One of the last 1.7s made on BAT this week! Options

[MCShack]

One of the very last 1.7s made is up for auction on BAT this week!

I debated on posting this here or in the Originality forum, but since it is about a car that is for sale at a current auction, it belongs here, I think? It is one of the very last ’73 MY 914s made with VIN 4732927189 of 4732927660 and one of the very last with a 1.7L engine every made with a total of only 470 cars made after it. In 1974, the 1.7L engines were replaced with 1.8L engines.

It is almost comical that the COA says “European Equipment” instead of “North American Equipment” because this car while obviously made in West Germany, contains just about every single piece of equipment that appeared on cars bound for the USA. The small button amber side lights, the P-O-R-S-C-H-E letters on the engine grille cover, the lack of the VW logo on the back rear trunk panel, taillights are solid red w/o the amber lenses, front turn signal lenses are all amber instead of amber and clear/white or all clear/white, then the US DOT sticker inside the driver door rear door jam with the VIN and build completion date is present. The Porsche logos and emblems were not used in Europe because it was seen as a VW, so there would be no Porsche Crest on the butterfly horn button instead of the Wolfsburg Crest that came on VW made cars. I believe the European hub caps had VW logos on them or maybe they were plain. The only ones I have seen in North America either had no logo or had the Porsche Crest in the center of the hub caps. Very nice, very original, North American ’73 MY 914 1.7L car.

However, I just noticed this car has chrome bumpers with front fog/driving lights in them and they are not listed on the COA. 73s came standard with black bumpers and chrome bumpers and fog lights should be equipment listed on the COA as that those were not standard equipment on European or North American cars. We do know that a lot of changes happened between the '73 and '74 MY cars, like the little center dials on the tach and speedo gauges which are both silver and not black on this one. Also it has the black plastic door sill guards rather than the silver aluminum ones which came new on my car made only few weeks before this one. (IMG:style_emoticons/default/dry.gif)

[davep]

Just a heads up on some of the "facts" being mentioned here. On the CoA, the paint code is in fact correct, but in a different format than the badge; the CoA uses the marketing code that is recorded in the production ledger that PCNA uses for the data to write up the CoA. The do the same thing for the 911's of the period also, and it can drive knowledgeable people nuts, but that is their policy. They do not list the engine code EA that is stamped on the engine case, but PCNA assumes that if they provide the model as 1.7, then people will figure it out. PCNA knows the car is a 1.7 model because they have the marketing model code for the car (but do not include it) that also has information on the base specification. In this case it would appear that the car has the appearance group option, and thus has the chrome bumpers, fog lights and sail panel vinyl amongst other features. I would have to see the production data to understand the European Equipment since there is no such thing, and the light metal wheels should be alloys but of which variety is not known. This could have been a dealer swap; one never knows. So while my Report provides much better detail, this one is not too bad.
Kardex can have errors or omissions. Out of perhaps 2500 Kardex in my files I have spotted only 2 errors, however perhaps 20% have omissions due to poor clerical work.
I am not sure why the first post mentions VIN 4732927189 when the last post is showing VIN 4732927447; these are two different cars.

[wonkipop]

Just a heads up on some of the "facts" being mentioned here. On the CoA, the paint code is in fact correct, but in a different format than the badge; the CoA uses the marketing code that is recorded in the production ledger that PCNA uses for the data to write up the CoA. The do the same thing for the 911's of the period also, and it can drive knowledgeable people nuts, but that is their policy. They do not list the engine code EA that is stamped on the engine case, but PCNA assumes that if they provide the model as 1.7, then people will figure it out. PCNA knows the car is a 1.7 model because they have the marketing model code for the car (but do not include it) that also has information on the base specification. In this case it would appear that the car has the appearance group option, and thus has the chrome bumpers, fog lights and sail panel vinyl amongst other features. I would have to see the production data to understand the European Equipment since there is no such thing, and the light metal wheels should be alloys but of which variety is not known. This could have been a dealer swap; one never knows. So while my Report provides much better detail, this one is not too bad.
Kardex can have errors or omissions. Out of perhaps 2500 Kardex in my files I have spotted only 2 errors, however perhaps 20% have omissions due to poor clerical work.
I am not sure why the first post mentions VIN 4732927189 when the last post is showing VIN 4732927447; these are two different cars.

i think @MCShack might have made a mistake transcribing VIN# in his first post about the car. but he is generally right, its pretty close to the end of 73 production. 213 from last. K# is a thursday. maybe second last day?

re engine bay rust. would have copped that in its first decade of life? looks like a case of arrested decline for decades since with dry storage? hopefully not too bad and restricted to the engine bay shelf corners. certainly looks that way on passenger side.
pretty good car going by the photos depending on just how far drivers side has corroded.

I'm tempted to say the hole in the passenger side engine bay shelf almost looks deliberate. like the original owner or an earlier owner drilled out a hole in the sheetmetal to allow for water drainage - given the "dubious design" original factory drain plug still visible. i still have those same plugs in mine and i always raise my eyebrow looking at them - like how could these really work?)
the hole looks circular but has gone on to corrode away from one side? ???????? i dunno.

a green 1.7 a month or so back on BAT appeared to be in even more remarkable original condition. amazing how these un-meddled with 1.7/1.8s from 73-75 pop up that have been left alone for 50 years.