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Posted by: Porsche Rescue Apr 24 2009, 05:01 PM

I have a non-appearance group '70. Body color bumpers are Irish green. The rear tow hook plug is now black. I am about to re-paint the bumper and assumed the button should be green too. Looked in PET and found both a black and chrome button listed. Does this mean that all painted bumpers should have a black plug, regardless of the color of the bumper? Anybody know/remember?

Posted by: dr914@autoatlanta.com Apr 24 2009, 05:09 PM

paint to match yes. green!!!!

Posted by: Porsche Rescue Apr 24 2009, 05:21 PM

Thank you Dr. Must mean that replacements are black, paint to match, correct?

Posted by: Pat Garvey Apr 25 2009, 07:42 PM

Plug should be body colored or chrome, depending upon the rear bumper color. No diff's that I've ever heard of on a STOCK 914.
Pat

Posted by: Johny Blackstain May 3 2009, 10:48 AM

George- why did you leave my LE plug black? Is it supposed to be Phoenix Red?

Posted by: MDG May 3 2009, 12:07 PM

That's a good question. I thought the bumper plug and the jack post covers were left black on the LEs. I notice on George's restored show winner the bumper plug is L32K

love your car by the way

m.

Posted by: Johny Blackstain May 3 2009, 12:39 PM

Danke! I know the jack post covers are supposed to be black, but I can't remember if the bumper plug is supposed to be painted phoenix red, aka chevy engine block orange . I seem to think it's supposed to be painted, but I'm not sure. George? Jeff B?

Posted by: MDG May 3 2009, 02:25 PM

If you check out some of the pics on Jeff's site I think you'll see the majority are black. To be honest, until you asked your question I'd never noticed.

Uh-oh Goerge, you might have to re-paint your tow hole plug

Posted by: Johny Blackstain May 3 2009, 02:29 PM

If so, it's not a big deal... I kid you not- Phoenix Red is so close to Chevy engine block orange that it's virtually impossible to tell them apart. I keep it handy for wheel touch up paint. Chevy engine block orange is available at just about any auto parts store in the US.

Posted by: MDG May 3 2009, 02:41 PM

I know L32K well; see my avatar

Posted by: Johny Blackstain May 4 2009, 04:31 PM

George? Jeff? Well?

Posted by: Pat Garvey May 4 2009, 07:10 PM

I reiterate - body color! Been there.
Pat

Posted by: Johny Blackstain May 5 2009, 08:37 AM

White?
Think you meant to say bumper, Pat

Posted by: MDG May 5 2009, 08:59 AM

for sure George and Pat are correct on the early cars with body coloured bumpers the plug was painted to match.

As I said earlier, this is something I have never noticed before and not owning an LE, I have done zero research other than occasionally admiring some pics. But on Jeff's LE site, where as you know he has many shots of many cars, there seem to be some with black and some painted to match the bumpers.

It's possible they came painted to match and when/if replaced black ones went on

Posted by: Porsche Rescue May 5 2009, 09:04 AM

As I noted in the original post, the Porsche parts catalog lists two different buttons, black and chrome. Replacements for non-appearance bumpers were black. Porsche would not stock buttons in every possible color. I suspect that many were lost and replaced without being painted to match. That is probably what happened in my case. I am painting it green.

Posted by: Johny Blackstain May 5 2009, 10:09 AM

I now remember why I could not recall before. My Pop had the front bumper & spoiler, along w/ the back bumper painted black @ the dealer. He left the rear valence phoenix red. When I picked up the car after the repaint @ AA I was stunned how orange the car was & realized it came that way before Pop had it painted. Still, I noticed the black plug on the back instantly & have been puzzled about it since.

Posted by: Porsche Rescue May 5 2009, 10:22 AM

I'm guessing the painter at AA forgot to paint the plug. Maybe time to apply the Chevy engine color match!

Posted by: Jeff Bowlsby May 5 2009, 01:54 PM

Here are 2 representative photos of what I beleive to be original LE cars, I have several othgers, just not as good of photos as these:

In looking through my whole collection of photos, LE cars have BLACK tow hole plugs. This makes sense to me...The only LE cars with painted plugs are known to have been restored...all the original cars have black plastic trim. 914 trim in 1974 was primarily black plastic...tailbadges, washer jets, foglight grills. A black plastic plug would fit with the scheme as well as saved on production costs.




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Posted by: Jeff Bowlsby May 5 2009, 01:59 PM

Here are some more opics I found:

Its pretty clear to me that all chrome bumper cars were to have chrome tow hole plugs and black bumper cars had black plugs. I found no pics of body colored bumpers (with plugs), so your guess is as good as anyones. George should have a box full of various body-colored plugs if they were painted to match the bumpers. They would have been for 1970-73 cars only.

The earliest cars, apparently did not have rear tow eyes or plugs, including the prototypes.


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Posted by: Johny Blackstain May 5 2009, 03:47 PM

Danke Jeff!

