Well apparently (according to "World" information) some early '72/4s were delivered with non-inertia seatbelts, while later builds had the retractable belts.

'72/6s appear to have the ignition switch on the steering column, as do all model year /4s.

So I wonder, did the factory produce any 1972 model 914s with a fixed passenger seat, or conversely deliver any '71s' with an adjustable passenger seat?

Or, are there any 1971 914s that had fresh air vents on the outboard ends of the dash, or 1972 models that didn't have these vents?

My own '70/4 (build date 01/70; delivered 04/70) had the "appearance package" w/leather steering wheel, chrome bumpers, vinyl rollbar trim but did not have factory installed fog lights. The fog lights and their requisite grilles were installed at the dealer @ delivery. My car also was not equipped with the tethered "footrest" that the '70 and '71 models came with. My early car also did/does not have any headliner material on the f/g roof.

I was just wondering just what sort of other trim and equipment variations from spec have been noted.

Paul

I saw a 1972 1 owner with early belts. It was an early 72 VIN. The owner bought the car in Germany while stationed there. He lived in Folsom and had the car for sale. I don't think he sold it but I don't have the contact info, it was Yellow.

THE STIG

my late 70/6 doesn't have the headliner on the roof - and it seems that there wasn't one ever

my (very personal) explanation was, that it might be a replacement roof - from my best knowledge, they came without headliner, seals and anything else; just the plain f/g roof

My '73 1.8 has early doors with a thin armco side impact beam.

The '74 door has a spot welded ext. door handle recess and a much thicker and
doubled side impact beam.

It has been well documented that the 1970 models did not come with a headliner. Not until '71 MY. Much like the rear chrome bumper change. I have owned several 1970 /6's from 0137 to 1900 and none had the headliner. I also have 2 '71 parts cars, both with headliners.

Paul,
I noticed that your car has the two section center tray. My 0137 (01/70) has the early single section tray and did not come with a center cushion. It did come with a foot rest which was well worn. I can only estimate that my car was built in early January. I have spoken with the owner of 0150 and he has the single section, also.
I have always been curious at all the changes that took place from day to day, week to week, month to month or between model years.
Correct me if I'm wrong, but I bet yours does not have the hold down buttons on your floor to hold down the front mats. There would be one in each corner of the foot wells just in front of the cross member under the seat. Therefore, your carpets have no holes for holding them in place. Can you verify?
Don

Don, you are correct in your assumption, there are no anchors to secure the factory mats.

could you show me such a documentation, please?
I've never read about this before (at least I can' remember )

thanks

A quote from the 914 and 914-6 Porsche, A Restorer's Guide to Authenticity, New Revised Edition

"The earliest 914s and 914/6s and all 1970 and 1971 914s without appearance group had no headliner"

My own 914/4, #4702903114, build date 01/1970, I believe would qualify as an early 914, but it does have the appearance group and does not have a headliner.

It is generally accepted, I believe, that there are a few errors in this book, however. And these errors, I think, are the anomilies that a few of these cars have.


Paul

well, my 70/6 is a very late model (June 1970) ...?

I'd really like to know, because I already thought about installing one
I won't do, if there is an evidence that there should be none (originally speaking)

Is there any sign of residual adhesive on the underside of your roof, or a well founded suspicion on your part that the roof was a replacement item?

Paul

My 70 did not have one. I always wonder why?


BTW, What is the purpose of this vinyl piece?


Click to view attachment

no sign of and residual adhesive

this made me think, it could be a replacement part
what else could be a hint for being a replacement roof?

currently I've no access to the roof, because it's at the paint shop (the structured black paint started to peel of, so I decided to spend it a new finish)
and I thought to install a headliner, as the roof is "under construction" now
but I won't do so, if the car originally came without headliner - I want to keep it as original as possible

Gustl

Paul,

As near as I can figure, the purpose of that piece is to visually transition the windshield header into the roof so that the occupants are not looking at weatherstripping and the header-to-roof joint.

Paul

http://www.914world.com/bbs2/index.php?sho...dliner&st=0

This might help answer your concerns.

Paul

From the info & visuals that I've encountered through the years, '72 fours had a fixed passenger seat and non-retractable belts through May 72 production. June & forward production fours had the new belts and adjustable pass seat.

It's also mentioned in Brian Long's book as well as many posts on this site. I have also taken note of many other /6's I have come across since the 70's. The one I owned back then was #1900 and it did not have a headliner. It wasn't that old back then. If it's possible, you should try to contact the previous owners for the history. It's the only source for finding the truth. I also remember many owners of the early cars would install the liner when it became available. It does provide better protection from the heat, cold and road noises.
Question; Do you have the original warranty booklet? If you do, when was it sold?
Don

According to my information, '72/4's passenger seats were all moveable. Most with the non-retractable belts. Check your '72 sales brochure. It's quite clear in the pics. Also, read the R&T article from Feb '72 as well as many other books written on 914.
Don

yes - the car was 1st sold on May 28, 1971

As I suspected. At that time, production for the '71 model year was nearing an end and '70 /6's were still available at heavily discounted prices. ($5000 US) The smart dealers would load them up with options to move them. Perhaps even with a headliner to give it the finished look as the '71 models. My experience says no headliner from the factory during the '70MY.
Don

I am also doubtful about the cutoff being May/ June 72. I have a very original 4 built April 72 that has both adjustable seats and retracting seat belts.

