Factory Rear Emblems 1974, Black Metal or Plastic Options

[914Sixer]

Sourcing emblems for Creamsicle. I always thought they were plastic for 1974. LE is an original car with metal emblems, so which is correct?

[JeffBowlsby]

Plastic.

[StarBear]

Yep. Plastic on 1974, at least 1.8L cars.

[bkrantz]

Is this one of those things where the factory used up last years parts before switching over? What is your build date? Any evidence the car was repainted?

[wonkipop]

Is this one of those things where the factory used up last years parts before switching over? What is your build date? Any evidence the car was repainted?

no. not at the point when the LE was produced.

maybe there might be some exceptions to very early 74 2.0s produced august/sept 73. but thats a speculation if there are and if so they would be black metal. but none of those are LEs.

[914Sixer]

Guessing then the emblems were replaced at some point with GOOD ones.

[bdstone914]

Guessing then the emblems were replaced at some point with GOOD ones.

Im one who prefers better over original "correct".

Also depends on if it is a keeper or seller as to the vest ones to use. My 914-6 has a 2.7 so it will never be original. Not going to bastardize it but ditching the smaller rear view mirror for one you can see thing in.

[914Sixer]

I agree with you on a continuation of better parts just like the factory did.

[flipb]

Is this one of those things where the factory used up last years parts before switching over? What is your build date? Any evidence the car was repainted?

no. not at the point when the LE was produced.

maybe there might be some exceptions to very early 74 2.0s produced august/sept 73. but thats a speculation if there are and if so they would be black metal. but none of those are LEs.

My early '74 2.0 has black metal emblems, which I believe are original to the car. Build date August 1973. Also has silver button gauges.

[scallyk9]

My LE (-14854), built in February 1974 came to me with its original rear emblems in plastic. My white 1974 MY 914, built in November of 1973, had plastic rear emblems although it had been restored.

[wonkipop]

Is this one of those things where the factory used up last years parts before switching over? What is your build date? Any evidence the car was repainted?

no. not at the point when the LE was produced.

maybe there might be some exceptions to very early 74 2.0s produced august/sept 73. but thats a speculation if there are and if so they would be black metal. but none of those are LEs.

My early '74 2.0 has black metal emblems, which I believe are original to the car. Build date August 1973. Also has silver button gauges.

that would make sense.


our research into the 74 1.8s seemed to point to two distinct groupings of 2.0 L cars.
and its more than likely to do with the delayed introduction of the 1.8 with the new L jetronic fuel injection.
it has been established without any doubt that 1.8 L jetronic production did not commence until very late october 1973. last few days. 29th/30th. there may have been ROW spec twin carb 1.8s produced before that but we don't have data for those.
if so not many. the ROW 1.8 was not produced in big numbers like the USA market cars.

from august to late october 1973 there were only 2.0 L cars produced for the USA market. and these were very much a continuation of the 1973 model year cars apart from small changes to the engine for emissions. very small changes and of course rear bumper tits. then from late oct 73 until the end of jan 74 approx pretty much only 1.8 L jets were produced. after jan 74 the production of the cars is mixed between 1.8s and 2.0s in terms of factory output.
the LEs come after jan 74. this is during what you would call the second batch of 2.0 L 74s.

nearly all the big changes for the 74 model year start to be introduced with the 1.8s.
to list some.
discontinuation of the matching interior color lower sections of the drivers door bin and passenger door handle. these components went to all black for all cars.
change of sun visor pins from chrome metal to black plastic.
complete revision of the vapor emissions system including charcoal cannister and hose hook up.
change from black plastic headlight motor covers to grey plastic and later back again.
change of expansion tank on fuel tank from steel to plastic.
change of rear trunk insulation pad.
changes to ducting components in fresh air / heating system in front trunk.
kinonglas windscreens from august 73 to some time in oct 73 to sigla windscreens until december 1973 and back to kinonglas again until the end of production in may/une 74.
interior carpet material revised.
and more i cannot recall right now.

and the changes do not occur at a single moment in time.
they start happening around about 3 weeks into 1.8 production in november 73 and are spread throughout the rest of 73 and on until almost the end of 74 MY in june 74.


we can probably add the badges to that after reading this topic as i speculated in a post above.

definitely the 1.8s got the plastic badges - but it is likely and highly possible that the 74 cars built from august to late oct. 73 still got metal badges up to some point in time that could only pin point if you had enough data on enough cars.

one thing we do know now with our research on the 1.8s is that there was no definitive version of the 74 cars introduced with the commencement of the MY production.
rather the changes happen all along the way.

