I got this book called Porsche Sport 76 / 77 by Joe Rusz. It's copy right is 1977, and trust me the book has that old book smell to it. Anyway, it goes over most of the Porsche models to that date including the Porsche 914/6 Pickup with pictures of it being built but also in the 914 section of the book is a photo of 74 LE black & yellow with the following caption below it, and I quote

"Introduced in mid - 1974, this limited edition 914/4 was available in eitherblack with yellow trim or white red trim Standard equipment included stabilizer bars, alloy wheels, front spoiler, and custom interior. Engine was the usual 4-cyl, but in 2-liter (1971cc) form"

I would think that IF the white & green LE was a factory option that would have also been listed since this book is from that era. It is noted in the forward of this book that "Joe Rusz" has written this book for the past six years (back in 1977) so this would leave me to believe that there should be a Porsche Sport 74/75 out there somewhere that might give more details on the LE cars??

So there you have it, yet another discussion started on the grasshopper LE that gives possible proof that there were no such "Factory" White & Green LE cars.

Nope that wrong they came in Blk with yellow & Lt Ivory w/ red trim!!!

"The IAA was followed in October 1973 by the Paris Salon where the company Karmann showed two particularly striking 914s. From these emerged the custom version 914 GT which was marketed in the USA as a limited edition. The striking paintwork was black with yellow bumpers, sills, side stripes, wheels, lower rear panel closure and front spoiler. An alternative version combined light ivory with green or orange. Well, the 70s was a colourful period."

From the porsche web site today.


http://content2.us.porsche.com/prod/classi...84?OpenDocument

They ARE out there. If I ever took a picture in my life, that I kept for longer than one move, we'd be looking at pictures of a blue grasshopper.


M

QUOTE (rdauenhauer @ Feb 4 2005, 01:52 PM)

Nope that wrong they came in Blk with yellow & Lt Ivory w/ red trim!!!

You guys have twice referd to "red " trim. I did one of these cars a few years ago and went to extremes to make certain the car was a L.E. and it was, but it had ORANGE trim. I even sanded the bumpers down to see what paint was/had been on and it was orange all the way down (one repaint). So what the dilly yo? The new side decals from AA were also orange although a diff. shade than original, and no they don't line up like the o.g. ones.

Yeah, it's orange.

People say it's Phoenix red, but it ain't, it's way orange.


M

Potato-poTATo

The Name of that color is actually Phoenix Red, but as you have noted in looks pretty orange.

Put a Phoenix red car up against an orange LE, and you will see that the original color is 2-3 shades oranger.

Is that a word?

hah


M

leave it to the freekin krauts to have Signal Orange, Gulf Orange and in between on the specturm is ........Phoenix Red??

QUOTE (echocanyons @ Feb 4 2005, 01:54 PM)

"The IAA was followed in October 1973 by the Paris Salon where the company Karmann showed two particularly striking 914s. From these emerged the custom version 914 GT which was marketed in the USA as a limited edition. The striking paintwork was black with yellow bumpers, sills, side stripes, wheels, lower rear panel closure and front spoiler. An alternative version combined light ivory with green or orange. Well, the 70s was a colourful period." From the porsche web site today. http://content2.us.porsche.com/prod/classi...84?OpenDocument

Well then I guess that answers that

I do have the Porsche Sport books from 72, 73, and the 76/77.

Porsche's own website has a few glaring errors, and they were referring to the GT version anyway. The LE is a similar but separate model.

LE Historian

My third cousin's mothers boyfreind bought one brand new, I seen it with my very own eyes

(Down boys I'm joking....)

The only thing I have ever been able to figure out, is that the cars were offered, and the only dealer that ordered them was in Atlanta.



People say, "Man! That's *Rare*!" with reason, usually, "Man! That's *Ugly*!"

If you want to find original green LEs, go to ATL, and start poking into repainted 74 2.0s, with the right options.


M

QUOTE (redshift @ Feb 4 2005, 09:03 PM)

The only thing I have ever been able to figure out, is that the cars were offered, and the only dealer that ordered them was in Atlanta. People say, "Man! That's *Rare*!" with reason, usually, "Man! That's *Ugly*!" If you want to find original green LEs, go to ATL, and start poking into repainted 74 2.0s, with the right options. M

I think it would look cool.

In all seriousness, has any one talked to George about them?

Paul Heery! Someone should turn those into boobies! (sorry.. I'm going to do penance now I've been bad)

They are there, and while you are looking at repaints, mine will have a marathon blue previous repaint

PS: -that was just painted over the original paint blocked out-



M

Anyone remember the magiazine called "VW&Porsche" from the '80's?
Well they did a BIG article on the LE's and they had page after page of pics.
And the centerspread was a GREEN and WHITE LE!!!!

Yes its TRUE....

















ok, its a big fat lie.

