An interesting photo, The more you look, the more you see... Options

[wonkipop]

My 1971 was originally delivered in US spec. to a member of the US Forces stationed in Karlsruhe/Germany.
I still have the original document folder from the dealership.
Sometime around 72 or 73 he took the car with him to California.

Next month is big 50th birthday Party!!! (IMG:style_emoticons/default/piratenanner.gif) (IMG:style_emoticons/default/beerchug.gif)

(IMG:http://www.914world.com/bbs2/uploads_offsite/up.picr.de-24260-1623836553.1.jpg)

arno, the trick would be to find out where he picked it up.
be interesting. from a dealer? from the factory? where did you go to pick up a vw-porsche 914. and what spec it was delivered in.

there is heaps of american cars here in aus too, mostly in western australia,
that were shipped out for american service men.
it was an incredible set up that american service men had.
and who would deny them it.

i heard that a whole lot of karmann ghia type 3s ended up stateside that way too.
never officially sold in america. (thats another nice car and there are a few of them here where they were officially sold).

[wonkipop]

Swedish sold cars did not have the warts but had mirrors on both doors and some had headlight washers I think? Niklas would know better than me.

thanks falcor, thats narrowing it down.
interesting too to hear of swedish requirements.
the cars would have had to have been built to regs in each country for delivery,
mirror not an option as per USA, so its interesting to know.
i would have thought sweden had the two mirror thing because i can remember all the volvos and saabs here in the 70s were unusual because they all had two mirrors when aussie cars either had one or none.

god i miss saabs. what fabulous cars.

Slightly offtopic warning...
I miss Saab too because I work in Trollhättan less than 5 minutes from the old factory. Reasonable cars but the marketing outside Sweden was always quite underwhelming. Interesting now that everyone is doing turbocharging and downsizing engines when Saab went to a turbo only engine lineup as early as 1998 if I remember correctly.

My own Saab-aussie connection is that I became good friends with Steven from Tasmania who started the Saabsunited website and later moved to Sweden to work for Saab (very briefly) and then Koenigsegg for a couple of years.

off topic, but worth a reply.
they did not even need to market them down here.
they walked off the showroom floor.

strange you should mention tasmania.
i was walking down the street in hobart about 3 years ago and i walked past a 99 EMS and nearly fell over. immaculate. i think all the saabs of that brilliant era hide out down there. outstanding car. apart from the 914 of course. (IMG:style_emoticons/default/beerchug.gif)

[KSCarrera]

a tourist car would not be laying about in a rail head shipping yard.
you picked those babies up from the proper porsche factory in z.
i'm not even sure you could really do the vw porsche tourist pick up from the proper porsche factory. the few aussies that did indeed do a tourist pick up did it via the english dealers in the UK. you could do it with a 6 for sure. but a 4?

The rail head is, in fact, the back of the Karmann works in Osnabrück, with cars ready to be shipped wherever. I'll ask my friend Dieter (head of the VW archives, and formerly of the Porsche museum and archives) if he has any record of how 914s were distributed and if or how many were sold via a Tourist programm – and where they would have been collected from.

Who knew one (non-racing) photo would generate such discussion!

[wonkipop]

a tourist car would not be laying about in a rail head shipping yard.
you picked those babies up from the proper porsche factory in z.
i'm not even sure you could really do the vw porsche tourist pick up from the proper porsche factory. the few aussies that did indeed do a tourist pick up did it via the english dealers in the UK. you could do it with a 6 for sure. but a 4?

The rail head is, in fact, the back of the Karmann works in Osnabrück, with cars ready to be shipped wherever. I'll ask my friend Dieter (head of the VW archives, and formerly of the Porsche museum and archives) if he has any record of how 914s were distributed and if or how many were sold via a Tourist programm – and where they would have been collected from.

Who knew one (non-racing) photo would generate such discussion!

yeah, get to the bottom of it.
i never thought twice about this photo.
good on you for picking up what might be an abberant 914.
germans, you just know whatever is going on there is rational in some way.

[Arno914]

germans, you just know whatever is going on there is rational in some way.

...not anymore... (IMG:style_emoticons/default/screwy.gif)

[wonkipop]

germans, you just know whatever is going on there is rational in some way.

...not anymore... (IMG:style_emoticons/default/screwy.gif)

its a global degeneration problem.

but once when we wanted to be rational and those of us who did ...looked to the germans.

fingers crossed, because if no one is rational..............?

[mepstein]

Same photo was posted on world a couple years ago.