Beauty is a Lack of Warts Options

[bkrantz]

I don't mean to restart an old argument (well, maybe a little), but I love the front corner of the 914, especially without the US side marker light wart. For me, some isolated design details are really what makes the car, like the curve of the rear side window on a 911.

[Root_Werks]

Prefer the look with them removed, but wouldn't remove side markers from any 914 of significant originality. I removed them on my six conversion, but the whole 914 had already been messed with.

Also understand being able to see the marker from the side, but the front lenses seem to pop out enough they are easy to see at dusk/night from the side, even from a blind spot you can see the. Side markers, while required, seemed a bit redundant.

[bbrock]

Prefer the look with them removed, but wouldn't remove side markers from any 914 of significant originality. I removed them on my six conversion, but the whole 914 had already been messed with.

Also understand being able to see the marker from the side, but the front lenses seem to pop out enough they are easy to see at dusk/night from the side, even from a blind spot you can see the. Side markers, while required, seemed a bit redundant.

I'm of like mind. Seems clear the Porsche design team preferred the cars without them and the markers were a regulatory afterthought. Still, removing them was a hard decision since I wanted to keep my car original. It is the only "non reversible" alteration I made. I was resolved to keep the markers until I stripped off some old 70s era bodywork of swiss cheesing panels full of holes and laying on Bondo a half inch thick. The rot that left behind around the side marker holes made the decision for me. Much easier to patch with fresh sheet metal than to patch and then carefully redrill holes to add something ugly to the sides.

For me, it is an either/or thing. While changing to a low profile marker would improve the look, it still breaks the beautiful curve that is revealed with their absence. My decision to install stealth markers was purely a safety decision. After contemplating the side illumination of the front signals, I decided they were probably adequate, but side visibility is definitely improved with side markers. In the land of dark mountain roads and Montana-sized trucks, my little toy car needs all the help it can get. I really like the combo of the euro signals with LED bulbs and the stealth amber side markers. It makes for a good daytime running light combo increasing visibility from front and sides while keeping the headlights down. Sure, the illusion of originality is blown when those makers light up, and I don't like the disco bling look of them, but much prefer it to being side swiped.

[wonkipop]

Prefer the look with them removed, but wouldn't remove side markers from any 914 of significant originality. I removed them on my six conversion, but the whole 914 had already been messed with.

Also understand being able to see the marker from the side, but the front lenses seem to pop out enough they are easy to see at dusk/night from the side, even from a blind spot you can see the. Side markers, while required, seemed a bit redundant.

I'm of like mind. Seems clear the Porsche design team preferred the cars without them and the markers were a regulatory afterthought. Still, removing them was a hard decision since I wanted to keep my car original. It is the only "non reversible" alteration I made. I was resolved to keep the markers until I stripped off some old 70s era bodywork of swiss cheesing panels full of holes and laying on Bondo a half inch thick. The rot that left behind around the side marker holes made the decision for me. Much easier to patch with fresh sheet metal than to patch and then carefully redrill holes to add something ugly to the sides.

For me, it is an either/or thing. While changing to a low profile marker would improve the look, it still breaks the beautiful curve that is revealed with their absence. My decision to install stealth markers was purely a safety decision. After contemplating the side illumination of the front signals, I decided they were probably adequate, but side visibility is definitely improved with side markers. In the land of dark mountain roads and Montana-sized trucks, my little toy car needs all the help it can get. I really like the combo of the euro signals with LED bulbs and the stealth amber side markers. It makes for a good daytime running light combo increasing visibility from front and sides while keeping the headlights down. Sure, the illusion of originality is blown when those makers light up, and I don't like the disco bling look of them, but much prefer it to being side swiped.

yes - interesting thing about the USA side markers is that they are also passive reflectors.

i do like your stealth side markers. very very neat. (IMG:style_emoticons/default/beerchug.gif)

my old type 3 squareback i owned back in the 80s was a german manufacture import.
they sold both aus assembled type3s down here and german manufactured fully imported. the german ones were neat as they had little parking lights incorporated into the belt line chrome on the sides of the car. this was a split lens light with a red rear section and a white front section. when you parked the car on the side of the road at night in low vis situations you could flick the indicator switch up or down with the ignition off and the light would come on just on that side of the car to help make it visible.

i can't remember anymore if this was also how the original side marker USA lights worked as i rewired my 914 thirty years ago to get it to conform enough to aus standards.
do the side markers also come on just on one side with USA lights if you have ignition off and indicator stalk up or down?