Engine compartment of untouched 1975 1.8 914. Comments please! Options

[22truckie]

Ok. Here is the engine compartment with just the beginning of the "gross" cleaning. Because it was GROSS!! It will be perfectly cleaned with no alteration to finishes, patina left in place. My understanding is it is all original with the exception of Petronix added inside the distributor. Original coil was left in place. Close ups will be shown. Please give comments on anything not original if you truly know it is. I am rapidly learning about these as much as possible. I have collected unrestored muscle cars most of my life. Had this car fall into my lap. Always wanted one. Thanks for the help!!

[22truckie]

Thank you for your thoughts. Let me express my views on this ( you can read my other post on concours preservation judging which dives into this ). Patina by definition in the collector car world is the natural aging of a surface from exposure to the elements including human skin or cloths. That surface gets a discoloration on it. Detailed cleaning gets the grease and road grime off but leaves the actual tarnished finish in place. Leaving chips in original paint, fading in carpet, worn areas on a seat, light discoloration on a plated piece where the plating is starting to loose its luster. That is what patina is. As aposed to cleaning and repaint ing the surface. Leaving a car filthy dirty with bird crap on it and mice nest everywhere is not my thing as that, in my opinion, is not preservation, rather a disrespect to that automobile ( the car may or may not be original) At least clean the car. Just my opinion there. So from those of us who are into unrestored original cars, cleaning them to show the patina and what that original part actually looks like and what shade of gray they used on the factory shock is a good thing and an invaluable resource. Look at it this way. If it weren't for these cars, you would never know what all the components actual looked like from the factory and how they were actually put together. So in essence they are the holly grails of the hobby ( again mine and many others opinion ). I will see if I can load up a picture of the Torino. You really had me going on " dead man cars" for a minute. As far as NOS items being original unrestored. They are not. They may be a factory piece but where not on there when the car was built. They are close, a used good condition, untouched factory piece would be a closer fit as it has aged like the rest of the vehicle. If that makes sense