Porsche 356 Registry: Mysterious Rain Shield Markings

Mysterious Rain Shield Markings

By Barry Lee Brisco

Here is a 356 mystery for you: when facing the rear of the car, decklid closed, visible at the upper left corner (rarely on the right) of the rain shield below the decklid grill, you may see some letters stamped into the metal (three instances so far of a letter and a number together on late B cars, see photo below right, and one instance of 3 letters). They are completely separate from the 3 digit VIN numbers stamped on the upper right corner of the rain shield. What do they signify? At this time, no one seems to know, but they were surely placed there for some reason.

Jim Kellogg has done some research on this and collected about thirty examples. He has only found them on late A and T5 B (1960 and 1961) coupes, but not on T6 cars. However, two T6 B coupe owners have reported to me that their original decklids have them.

Interestingly, it seems that 1959 Convertible Ds, built by Drauz, do not have these stamped letters, and so far no Karmann-built cars have shown them. So it seems to only occur on Reutter-built bodies, but not on all cars made by Reutter. Some cars don't have the letters, but it is possible they may be covered by multiple layers of paint.

The list below shows data I have collected or that has been sent to me. The earliest car is a 58 T2 coupe, the latest is a late 61 (production year) T6 coupe. So far the only cabriolets reported with the letters are 59 model year cars, no early A or B cabriolets. Overall, "EE", "H", "Y", "K" and "KE" are the most common letters, than "KI", "G", "S", and "W".

If your car shows stamped letters on the rain shield, please email me at the following information:

Letters or numbers shown
356 model
VIN
Production year or build date if known

Let's see if we can determine a pattern, and infer the meaning.

Stamped Letters	Model	VIN	Production Year or Build Date
KE	356A Coupe	103134	04/17/58
ST	356A Coupe	103230	/ /58
KU	356A Coupe	103392	/ /58
KK	356A Coupe	103992	/ /58
H	356A Coupe	104001	/ /58
KI	356A Coupe	104539	/ /58
W	356A Coupe	104614	/ /58
W	356A Coupe	104735	09/ /58
S	356A Coupe	104859	12/09/58
KI	356A Coupe	104886	09/ /58
EE	356A Coupe	105239	10/16/58
H	356A Coupe	105327	10/24/58
E	356A Coupe	105460	11/ /58
EE	356A Coupe	105553	11/20/58
K	356A Coupe	105635	11/21/58
K I I	356A Coupe	105651	12/ /58
W	356A Coupe	105660	11/ /58
ST	356A Coupe	105816	12/ /58?
EE	356A Coupe	105937	12/ /58?
KE	356A Coupe	106152	01/ /59?
S	356A Coupe	106171	01/22/59
G	356A Coupe	106297	07/04/59
KI	356A Coupe	106371	02/ /59
K	356A Coupe	106399	02/ /59
H	356A Coupe	106503	02/06/59
S	356A Coupe	106732	03/ /59
Y	356A Coupe	107700	03/ /59
K	356A Coupe	106743	03/ /59
G	356A Coupe	107835	05/06/59
G	356A Coupe	108260	04/18/59
ST	356A Coupe	108438	07/17/59
KE	356A Coupe	108552	/ /59
KE	356A Coupe	108552	/ /59
H	356A Coupe	108707	/ /59
CT	356A Coupe	108829	/ /59
D	356A Cabriolet	150861	/ /59
D	356A Cabriolet	151063	09/24/58
Y	356A Cabriolet	151511	11/29/58
B	356A Cabriolet	151728	/ /59?
B	356A Cabriolet	151894	/ /59?
EA	356A Cabriolet	151896	/ /59?
Y	356A Cabriolet	152170	/ /59
EA	356A Cabriolet	152088	/ /59
LA	356A Cabriolet	152270	03/07/59
Y	356A Cabriolet	152463	/ /59
K	356B Coupe	111489	/ /60
G2	356B Coupe	111711	/ /60
E	356B Coupe	111951	/ /60
SI	356B Coupe	112231	/ /60
H3	356B Coupe	112800	/ /60
S2	356B Coupe	113759	/ /60
G1	356B Coupe	114023	/ /61
B	356B Coupe	114681	/ /61
H?	356B Coupe	115448	/ /61
B	356B Coupe	116320	/ /61
S2	356B Coupe (T6)	118042	10/12/61
J	356B Coupe (T6)	121339	02/08/62

Technical advice given on these pages is provided free and without warranty. The user of information presented on these pages assumes all responsibility and liability in its use. We're not lawyers, we're car folk, just sharing our experience. Be careful, use your head, have fun.

Questions or comments, please email to Barry Lee Brisco, Website Technical Editor,

Published 01/08/06, Last Updated 02/20/08