1975 Door DOT/VIN Sticker - Was CA different? Options

[DaveB]

The DOT sticker I have on my door doesn't look like what I see on other 1975 914's. The PPS said my car was Equipped for California. This is what the current sticker looks like:



Was this done just for California?

Thanks,

DaveB

[JeffBowlsby]

As I recall Porsche reassumed a controlling interest in the 914 in late 1974, so I wonder if the change in labeling was related to that?

[wonkipop]

As I recall Porsche reassumed a controlling interest in the 914 in late 1974, so I wonder if the change in labeling was related to that?

here you go mr b.

911s solder on with earlier VW type layouts - identical to VW apart from having Dr. Porsche AG etc instead of Volkswagen AG. 75 914 labels are not matching these.
they match VW labels from 75 on.

porsche probably using up their box of Vin labels given they didn't pump 911s out the door like VW did with beetles.






how you tell a restored 911 has a replacement label.
porsche were not using the term west germany in 75. they were in 79
its not on an original vin sticker from the 74-75 period.



vw were using west germany around 79 too. also not using that term in 75.
but did slip in "germany" right around that time.

---

have not seen a porsche vin label with just germany written on it like VW did.

i looked into it again to remind myself what that was all about.

prior to 1968, west germany had a formalised understanding with east germany that there was one german nation and they were divided. they settled on/or used the terms western germany and east germany. i think a modification was that east germany was something like the socialist democracy or socialist republic of (east) germany or similar.

in 68 east germany broke the agreement - announced it did not recognise west(ern) germany. they characterised west(ern) germany as a foreign country and not german. in response west(ern) germany reacted in some quarters by adopting the simple name of germany. (ie get stuffed east germany we are it).

at some point by the late 70s they resolved and agreed again that west germany or western germany was recognized and that each other were part of a "greater" divided germany.

i'm sure somehow all that played out in what they wrote (or didn't write) on those labels and manufacturing plates. and whether to put it or not put it on for risk of offending/rebuilding relations with the eastern half. a diplomatic episode.

the west germans were ALWAYS focussed on re-uniting germany. from the minute it was divided after WW2. tenaciously and diplomatically. the east germans less so (in official govt terms).

learned all this from my grandmother and had forgotten half of it.

when i was younger i used to talk about west germany.
she would always say don't call it that, its germany. (IMG:style_emoticons/default/dry.gif)

most folks think the terms western germany, germany and west germany were loosely used throughout the post war period.
not so.
there is a chronology.

it goes.
western germany. then germany. then west germany.
the words are important because they mean subtlely different things.
except for the use of germany alone which was strident and occurred for a time from the middle to later 60s and until the mid to later 70s.
a period sometime after the berlin wall goes up and disappears from use and reappears again after reunification.