Porsche numbers?
 

Is there a list of all the ID numbers and what car they designate?

Like 986 is Boxster. I keep seeing 996 and such but have no idea what car those are. I am familiar with 911 but what's a Carrera or a 911 Carrera?

A GT3 is a 911? A Carrera is a 911?

Like 986, 987 and 981 are factory numbers for the boxster, so are 996, 997 and so forth for the Carrera.

I think there is a list around somewhere. I need to dig it up.

And a 911 is a type of Carrera? I've seen Carrera, Carrera 4, 911, Carrera 911, and so on. All of those are a variant of a 996 or 997? Never heard of a 981.

The 981 is the new Boxster/Cayman generation. :) The 991 is the new 911 variant.

Rather, Carrera is a "type" of 911 (generally the base trim opposed to Turbo, GT3, etc.), as the 356 also had a Carrera variant. They just started using that designation 20-25+ some-odd years ago.

The factory numbers help differentiate between the design generations of a specific model, for instance the 986, 987, and 981 are all Boxsters. But to differentiate, the first generation (1997-2004) is the 986, the second generation (2005-2012) is the 987, and the third generation (2012+) is the 981.

This is the same system used for all of the Porsche models. However, the 911 is confusing, because the name '911' is the model name, like Boxster, not the factory number. The factory numbers of the 911 have varied with the design generations. The very first '911' had the factory number 911, then later iterations have had the factory numbers: 964, 993, 996, 997, and 991.

Carrera is often confused to be interchangeable with the model name 911, however it is actually a subset of the model. You can purchase different models of the 911, such as the Carrera, GT3, GT2, Carrera 4, Turbo, Turbo S, etc. Which is like the difference between a Boxster, Boxster S, and Boxster Spyder.

Hope that helps clarify! :cheers:

EDIT: Take a look at the RennTech forum, they breakdown their sub-forums by the number designations.

I have never seen a complete list. I wish they would post it in Pano like the BMWCCA posts theirs in the back of every Roundel magazine. It's always easy to find out what E24, E36, E46, E92,etc mean.

You might try looking on Rennlist.com

Just bought the full set of lettering to confuse everyone!

Putting: Carrera, Turbo, 4, Porsche, Boxster S on my trunk!

Explanation of the 911:

Porsche 911 - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Explanation of the Boxster:

Porsche Boxster - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Other Variants usually didn't change enough throughout their life cycle to have a Series # change:

914, 924, 944, 928

Porsche 901 - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

What will the upcoming 969 look like?!