Chassis number

I'm re chassising my old S3 and I decided it's about time I have a proper VIN plate made up - my number is stamped on a bit of scrap ally plate pop rivitted to the bulkhead and the number on the chassis is long gone. The problem is my V5 has a chassis number which doesn't make sense. There's supposed to be an 8 digit number and a suffix letter. I've got a 7 digit number plus a suffix letter. The first three numbers make sense for a very early S3 followed by 2 zeroes and a two digit number plus a capital A. Anyone got any ideas?