Knee Pad Trim, Do all MY cars have it? Options

[bbrock]

My 73 knee pad is missing the bright strip as seen in the pic below from an old FS ad. I kind of like the look without but wondering if mine originally had one. If so, I suppose I need to track one down. Thanks.

(IMG:http://www.914world.com/bbs2/uploads/post-13084-1522274294_thumb.jpg)

[bbrock]

Hi Tom,

This is good stuff. I do have the name of the dealer and OO in PA in the documents with the car. The dealership appears to be a used car dealer now. I tried to contact them but no response. I got a pile of receipts from the PO which tell quite a tale of this car beginning in KC, then out to DC, down to Houston, out to Denver, and back to Kansas. I've thought about contacting the PO but when I bought the car, I got the impression it was a painful time in her life so have been reluctant to try to find her.

I also prefer the chrome bezel control panel. The rear defrost was not original to the car. Chris Baker donated it to me for the cost of shipping. Like you said, a handy option in this area so I really wanted to add it.

The brakes are a story. To be clear, mine had 2 front and 1 rear late caliper and 1 early rear caliper. i thought it was weird to have calipers mixed right to left. Now it has all late calipers because I sent my originals in for replating and they came back looking really nice but the plater left them in the acid too long and ruined the threaded bolt bores. A couple generous members graciously donated late cores which I sent to Eric in exchange for a set of nice plated calipers. The original cores are sitting in a box looking all pretty but useless.

I go back and forth on the window cranks. I am not sure at all they are original. At one point I had 3 914s and it is quite possible I swapped cranks from my 70 into the 2L. I remember having knobs break off the cranks but can't remember which car. I also know I bought some of the early Rabbit style cranks for one of them. Anyway, good chance these aren't original so maybe I will look into swapping to the late style.

My dash is a brand new 914Rubber repro. I splurged on their last Black Friday sale and just received it and installed it a couple weeks ago. I need to work on the alignment of the ashtray though. No budget to recover the knee pad at the moment but maybe at a future time.

As you can see, I didn't go with a period correct radio but it is a Blaupunkt. I just couldn't justify the expense of a period correct radio, plus adding a bluetooth module, and in the end still having a radio that didn't perform as well as a modern unit for a fraction of the price.

It's fun trying to reconstruct the history of these cars. (IMG:style_emoticons/default/beerchug.gif)

[Tom_T]

Hi Tom,

This is good stuff. I do have the name of the dealer and OO in PA in the documents with the car. The dealership appears to be a used car dealer now. I tried to contact them but no response. I got a pile of receipts from the PO which tell quite a tale of this car beginning in KC, then out to DC, down to Houston, out to Denver, and back to Kansas. I've thought about contacting the PO but when I bought the car, I got the impression it was a painful time in her life so have been reluctant to try to find her.

I also prefer the chrome bezel control panel. The rear defrost was not original to the car. Chris Baker donated it to me for the cost of shipping. Like you said, a handy option in this area so I really wanted to add it.

The brakes are a story. To be clear, mine had 2 front and 1 rear late caliper and 1 early rear caliper. i thought it was weird to have calipers mixed right to left. Now it has all late calipers because I sent my originals in for replating and they came back looking really nice but the plater left them in the acid too long and ruined the threaded bolt bores. A couple generous members graciously donated late cores which I sent to Eric in exchange for a set of nice plated calipers. The original cores are sitting in a box looking all pretty but useless.

I go back and forth on the window cranks. I am not sure at all they are original. At one point I had 3 914s and it is quite possible I swapped cranks from my 70 into the 2L. I remember having knobs break off the cranks but can't remember which car. I also know I bought some of the early Rabbit style cranks for one of them. Anyway, good chance these aren't original so maybe I will look into swapping to the late style.

My dash is a brand new 914Rubber repro. I splurged on their last Black Friday sale and just received it and installed it a couple weeks ago. I need to work on the alignment of the ashtray though. No budget to recover the knee pad at the moment but maybe at a future time.

As you can see, I didn't go with a period correct radio but it is a Blaupunkt. I just couldn't justify the expense of a period correct radio, plus adding a bluetooth module, and in the end still having a radio that didn't perform as well as a modern unit for a fraction of the price.

It's fun trying to reconstruct the history of these cars. (IMG:style_emoticons/default/beerchug.gif)

Brent -

Where in PA?

We who DD'ed our 914s tended to go everywhere with them! (IMG:style_emoticons/default/biggrin.gif)
I'd done the West Coast, Southwest, TX 7 OK in mine - & hope to do some good road trips in mine again sometime. But I've always lived here in SoCal since `63, & Pittsburgh PA `52 - `63 as a kid, so mine never left SoCal as it's home base.

I understand on the budget thing, cuz I'd already spent $7500+ on my `80-83 rolling resto, then was hit in May `85 in the parking structure while in grad school, & started family, etc., etc. - so she's sat in my garage since then, with minor work & assessment since `09-10 - after kids were grown & gone. I'll eventually get out of the garage & over to my shops after this CV-19 thing settles, & can get the house/garage resto done or along enough to get access to the garage.

Keep an eye out for a nice uncracked late lower knee pad, & a used period ratio if you want one, cuz they come up on here all the time. Mark Heard/914sixer seems to have some nice period radios every now & then.

BTW - you can get a pair of flat speakers for under or behind the seats to go to 4-way sound on that newer Blau if you want & no cutting & wiring through the car required - just under the carpets (also the bluetooth/jack modules, etc.). Woody's Customs out here in SoCal sells them on evil-bay. Lotsa Porsche & classic car folks use them.

https://www.woodyscustomshop.com/online-store/

You'll want the mid-gen narrow arm black window cranks - 75-76 went to the wide ones like the Rabbit ones. Good thing is that the cranks were all common to VW cars of the same years, so you can now get original German Porsche or VW, Brazilian vW, & after market of all 3 types.

Cheers! (IMG:style_emoticons/default/beerchug.gif)
Tom
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