Dash originality, Need some guidance Options

[Speedo]

Car is back from paint. Dash is out of car. Unclear as to what the dash looked like from the factory. Back of dash has remnants of both body color and black. Am I correct in thinking satin black on front side of dash and body color on back? Or front and back in satin black? Thanks for the help.

[BillJ]

the factory wasn't particularly fastidious on dash choice in terms of color. They just grabbed the next one in line. On my current cr which is silver they had grabbed a red one. On my Saturn 73 it was black.

[bbrock]

Same here. Silver 73 with Olympia Blue dash. The frame was painted a body color and then flat black sprayed on top. Here's mine after cleaning, sanding only the black, and respraying trying to be careful to match the factory pattern.

(IMG:http://www.914world.com/bbs2/uploads/post-20845-1543122007_thumb.jpg)

I have a lot more pics here: http://www.914world.com/bbs2/index.php?s=&...t&p=2668463

and here: http://www.914world.com/bbs2/index.php?s=&...t&p=2679080

[gms]

Make sure to save the crayon number on the bottom side

[bbrock]

Make sure to save the crayon number on the bottom side

Good point!
(IMG:http://www.914world.com/bbs2/uploads/post-20845-1543121550_thumb.jpg)

[Speedo]

My dash doesn't appear to have any crayon marks scribbled in back? Anything wrong with priming and painting the inside and outside satin black?

[Speedo]

Oh, and BTW...is it satin or flat black for the dash face?

[bbrock]

Oh, and BTW...is it satin or flat black for the dash face?

Mine appeared to be flat black and a very cheap paint at that. It came off quite easily. There is a chance it had more sheen originally and weathered to flat, but I don't think so since it was flat even in places that hadn't been exposed.

[davep]

Make sure to save the crayon number on the bottom side

This is the car production #. It may or may not be the same as the body Karmann #. I would appreciate if you could add this # in the notes for your car in the Registry. Please try to fill in your Registry information as completely as possible. Interior color & type, plus transmission # would be most useful to add into the notes.
You can also PM or email me directly with the info or photos.

Dave
VIN Admin

[wonkipop]

my car is phoenix red.
it has a very roughly and lightly sprayed blue metal dash.
with the word "rot" (red) crayoned in along with the production number.

(the dash has been out of the car for 30 years as i converted it to rhd, but i still have the orig lhd dash stored).

[plutothepointer]

when you converted to right hand drive did you modify the dashboard or were they available from factory? just curious.

[mepstein]

when you converted to right hand drive did you modify the dashboard or were they available from factory? just curious.

They get modified. It was never a factory option.

One of the owners at the shop has a factory right hand drive ‘73 RS. One of 9 made. (IMG:style_emoticons/default/driving.gif)

[wonkipop]

@ pluto.

the short answer is no.
there is no factory RHD dashpanel, nor never any factory production line RHD 914.

however, there may have been one "factory" RHD car? see later comments.
also, there was semi-officially a RHD converted 914 offered via Malaya motors in London to the UK market and other commonwealth countries. These cars were converted by Crayfords Pty Ltd. If you wanted one you ordered it via Malaya Motors.
There were not many takers as they were very expensive. Equal to the price of Jag E type. If you lived in the UK you still had the option of buying a LHD 914 as it was legal to road register a LHD car. In other commonwealth countries or former english colonies like Australia and Singapore or even Hong Kong it was not possible to road register a LHD car. In the end 2 914s converted by Crayfords made it to Australia that way back in the 1970s when the cars were new.

by the early 1990s LHD cars could still not be road registered in most states of aus.
that was the case with my car which i brought back from the USA when I returned to australia in early 1991.
a number of specialists were converting small numbers of 914s.
the quality of those conversions varied as do the dashboards.

regarding the car i own and converted the dashboard is moulded in fibreglass.
the source of the mould was an original mould from crayfords UK made in the 1970s. that mould had been sent to australia in anticipation of crayfords expanding their license to convert 914s in the 1970s when they were new. it never happened.
for various reasons mostly to do with the ADRs (australian design regulations) the cut off dates for 914s in right hand drive ordered from crayfords was the 1973 model year.
as far as i know only two cars from crayfords ever made it to australia, both 1973 2 litre cars. one at least still survives. various rumours persist about a third one that was a 1975 model that was unable to be road registered and may have gone to singapore late in the 1970s and may be back in the UK now.

