the vehicle, Porsche used 17 digit registration plates (vin #'s) starting with WPQ ZZZ B 3 ZE S2 0001.

That's interesting, as Porsche's standard manufacturer code is WP0 and not WPQ, and the inclusion of ZZZ in the VIN would imply that none of the vehicles produced were ever manufactured for US consumption.

[LOS]

It may be a typo... but i double checked and it does show as a Q

[kutark]

Its not a typo, the 3rd digit of a VIN denotes what type of vehicle it is.  I.e. pickup, car, van, etc.

Edit: Actually, verified, it probably is a typo.  Q's are one of the letters that dont appears in vins, same with I's and O's.  If you see an o in a vin, its a zero (0).

[yokust]

The VIN rules of USA does not apply to the rest of the world.

They use I,Q,Z,O, etc because they dont seem to have the same idiots that work in DOT, EPA, or DMV that cant read. Or for the matter people that are too stupid to actually right I and not 1

[yokust]

And on a side note, after these were built by Porsche/VW Oettinger was producing them for quite some time. Oettinger even built many turbo vanagons

[kutark]

The VIN rules of USA does not apply to the rest of the world.

They use I,Q,Z,O, etc because they dont seem to have the same idiots that work in DOT, EPA, or DMV that cant read. Or for the matter people that are too stupid to actually right I and not 1

You'd be impressed.  I can assure you that not having certain letters is a very good thing here in the us.  And it is only Q/O and I that they dont use in the states, Z is very much used.  And actually, north america uses a slightly modified version of the VIN that ISO set up, and those vins never contain q's, o's, or i's.

[yokust]

Besides the three letters that are not allowed in the VIN itself (I, O and Q), the letters U and Z  are not used

Only vehicles from europe, and sold in europe us Z, that one i know for sure because of dealing with a european vin

Edit: Had to add this, in a us vin z's are replaced with numbers, mainly 9. When letters that do not meet us standards are used it means it is a european vehicle not for sale in us

[scurvy_bandit]

hence 9vw in our VINS?

[LOS]

im pretty sure I've seen z in a us vin w/ all the vin #'s I deal w/ every day.  I'll double check but Im pretty sure...

[yokust]

Well almost every vin decoder shows that Z's are replaced w/9's

And from dealing with this vin WVWZZZ1GZKB039 891 i can tell you that anyone with colorado state patrol, dmv, or epa says that a vin with Z's in it is a not good US vin

[LOS]

I'll keep an eye out, as Im almost positive the 08 mustangs start w/ 1zft...

[yokust]

I mean it is possible, they might have run out of numbers and combos and had to start using Z's in 08's and newer

[Rukh]

I know that ZZZ in a Porsche VIN means "Rest Of World" instead of "North America" - my old VIN was WP0ZZZ92ZFS841---. If it hadn't had that ZZZ, and instead had the all-important AA0, then I would've been able to bring it back to the USA. Was this VW with the ZZZ perhaps a grey-market car?