I find this VERY interesting. Does your doorplate decal indicate an April manifacture?

Does your car have a dashboard upper center vent?

Yeah, born April 20, 1972, 72 model year, appearance group. I don't have any pics of my seats, actually, but this one you can see the rail at least. It has retractable belts. It has side vents, (or the holes for them, in the pic), no center vent on top. I'm almost sure it's original, it's like no one ever took this car apart. I think it had the original sparkplug wires.

I've said it many times before, but i think we need to be very careful using those decals to identify the real build date.
Remember, those decals were US only and from what i could gather, they were put on the cars after they were picked to go on the container to the US.

I think it is possible that in some instances the date on the decal is not near the actual build date of the chassis.

Nathan, can you get the chassis number off the little plate in the forward door jamb and decode it? That might help with the real build date of the car.

It's chassis # 1749532
-Meaning the chassis was built in the 17th week of the year, and, starting and including Monday, the 4th day of that week, Thursday April 20th, 1972. -actually, I'm not quite sure if it's April 20 or April 27, depends how they do the cutoffs on the weeks, but either matches the sticker, in April.

I beg to disagree!

In April 72 I drove a new TR6 and a new 914/4. I was leaning towards the TR6, but the floor heat was too much. The 914 was much better, but had too little airflow into the cabin, and the passenger seat was fixed. Porsche salesman told me to wait (really?) for a couple of months because there would be side vents, moveable passenger seat, and retractable belts.

Waited until early August and the salesman was correct. My car is July production (according to the sticker). Has all the aforementioned updates.

Don't have it in front of me, but I think Doc Johnson's tome would agree.
Pat

x

Pat, Is it possible you drove a left over '71 dealer test vehicle?
Doc Johnson says, "A third version of the dash was used on all models from 1972 on." (this is in reference to the two earlier versions of the '70/'71 models /4 & /6)
"This corresponds to the wiper/washer system controls being moved to the column on four-cyl cars, disappearance of the center defrost vent and the appearance of fresh air vents on the ends of the dash board." Page 59 of the revised edition.
In addition, I have an early '72 owners manual printed VIII/71 which shows a detailed picture of the new '72 MY dash.
Don

It's been a bit on this thread, but I was just looking at it again and noticed that my door sticker is itself an anomaly!

I was looking at the same time for something about engine tin rubber stamping and had Jeff Bowlsby's site open to the page on stickers stampings. It says there that silver door stickers only went through December of 71 and shows a silver sticker from 09/71.


So then he has this sticker from 1/72 that is black


This below is my sticker again


http://bowlsby.net/914/Classic/PLM.htm

Also weird is that the number written on my dash doesn't match anything else
Click to view attachment

and my rear trunk floor, same as my door pillar paint code number
Click to view attachment

Could it be someone switched the dash? It seems so unlikely to me as it was so umolested. .. well like not by someone that adventurous.

Read further and you'll see that Jeff has on his website a silver sticker from 03/74 and even one from 10/75. Jeff also shows a black sticker from 10/75. There really doesn't seem to be any pattern or explanation why a car would have a silver sticker instead of a black one.

Not saying it's any big deal, but it does go outside any of the stickers listed on the site there. He has listed 5/73 as the first silver sticker with a weight listing and mine is a year and a month previous. Seems like they used silver and black throughout.

Click to view attachment
Don,
Here's my plate.

I think you're right in that it probably isn't a big deal. Here is a '72 that's being sold right now on ebay with a silver compliance sticker, number is just a little lower than yours.

http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/1972-PORSCH...a#ht_500wt_1175
Click to view attachment

There must be a range where silver was used instead of black (or vice versa) but it does seem rather random when looking at a small sampling of stickers.

Misunderstandings on those dates...the dates refer to the sticker 'style' - graphics/text arrangement only.

Silver and black safety compliance stickers were used throughout production as far as I can tell, and were used in coordination with the body color as appropriate. You'll never see a black sticker on a black car or a silver sticker on a silver car for instance. The sticker colors appear to have been selected to contrast with the body color.

ah, I see. All this time I'd thought black sticker was late, like the black gauge buttons, black door thresholds and black headlight surrounds.

I was looking back through this, contemplating whether my dash is original or not, and an anomilie has come to me.

As above, this is the stamp in the trunk of my car


1749532

and this is my dash from the same car

1729556

To recap what this is supposed to mean, I'll quote a post from the bird here



http://forums.pelicanparts.com/porsche-914...ber-plates.html

So if you look at the numbers, they are both from the same week 17. The odd thing is that the car then has a '4', the dash a '2' (Thursday and Tuesday respectively). The thing is that the number from Tuesday is higher than the number on Thursday, and it's supposed to be cumulative for the week?

The one solution I can think of is maybe the dash is from a different year entirely - would there be any way to tell?