914/6s at 1970 factory tour Options

[Kaeferfreund]

There is also a picture in the Excellence book that shows the workers pushing the 914-6 chassis on one of those dollies across the street from the coach works to the assembly line. Can't imagine that sort of thing these days except for Morgan, Koenisegg, and other small specialty builders.

Could you load up this/these pictures, please? Would be great!

Thanks.

[Kaeferfreund]

Nine years later....time for an update (IMG:style_emoticons/default/smile.gif)
Did anybody in our community find some new old pics from Stuttgart factory tours (1970-1972) in the meantime? The two or three pics from the early911s register are well known.

Who might share some old pics of showrooms (VW Porsche Audi dealers) with a brand new 914-6 for sale at the beginning of the 70ths?

Perhaps something have been found in case of an estate e.g. some photographic negatives or old slides/diapositives?

Still doing some research (IMG:style_emoticons/default/smile.gif)

[wonkipop]

Nine years later....time for an update (IMG:style_emoticons/default/smile.gif)
Did anybody in our community find some new old pics from Stuttgart factory tours (1970-1972) in the meantime? The two or three pics from the early911s register are well known.

Who might share some old pics of showrooms (VW Porsche Audi dealers) with a brand new 914-6 for sale at the beginning of the 70ths?

Perhaps something have been found in case of an estate e.g. some photographic negatives or old slides/diapositives?

Still doing some research (IMG:style_emoticons/default/smile.gif)

full set of photos from the launch at frankfurt in 69 here.
not production line. but brand spanking new.


http://www.914world.com/bbs2/index.php?showtopic=370087

[mepstein]

Amazing how high they set the front suspension.

[mikey]

I love the second photo with the Mahle "gasburner" wheels.
I have these on my 914-6

[SKL1]

In a couple of pix those look like fake Fuchs hubcaps, not real wheels. And yes the ride height seems all wrong on several of the cars. I've seen that cover on the gas tank etc before- looks nice, should have made production IMHO.

Nice to see one with the pepita seats. I was lucky to get those on my 9/70 build and I put towels on the seat bottoms to help preserve them. Still look decent after nearly 54 years!! Not sure I've ever seen another set of original pepita inserts on a 914...

[wonkipop]

In a couple of pix those look like fake Fuchs hubcaps, not real wheels. And yes the ride height seems all wrong on several of the cars. I've seen that cover on the gas tank etc before- looks nice, should have made production IMHO.

Nice to see one with the pepita seats. I was lucky to get those on my 9/70 build and I put towels on the seat bottoms to help preserve them. Still look decent after nearly 54 years!! Not sure I've ever seen another set of original pepita inserts on a 914...

guess carpet in front trunk a nice idea until you spill gasoline all over it and it soaks in.
might have been why they deleted it in full production cars. as well as saving money.

if you look close at launch photos you can see the cars do not have karmann plates in door jambs. also it would appear that the 4 cylinder cars do not have central air/heater air vent in centre of dash. its hard to tell for sure, but it looks like its not there.

front cowl to fender has no seam either.

"fake" fuchs hubcabs were a standard option on the 4s. guess not many people ticked the box. but i have seen the odd car for sale with them. here in australia you could get those for your VW type 3 fastback. i can remember them from my childhood.

nose up, arse down was pretty standard stuff for regular VWs once they went to the IRS rear suspension and macpherson strut with coils front suspension. ie superbeetles and 411s/412s. VW engineers preference for dialed in understeer? some of the cars on the stand might have been set up as press drivers with very conservative settings? the sixes do not seem quite as severe. don't forget this is right around the time ralph nadar was sticking it into VW beetles as the unsafest car. he did over corvairs first and then went after VW. in many ways the IRS and mac struts were their answer to his attacks.
these 914s would have been caught uo in that critique and the VW engineers would have been very nervous about any suggestion the cars were unstable or tricky at the limit.
porsche less so. nader had not named them. i would guess all the fuel tanks had to be completely drained for all cars in the exhibition hall which would have slightly exaggerated nose up attitude.

[914Sixer]

ALL USA cars were NOSE high to met the headlight regulations. NOT sure why Euro car would be that way.

[wonkipop]

ALL USA cars were NOSE high to met the headlight regulations. NOT sure why Euro car would be that way.

they were nose up too.

the various nose up attitudes seem to vary quite a bit.
if you look at contemporary photos of cars new the 6s tended to be set up a little more level from factory. the 4s were definitely more extreme.

i think the US headlight ht is part of the truth but all these things get confused with the passing of time. the pop up headlights themselves were to meet those regs as i understand it. combined the best of both worlds. low aero dynamic front and the headlights popped up to regulation min height. bug eye sprites etc had similar issues and used a fixed pod light to meet USA mins. some j sports cars too from memory.

the toyota 2000 gt being perhaps the clearest example. it was never meant to have pop ups. the headlights were originally the fairing encased fogs. pop ups were added so it could be sold in USA. i wouldn't mind betting at its very beginnings of design the 914 was intended to have its headlights in the horn/foglight grills and the pop us were added after the design was first done. but hard to know for sure.

[wonkipop]

compare and contrast out of curiosity.

