Looking up all the 928 by VIN
11-13-2006, 12:38 PM
#1
Nordschleife Master
Thread Starter
Looking up all the 928 by VIN
Anybody game to see how reasonable it might be to lookup every 928 VIN number and put the info into a database?
This from CarFax ad, dunno how it would work in practice. Certainly the results couldn't be made public, and there may be other sources of the same information with less restrictions.
I agree to pay a one-time charge of $24.99 (USD), plus applicable sales tax, according to my card issuer agreement. This 30 day Unlimited CARFAX Reports Plan is valid for 30 days from the date the first report is run, and is intended for my personal use only. Commercial use, resale and redistribution of CARFAX Reports is strictly prohibited and may lead to deactivation of my account and the imposition of additional charges for CARFAX Reports.
This from CarFax ad, dunno how it would work in practice. Certainly the results couldn't be made public, and there may be other sources of the same information with less restrictions.
I agree to pay a one-time charge of $24.99 (USD), plus applicable sales tax, according to my card issuer agreement. This 30 day Unlimited CARFAX Reports Plan is valid for 30 days from the date the first report is run, and is intended for my personal use only. Commercial use, resale and redistribution of CARFAX Reports is strictly prohibited and may lead to deactivation of my account and the imposition of additional charges for CARFAX Reports.
11-13-2006, 02:08 PM
#3
Burning Brakes
What info would the report provide? All regular CarFax info for every VIN?
If you get the data, I can do whatever with it. I while ago, I started writing an application that would tell you everything that can be discerned from a VIN, based on a book my wife got me from Nicole. One of those things I never have had a chance to complete.
If you get the data, I can do whatever with it. I while ago, I started writing an application that would tell you everything that can be discerned from a VIN, based on a book my wife got me from Nicole. One of those things I never have had a chance to complete.
11-13-2006, 02:36 PM
#4
Nordschleife Master
Thread Starter
That may be the snag, I forgot that the VIN isn't just the sequential numbers at the end, but also the model option info at the beginning. ;( There may be other ways of searching though, or the actual database of all 928 VIN numbers may be available.
We are talking about around 60,000 928, so this isn't a job for typing in numbers, its got to be automated, scripted, etc.
Information sources like carfax need to be investigated, and actual policies checked. Somehow I think a bell would be ringing someplace inside carfax before even a 100 reports were requested. OTOH I could imagine a dealer easily doing that per month. Main thing would be to look for sources of public information that can be searched electronically, or scanned and searched.
Its a worthy project, until we know a bit more its hard to say what sort of help will be needed, and who can do what.
We are talking about around 60,000 928, so this isn't a job for typing in numbers, its got to be automated, scripted, etc.
Information sources like carfax need to be investigated, and actual policies checked. Somehow I think a bell would be ringing someplace inside carfax before even a 100 reports were requested. OTOH I could imagine a dealer easily doing that per month. Main thing would be to look for sources of public information that can be searched electronically, or scanned and searched.
Its a worthy project, until we know a bit more its hard to say what sort of help will be needed, and who can do what.
11-13-2006, 05:16 PM
#5
Burning Brakes
They're pretty clearly listed in the book I have, but it's not first hand information. I'll see what I can do to get it organized and available one a website for you to peruse and use (and tell me what else I could do with it). I'll look at the book and my db again tonight.
11-13-2006, 08:07 PM
#6
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Carfax can only tell history on maybe 25000 cars as it doesn't know anything about ROWs or US models bade before 1980. Its possible to make program which creates VIN number inside itself based on programmed parameters and then gets data out from Carfax using this VIN. It would take some time to run it for all available VINs but 30 days is more than enough.
11-13-2006, 08:11 PM
#7
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I believe Chuck Z did this with all the US market GTS VIN numbers for his 928 Registry site, but I'm pretty sure he just entered them into CarFax by hand.
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11-13-2006, 08:25 PM
#8
Nordschleife Master
Thread Starter
So much good info would result from something like this, knowing how many cars were still registered, how many red, etc. I could email everybody with a whiter 5 spd no sunroof and just say hi. 
vin=WP0JB0920ES862925 The last 6 digits are sequential I think, the first few mean something general like the year or model, but in the middle its option codes isn't it?
Creating a program to generate the sequential part is easy, but handling the option codes might be much harder, especially if it includes ext/int color, way to many variations to just try them all for 50,000 cars.
If people continue to add information to this thread and better resources exist, it may take time but could happen.
vin=WP0JB0920ES862925 The last 6 digits are sequential I think, the first few mean something general like the year or model, but in the middle its option codes isn't it?
Creating a program to generate the sequential part is easy, but handling the option codes might be much harder, especially if it includes ext/int color, way to many variations to just try them all for 50,000 cars.
If people continue to add information to this thread and better resources exist, it may take time but could happen.
11-13-2006, 08:35 PM
#9
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Carfax doesn't provide enough historical data on cars that date back to the 80's. They gave mine a clean bill of health, no problems what so ever. Man, were they wrong! Tried to get more info from Porsche AG, but no luck there either.
11-13-2006, 08:43 PM
#10
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Code:
WP0JB0920ES862925 123456789ABCDEFGH 123 = West Germany, Porsche 456 = VDS code, tells what safety equipment car has 78 = First 2 chars of model designation, always 92 as 92(8) 9 = Check digit, can be counted from other 16 characters A = Model year char, each year uses different char from known list B = Place of manufacture, in 928 case always S = Stuttgart C = Third number of model designation, aways 8 as (92)8 D = Market and model, depends on MY and on some years 5sp or Automatic EFGH = Running sequence within single MY and market
11-13-2006, 09:03 PM
#11
Burning Brakes
I can whip something to spit out all the USA VINs, but it's a matter of how CarFax wants them submitted.
Real quick, here's a descriptor of 78-79 VINs
1980 VINs
Real quick, here's a descriptor of 78-79 VINs
1980 VINs
Last edited by kary4th; 11-13-2006 at 09:50 PM.
11-13-2006, 09:07 PM
#12
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Its possible to make Windows software which emulates web browser and "types in" VINs into Carfax page one by one and reads relevant portions of resulting page to database or text file for further processing.
11-13-2006, 09:15 PM
#13
Burning Brakes
Originally Posted by Vilhuer
Its possible to make Windows software which emulates web browser and "types in" VINs into Carfax page one by one and reads relevant portions of resulting page to database or text file for further processing.
11-14-2006, 12:21 AM
#14
Nordschleife Master
Thread Starter
Thats great news.
Perhaps if the code they use in the submission web page is examined it could be modified or something written to emulate what it does reading from a database, and whatever is returned from carfax saved to a file (best to later edit the raw results and focus initially on capture).
Perhaps if the code they use in the submission web page is examined it could be modified or something written to emulate what it does reading from a database, and whatever is returned from carfax saved to a file (best to later edit the raw results and focus initially on capture).
11-14-2006, 01:11 PM
#15
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The vin number gives NO OPTION information. The carfax records NO OWNER contact Information. Most DMV records are sealed non public information . Only Porsche can get lists of all registered 928s (for recall purposes) last count about 16,500 are still registered in the US. Our data base has the majority of all USA 928s as customer contacts but that is all confidential information.