Posted by: Pat Garvey May 5 2009, 07:43 PM

Jeez, "you suck one....."
Pat

Posted by: Pat Garvey May 5 2009, 08:04 PM

Jeff may have a point, though I find it curious.

Back when I was on a waiting list for a 240Z, I started shopping for 914's (used - it was 1972). I found two on the lot of a Cincy dealer called Rally Motors. Both were almost new cars (72's). One was irish Green, the other white. Neither had appearance group on them, but they both had plugs painted to match.

The Z came in in the wrong color (orange) & I got my deposit back & went to Classic Porsche/Audi in Cincy to pick a 914 in red. They had no app grp cars in stock, but plenty of other colors in non-app grp config. ALL had plugs painted to match - no black.

I put my order in for an app grp car & got it within a month.

So, I'm curious - was this a 72 thing?

Paul Naberhaus! Your 914 has just been delivered. Can you shed any light on this, since yours is a 70? Sorry, his screen name eludes me.
Pat

Posted by: Porsche Rescue May 5 2009, 08:13 PM

Seems probable as Jeff's pics show that LE's had black.
No question that chrome had silver/chrome buttons.
Problem is that all non-silver replacements were black. So any car with black could simply have a replacement plug that was not painted to match.
So far we have Pat and George saying plugs, at least on non-LE cars, should be painted to match.

Of course the later ('73-74) non-appearance cars had black bumpers so black plugs would be appropriate.

Posted by: MDG May 6 2009, 05:20 AM

Pat, your memory is NOT failing you; nor is George's expertise. The early cars that had body colour painted bumpers had the tow hole plug painted to match. Chrome bumpers had chrome plugs regardless of year.

The LE's, with their accent paints, had black jack post covers and black bumper plugs. This was when the non-app. cars had black bumpers as well.

Jim's car - early non-appearance Irish Green (mmmmm!) had body matched bumpers and the plug should be painted L60E to match.

George, I think you need to break out the lacquer thinners and clean off your LEs plug

m.

Posted by: Johny Blackstain May 6 2009, 11:09 AM

Posted by: Pat Garvey May 6 2009, 07:15 PM

Glad that two of us are old enough to remember that joke!

Posted by: Pat Garvey May 6 2009, 07:20 PM

I don't deny that LE's had black plugs. I do deny that earlier 914's had black plugs if they didn't have the AG option. Never seen one on an original early car. All were painyed to match.
Anyone out there with an original 70-72 car that had no app grp, but a black plug?
Pat

Posted by: MDG May 6 2009, 08:15 PM

not sure what you mean, Pat? I think every one here agrees the early non app. cars that had body color bumpers had the plugs painted to match

Jim's '70 Irish Green should have a green plug . . .

Posted by: Pat Garvey May 11 2009, 07:56 PM

Don't quite understand the confusion, so I'll state it again.

Early 914's, without the Appearance Group, had body colored bumper plugs, as the bumpers were painted the same color as the body.

Later 914's without the Appearance Group, had black painted bumpers. Of course, those cars would have had black bumper plugs.
Does this help?
Pat

Posted by: MDG May 11 2009, 08:27 PM

um, yes. See my post (#24). That's exactly what I said . . .

so we agree.

again.

Posted by: dr914@autoatlanta.com May 12 2009, 07:08 AM

yes it should be phoenix red.

Posted by: Porsche Rescue May 12 2009, 07:57 PM

I just happened on to a picture of the '71 painted bumper car I once owned.
It was one owner until I bought it in 2002. Bumper plug is black!

Of course, it could be a replacement since apparently Porsche only provided replacements in black and silver. Does make me wonder though.

Now can we find someone with a car they have owned since new and never replaced the plug? Fat chance!!!

Posted by: Jasfsmith May 13 2009, 07:24 AM

My '70 "plain Jane 4" has painted bumper with matching plug both in Signal Orange. Though I am the second owner (1973), I have photos of the car from the previous Owner that he had taken upon delivery at the dealership.

I've never seen a black plug on any of the early non-appearance group 4's. All were the color of the bumpers, as were the grilles were the fog lights would go.

Posted by: Porsche Rescue May 13 2009, 08:59 AM

That's close enough for me!

Posted by: Johny Blackstain May 13 2009, 09:30 AM

Posted by: Porsche Rescue May 19 2009, 08:45 PM

Although Mr. Smith is very convincing, I am still wondering.......... as I prepare to paint my rear bumper it occurred to me that I must paint the plug as a separate component. If I were to insert it in the bumper and paint, it would be painted in place and likely chip surrounding paint when removed.
So did Porsche really paint plugs separately in a dozen or more colors? Or did they paint it in place, inserted into the bumper hole? Seems like using a black plug would make far more sense. And the PET does list only chrome and black. Of course paint to match is not unheard of for replacement parts.
Maybe some guy had the job of "plug painter", providing a steady source of supply to the assembly line. Just wondering..............

Posted by: MDG May 20 2009, 05:45 PM

. . . . I think that was Heinie's job