vinyl skinning technology enabled the dashboard in mine to be skinned and match factory standards. the earlier crayfords cars had a hand stitched and glued leather or vinyl covering. they look hand made when compared to a factory car. The crayfords cars did not remount the ash tray in the dash but floor mounted an aftermarket ashtray on on the central tunnel. Similarly Crayfords also floor mounted a radio due to the firewall space limitations. (I had the dash mould modified in my car to incorporate the original ash tray mounting in the upper dashpad).

in most detail respects the rhd dash i have matches the factory. apart from minor matters. the radio could not be reinstalled. the asymmetrical shape of the upper firewall behind the dash to allow for the blower motor in the front trunk does not allow enough depth to reinstall the original radio. the glove box also ends up much shallower than the factory LHD cars. The heater controls stay where they are LHD again due to firewall shape and space behind, this means they end up closer to the instrument binnacle and steering wheel then they would if they were mirrored from LHD. The lower dashpad is reused as is and mounted to the new RHD upper dash panel
The instrument binnacle is reused and mounted directly into the upper dash moulding.


i've seen other RHD converted 914s in aus. some match mine and probably used the same dash mould on offer to various convertors in the know. others are less well done and are missing things like the ash tray. subtle other differences are some convertors mirrored the gauge placement in the instrument binnacle while some (like mine) do not mirror the gauges but instead follow RHD 911 practice which is the whole binnacle moves across with the gauges as per LHD and not mirrored.

the dashboard is the least of the difficulties in a RHD conversion for a 914.
The pedals, firewall modification and fuel tank alterations are by far more complex to achieve correctly.

@ mepstein.
Of interest. There may have been one "factory" RHD 914/6.
When i say factory, i mean factory converted. In the race shop.
It has not been confirmed yet by the current owners.
But it is known the car arrived in australia via japan in RHD form in the very early 70s.
It was driven straight off the docks after being unloaded and straight to the dealership that way.
It belonged to the Australian Distributor and was used as a driving demonstrator car.
The distributor had a second 914/6 in LHD drive form with factory interior for motor show and display purposes. At that time there was still talk that the factory would ultimately offer RHD 914s. That never transpired.

It is thought the RHD car may have been a deal possibly set up between Matsuda in Japan and the distributor Hamiltons in Australia. It spent one year in japan before coming to australia. The owner in japan was matsuda, not a private owner.
Another researcher in Sydney has a fair bit of information on the car, I think he is preparing some material for a book. The current owners of the car are compiling historical information as they go.

I saw that car 25 years ago when the second owner picked it up from the australian distributor who still owned it as part of his collection.
I remember the interior well.
The second owner removed most of that original interior and replaced it with a black interior including back pad from a 1973 two seat car.

Unfortunately I don't think he realised at the time what he might have had.
He did not know that the car had come into Australia already RHD.
The original interior, to the best of my memory looked like a 914/6 GT interior.
It had a felt backpad lining directly glued on to the firewall and racing buckets that to the best of my memory looked pretty much like GT seats.
The dashboard was hand made by cutting up a metal dash panel and rewelding it all to made a RHD dashpanel. It was recovered in a handstitched padded vinyl covering. The handbrake was a central under dash pull handle and set up, looked to be from a speedster.

An interesting aspect of that car was it was also fitted with a 4 speed box, not a 5.
It was set up with hill climb ratios if i remember right.
It came from the factory that way as well i believe. Special order?
Again its possible the factory did the 4 speed installation in the race shop rather than on the production line.
Back in those days the australian distributor had a lot of pull so none of that is impossible to discount as a probable/possible history of the car.

Two images below.
The interior of one of the surviving crayfords cars as it was circa late 2000s.
(it had been lightly restored at that time with new non original seat fabric).
The interior of my car earlier this year, after i had pulled it out of storage and recommissioned it.