(IMG:style_emoticons/default/biggrin.gif) (IMG:style_emoticons/default/beerchug.gif)

[flipb]

Super helpful, @wonkipop . Great rundown of the changes and when they were introduced.

The key distinction I use between MY73 and MY74 is the rubber bumperettes. MY73 cars had them front-only; MY74 cars have them front and rear. These may be US-only, but I believe the model year cutover was precise and consistent. I'm not aware of any exceptions, although plenty of folks have altered or backdated their bumpers.

[wonkipop]

Super helpful, @wonkipop . Great rundown of the changes and when they were introduced.

The key distinction I use between MY73 and MY74 is the rubber bumperettes. MY73 cars had them front-only; MY74 cars have them front and rear. These may be US-only, but I believe the model year cutover was precise and consistent. I'm not aware of any exceptions, although plenty of folks have altered or backdated their bumpers.

correct mate.

they did the changes they had to do for USA DOT requirements and USEPA/CARB emissions. from the start of the MY.

@JeffBowlsby knows the revisions to the emissions. being the D jet man.
i think it was a matter of unhooking the vacuum hose from the advance can on the distributor, pretty much like the 1.8s did. but not sure. it was a very small change to the engines for emissions when it came to the 2.0 L cars as far as i am aware.

the rest of the changes were to do with production efficiency and lowering the cost of manufacture. though i think its a misconception to think of them as cheapening the quality of the cars. the germans were big into plastics and the development of plastics.
synthetic materials being one of the big legacies from WW2. germany had to develop synthetic materials due to lack of resources. synthetic rubber, synthetic fuel...etc. (IMG:style_emoticons/default/biggrin.gif)
the gradual introduction of plastic components replacing metal and cardboard etc that starts happening in 74 MY is prompted by the development of the new water cooled car line by VW. thats when it starts happening in the VW factories. the scirocco begins production at karmann alongside the 914 and the passat commences at wolfsburg.
a lot more plastic starts coming in with those cars. and it spills across to the compnents for the 914. in addition interior cabin decor changes in terms of material palette purely as a result of the new "modern" interiors for the water cooled range. its not necessarily all about being cheapskate as is the popular take on that.

little known fact. the german market 74 passat was the first car in the world with a plastic fuel tank. the australian ford falcon in 1979 was the second. Ford Australia flew out VW engineers to assist with the development of that tank. that was about weight saving in the post fuel crisis era. ironically the plastic fuel tank was a mid 1960s Ford patent, but i believe the further development of it was resisted by USA DOT.

the 914 inherited a bit of that work on the passat with the plastic expansion tank incorporated into late 74 cars. very early use of plastics in fuel carrying components. we like to think of the porsche engineers as gurus and technocrats, but the VW engineers were right out there, particularly the ones working in the audi/nsu division at that time were very clever and innovative. (IMG:style_emoticons/default/beerchug.gif)

[wonkipop]

My LE (-14854), built in February 1974 came to me with its original rear emblems in plastic. My white 1974 MY 914, built in November of 1973, had plastic rear emblems although it had been restored.

i'd say your white 74 (nov 73) likely had the plastic badges. thats after/co-incident with the introduction of the 1.8 which did go over to plastic for sure and they start coming out the door at beginning of november 73. there is a few 2.0L mixed in with the predominantly 1.8s produced from nov 73 to end of jan 74. it could also be right at the end of the first batch of 2.0 L cars and the build was started right at the end of october 73 and it received its vin and label in november.

whats its karmann plate number?

it would be interesting data even though its restored and the status of the badges might be uncertain.

basically you got to backtrack with cars you believe to be reasonably original using the k numbers.

we got pretty close with quite a few of the changes in terms of dates when it came to the 1.8s. JeffBowlsby also has lots of data from the 2.0 L cars he has tracked for his LE research which covers the months from feb 74 on during the period the LEs came off the line.

but less is known on those early 74 MY 2.0 L cars.