4 with fake fuchs at frankfurt launch.
piech's 914S




they are both set up nose up arse down.
admittedly that might have something to do with the lump in the middle of piech's monster giving it a bit more rearward bias. (IMG:style_emoticons/default/biggrin.gif)
but they could have levelled the nose. and it definitely was going nowhere near any USA roads. just fast autobahn driving at midnight. (IMG:style_emoticons/default/smile.gif)
and the VW one is a touch more extreme, but i have seen photos of other 4s straight from factory that arse drag at even more extreme stance.

they seemed to have a preference to have them set nose up no matter what when new.
6s slightly less so. but still slightly nose up. (IMG:style_emoticons/default/confused24.gif)

[wonkipop]

Nine years later....time for an update (IMG:style_emoticons/default/smile.gif)
Did anybody in our community find some new old pics from Stuttgart factory tours (1970-1972) in the meantime? The two or three pics from the early911s register are well known.

Who might share some old pics of showrooms (VW Porsche Audi dealers) with a brand new 914-6 for sale at the beginning of the 70ths?

Perhaps something have been found in case of an estate e.g. some photographic negatives or old slides/diapositives?

Still doing some research (IMG:style_emoticons/default/smile.gif)

not really an answer to your 914/6 photos question.
but i did once stumble on a film from karmann factory later in production.
date is in 1974. film was about VW sciroccos.
at this point the 914s are coming down the production line mixed in with the last of the type 1 ghias and the first of the sciroccos. they no longer had a dedicated production aisle. this would have likely been mid 74 (end of KG), sometime after march 74 (scirocco begins). you can see top of 914 lower part of photo.

[wonkipop]

Nine years later....time for an update (IMG:style_emoticons/default/smile.gif)
Did anybody in our community find some new old pics from Stuttgart factory tours (1970-1972) in the meantime? The two or three pics from the early911s register are well known.

Who might share some old pics of showrooms (VW Porsche Audi dealers) with a brand new 914-6 for sale at the beginning of the 70ths?

Perhaps something have been found in case of an estate e.g. some photographic negatives or old slides/diapositives?

Still doing some research (IMG:style_emoticons/default/smile.gif)

here are other photos i have from frankfurt show.
have reduced file size to post here.
these shots are around or similar but have been published in past as black and white.
can't remember where i dug these up.
6 from the porsche stand display..
and the 4 that was on the karmann stand at frankfurt.
all brand spanking new and pre/early production cars.

[wonkipop]

In a couple of pix those look like fake Fuchs hubcaps, not real wheels. And yes the ride height seems all wrong on several of the cars. I've seen that cover on the gas tank etc before- looks nice, should have made production IMHO.

Nice to see one with the pepita seats. I was lucky to get those on my 9/70 build and I put towels on the seat bottoms to help preserve them. Still look decent after nearly 54 years!! Not sure I've ever seen another set of original pepita inserts on a 914...

this one has the most jacked ride ht i have ever come across.
karmann stand at paris in late 1973. was also at frankfurt a month before.
dug these up for mr. b regarding origins of the 74 LE.
karmann was doing austin powers 25 years ahead of mike myers with the stripes. (IMG:style_emoticons/default/biggrin.gif)
and someone screwed up when they went over to the rear spring rack on the assembly line.

its possible this was some kind of deliberate static display trick to make it look like it was coming off the lights hard in a street drag in downtown stuttgart. (IMG:style_emoticons/default/confused24.gif)

[oldie914]

I was assigned to the US Army post engineers in Stuttgart/Zuffenhauen 1970-72. Got out of the Army and took a job in Munich in 1972 but came back to Stuttgart in 1974 to work for the post engineers as a civilian.
I made a factory tour in 1972 and remember seeing a 914 on the assembly line among the 911s but didn't take a picture. I've attached a picture of a 914 engine on the engine assembly line. The tour was very impressive in that you could stand next to the workers while they assembled the cars. Also, the bodies were welded together by real people, not robots.
In those days, I was often at the factory to buy parts and once saw a 914 body on a dolly parked outside. I didn't check to see if it was a 6 or 4 but it might have been replacement body for a wrecked 914. Both Porsche and Mercedes offered replacent bodies back then. In the 1980s, I talked to a guy at the Porsche dealer in Frankfurt who told me he had bought a replacement body for his 1976 Carrera so I guess it was still possible up to that time.

[Kaeferfreund]

I was assigned to the US Army post engineers in Stuttgart/Zuffenhauen 1970-72. Got out of the Army and took a job in Munich in 1972 but came back to Stuttgart in 1974 to work for the post engineers as a civilian.
I made a factory tour in 1972 and remember seeing a 914 on the assembly line among the 911s but didn't take a picture. I've attached a picture of a 914 engine on the engine assembly line. The tour was very impressive in that you could stand next to the workers while they assembled the cars. Also, the bodies were welded together by real people, not robots.
In those days, I was often at the factory to buy parts and once saw a 914 body on a dolly parked outside. I didn't check to see if it was a 6 or 4 but it might have been replacement body for a wrecked 914. Both Porsche and Mercedes offered replacent bodies back then. In the 1980s, I talked to a guy at the Porsche dealer in Frankfurt who told me he had bought a replacement body for his 1976 Carrera so I guess it was still possible up to that time.

Super. Such kind of pictures I'm looking for. New to me (us) and very interesting. Thanks a lot!

[rgalla9146]

Check out the new 6 heat exchangers near the mechanics forehead...on the engine too.
Those on the engine look very shiny.