I have most of them. What issue?

QUOTE (davep @ Feb 4 2005, 07:46 PM)

I have most of them. What issue?

Look at the very bottom of my post.

I've found one

QUOTE

I've found one smilie_pokal.gif

someone might take you seriously

QUOTE

Porsche's own website has a few glaring errors, and they were referring to the GT version anyway.

It would be no surprise to find errors on their site and publications...I hope this is not one of them. But this porsche.com reference to the Grasshopper cars is also found in a couple books too. So I don't know if its a.) Real or b.) One erroneous statement repeated. It would be really great if we could get access to Klauss Parr at the Porsche classics archives and research it further. What we do know is that Rich Bontempi has seen a couple GH cars here on the West Coast, Geoff Bleyseng has seen one in Seattle, there is a poster or ad showing the three LEs together (currently MIA) and Miles owned one.

The original factory Bumblebee poster I have of the 914 GT (914 Jubillaumsmodell) only mentions the Bumblebee and Creamsicle versions as available. My poster was for the german/european market, so it would not be speaking for the USA market, which the porsche.com website language addresses. I also have photos of two known existing real 914GT european Jubillaumsmodell cars, one is a Bumblebee and one a Creamsicle...but no Grasshopper. I would not expect to find a 914GT Grasshopper, because they are not even in the literature.

QUOTE

has any one talked to George about them?

I have, and he told me a couple years ago that he had seen a few and was even on the trail of one for sale about 10 years ago.

Hey good picture! Today it looks nice but back in the day it was considered pretty ugly even for the '70's.
Geoff

Anyone who has access to photo archives from the PCA regions could look at photos of gatherings in the 70s and 80s to see if any GHs show up. Seems like there should be a photo or two out there.

Pretty darn rare, but if they exist, one will show up sooner or later. Like Jeff said, they are mentioned in publications. If they were referred to only once or twice, that could be an error. But they get mentioned more than that. I am betting a few were made, but maybe a very few.

One would think that George (Dr 914) would have a good photo archive of the 914s he as owned/sold/restored/etc over the years. How about someone from AA looking for a photo and posting her for us.

Of course, once a car/photo is found, then we can't have our monthly Grasshopper thread. I guess then we can turn our attention to prototypes.

IF someone was even able to find a Grasshopper (maybe in poor shape), would they be able to have it restored? In other words, are the green PORSCHE sidestripes even available?



Just dreaming that I had a line on one...or thinking that I could just build a replica someday for fun.

MikeZ can have them made up, no problem.
I thought Mike Mueller found a set of NOS Green LE Decals? Its that proof?

Geoff

Yes, you could have stripes made that matched the factory color. I believe Jeff has a source as he sells the yellow stripes.

Mike Mueller gave me those NOS green stripes he found at a local swapmeet. They are VOA stripes like the NOS yellow stripes George gave me. The color should be close but probably not exact. The 914 LE side stripes were installed at the factory and were not the VOA stripes. There are more details on my 914 LE website.

The VOA stripes were available as accessories through P-car dealers, only in (Saturn) yellow, orange, green, black and gold...and not white. The yellow and orange VOA stripes are a shade off of the factory applied 914 LE color stripes, which is why I have the stripes in the correct colors (Sunflower Yellow and Phoenix Red) manufactured locally for anyone who wants the correct colors for their 914 LE car.

QUOTE (bowlsby @ Feb 5 2005, 04:16 PM)

..., so it would not be speaking for the USA market, which the porsche.com website language addresses.

even the german Porsche pages tells us about 3 different GT/LE cars shown at the Salon d'Automobile at Paris in Octobre '73

german Porsche page about GT/LE

I asked Porsche Classic Germany, but they can't help (what a surprise )
I asked Karmann Germany, no answer till now ... but I will them

I was a member of NNJR (northern new jersey region) PCA back in 1973 thru 1983 and I remember seeing plenty black/yellow and white/red LE's but I never saw a white/green LE. NNJR was a fairly large region back then (over a 1,000 members and very active) but no grasshoppers. We would hold multi region events with Metro NY and Conn. Valley Region and Jersey Shore and various Regions from Pennsylvania and still never saw a grasshopper. I understand most 914's were sold in California but quite a few were sold in the North East but I never saw a grasshoppers. Now that I live in Florida I'm always looking cuz you never know when one might show up.

Several people have been looking to buy one but I think all of them have been painted over (like Miles) as it was considered UGLY. The one I saw years ago belonged to a friends gf who treated it like it was a beetle, meaning she was driving the piss out of it so it was pretty trashed. She didn't like the color at all but it was just a set of 4 wheels, not "Its a Porsche!". The color scheme of the LE was funky to say the least and most were painted over at the first repaint cuz who wanted those colors. The black ones were easy to do, just rattle can over the yellow.
Geoff