Hi 747focal,
might be true for the FAA, but (although most of you Americans don´t believe) there is more in the world than the USA and the FAA.
Boeing applies for type certification outside the U.S. in the past for customized types only.
Only 747-400 certified in Germany was the 747-430, and with only one engine option. As Far as I know, this was the same all across Europe.
The politics changed when JAA came in place, national type certificates disappeared and so did the customized type certificates. Since EASA is in place, it changed again.
See
this document as an example, in January 03 the type certification of the 747-400 was issued, so you are right for this type now.
As you can see, for 747-100 and -300 only the 747-130, 747-330F and 747-330B are certified, so for the older models this is still the case. Same for 737, older models are only certified in customized variants, newer models (since JAA was in place) have general certifications.