RHD 914, what's value of a rhd 914 Options

[9146-racer]

Hi, I haven't been on here for ages, sorry to have missed you all.
I have just been reading an article on the RHD Crayford cars and really would appreciate a value for one.
My car is a 1969 Crayford, in fact I understand it to be the first one ever.

I've owned it for about 30 years and now am considering parting with it, but what's it worth?

[Tom_T]

It's interesting that VW & Porsche had in fact engineered & manufactured the 914s such that they could be both LHD & RHD from the factory - as they did with most other VW & Porsche models - but they never did so themselves for the 914.
(IMG:style_emoticons/default/dry.gif)

That is odd because they probably could have sold quite a few 1000s more to the RHD markets in the UK, Ireland, OZ, NZ, South Africa & Japan - if it were only offered with the controls on the "proper side" for those markets.
(IMG:style_emoticons/default/idea.gif)

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

It's interesting that VW & Porsche had in fact engineered & manufactured the 914s such that they could be both LHD & RHD from the factory - as they did with most other VW & Porsche models - but they never did so themselves for the 914.
(IMG:style_emoticons/default/dry.gif)

That is odd because they probably could have sold quite a few 1000s more to the RHD markets in the UK, Ireland, OZ, NZ, South Africa & Japan - if it were only offered with the controls on the "proper side" for those markets.
(IMG:style_emoticons/default/idea.gif)

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

my guess is VW controlled the decision since they owned the karmann plant.

looked at closely, a 914 is less universal as a monocoque in lhd form.
very purist, fuel tank and battery offset drivers weight when only a driver in the car.
a lot of special panels would have been needed. mirroring of front bulkhead foot wells,
unique fuel tank, rhd wiring loom. 911s and other aircooled vws like beetle, type 3 not asymmetric to the same degree.

its interesting where the cars did end up in the pacific. i've seen photos of 914s in tahiti (former french colony). anywhere left hand drive - they seemed to find their way to.
i'm sure the tahiti cars would be piles of rust dust by now.

vw were in trouble in aus by the early 70s. the japanese onslaught was in full swing.
the beetle ended here before anywhere else in the world. they never even bothered with 411s - would have been too expensive to compete against japanese cars. south africa did get 411s and 412s.

datsun 240zs sold like hot cakes down here as well as maxda rotaries. i think 914s would not have stood a chance. vw had a rational view on numbers and profits and no sentiment when it came to their inability to compete with the J cars. i think even subaru got their big start down here. those little 4 wheel drive subaru wagons and utes would go anywhere and in more comfort than a bigger toyota landcruiser or land rover. i remember people traded straight out of their type 3 squarebacks which were a very popular car here in late 60s/early 70s into subaru wagons. if i remember right a lot of vw dealerships transformed into subaru dealerships. the japanese smashed the brits and european cars. in the 80s the european makes were not here anymore. it was just J cars and the local GM and Ford product.

Japan tested itself for the USA market by coming to Aus for practice. it helped we were a right hand drive country too. started down here 5 - 10 years before they took on the US.

to give an idea, the #s on rhd karmann ghia type 3s sold in aus - was not in the thousands, was in the hundreds. probably the closest car to compare the 914/4 to is ghia type 3s. might even be more 914s in australia now than ghia 3s that survived.

the trick to getting a rhd 914 in australia in early 70s was via a sort of tourist delivery.
if you owned the car and used it for 3 months in europe there were significant reductions in custom duty and sales tax when you shipped it in. so you had to co-ordinate either a summer holiday in europe or a working stay in london/uk with the purchase. would not mind betting the paperwork on the orders for the two 914s that were in australia that i knew had london addresses. they would have to or otherwise you were in the catagory of commercial importer.

the porsche distributor here did have a scheme for tourist delivery on 911s back in that era to assist customers in reducing the cost of those cars.

it was a kind of similar thing to get hold of the 914 - except the distributor in aus would not help you, or the factory. instead you did it all through a uk dealer, malaya motors i think, it was an exclusive arrangement and the only way to get the rhd car.

vw had the heyday in aus in the 50s and 60s. by the 70s they were in real trouble.
even the golf did not save them. was too expensive to compete against the J cars.
they fully withdrew before the mark 2 golf came out. did not come back until the mid 90s when J cars started to increase in cost.

one of the benefits though is we did get a few exotic J cars down here since we were RHD too. i can remember the dentist in my country town briefly owned a toyota 2000 GT.
there were a few mazda cosmos here as well. also those great little subsized toyota and honda convertibles from real early on. in the 80s J collectors came down and took most of them back.