Full Version: 914 UK
This is interesting and thought you guys might think so too!Click to view attachment
fascinating.
cause if thats a photo of the actual first 914 in the UK its an american spec car.
warts.
hubcabs not stamped with VW.
then again it could just be a press photo supplied for story instead of the actual car.
all the 914s that made it to aus early on via the uk were european spec.
also interesting use of the "S' designation - pretty early for that given they were all 1.7s.
guess they meant optioned up with the appearance group, vinyl roll bar, alloys?
cause if thats a photo of the actual first 914 in the UK its an american spec car.
warts.
hubcabs not stamped with VW.
then again it could just be a press photo supplied for story instead of the actual car.
all the 914s that made it to aus early on via the uk were european spec.
also interesting use of the "S' designation - pretty early for that given they were all 1.7s.
guess they meant optioned up with the appearance group, vinyl roll bar, alloys?
Photo must be in the UK, wet pavement!
here is another photo of it.
(from Porsche 914 - An Enthusiast's Guide, R. Gooding).
Click to view attachment
I had a thought that perhaps it was a Japan spec car since these would have been set up with headlights for a RHD market even though a LHD car. J cars had warts (with slightly different lenses). might have had hub cabs without VW stamping (see the Japanese motor show car). but J cars had VW porsche badge on rear, no porsche lettering on engine grille and rear amber turn signal lenses in tailights along with euro lenses for front indicators.
the uk car sure looks to be a US spec car. very interesting that a us spec car is diverted into UK. maybe early on supply from factory of cars was very limited.
the reference to there being an SC model marketed in the UK is consistent with the two 73 2 litres that came to australia via uk/crayfords engineering and conversion to rhd.
although that was later than 1970 at least one of those australian cars was referred to as a 914 SC. not necessarily a factory thing but something the UK distributor used.
(from Porsche 914 - An Enthusiast's Guide, R. Gooding).
Click to view attachment
I had a thought that perhaps it was a Japan spec car since these would have been set up with headlights for a RHD market even though a LHD car. J cars had warts (with slightly different lenses). might have had hub cabs without VW stamping (see the Japanese motor show car). but J cars had VW porsche badge on rear, no porsche lettering on engine grille and rear amber turn signal lenses in tailights along with euro lenses for front indicators.
the uk car sure looks to be a US spec car. very interesting that a us spec car is diverted into UK. maybe early on supply from factory of cars was very limited.
the reference to there being an SC model marketed in the UK is consistent with the two 73 2 litres that came to australia via uk/crayfords engineering and conversion to rhd.
although that was later than 1970 at least one of those australian cars was referred to as a 914 SC. not necessarily a factory thing but something the UK distributor used.
As I recall, I was told that Van Hallan was next door to AFN/Porsche Cars GB
don't know, not english.
who/what is Van Hallan in the photo credit?
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thinking about it - bringing both US spec and european spec into the UK via AFN (the distributors) makes sense. would have been offering delivery of the USA spec cars to US citizens resident in london for work, with those US citizens probably intending to return to the USA with the cars after completing residency /employment? could have even be facilitating US servicemen. there were big shared air bases in the UK as well as germany.
who/what is Van Hallan in the photo credit?
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thinking about it - bringing both US spec and european spec into the UK via AFN (the distributors) makes sense. would have been offering delivery of the USA spec cars to US citizens resident in london for work, with those US citizens probably intending to return to the USA with the cars after completing residency /employment? could have even be facilitating US servicemen. there were big shared air bases in the UK as well as germany.
914s were marketed as S and SC designation in the UK.
the two 1973 914 2.0s that came here were referred as SCs.
these were the only two that came to australia via uk in the 1970s when new that i have ever seen.
this article was first published in modern motor - an australian motoring magazine.
i saw the car from Modern Motor in the late 80s and it was still pretty much as per the photos. it was still covered in porsche decals everywhere as it was in the 70s - but if i remember right the rear vw/porsche badge was obscured by a full width porsche reflector update. I've not seen that car since, not sure what happened to it, but i think it might still be in the hands of the fellow who owned it in the late 80s. probably sitting in a shed somewhere. i know he made contact with the 914 register sometime in the mid to late 90s and the car was still in melbourne australia then.
the other "SC" (metallic green) also had the reflector update for a time in the 80s.
it was removed when the car got a light restoration in the late 80s.
i knew the owner of that car back then and he had all the sales reciepts and records for it from Malaya Motors and Crayfords Engineering (who did the RHD conversion).
neither car had any sort of SC badge on it, it was just a pure dealer marketing reference i think.
Click to view attachment
the two 1973 914 2.0s that came here were referred as SCs.
these were the only two that came to australia via uk in the 1970s when new that i have ever seen.
this article was first published in modern motor - an australian motoring magazine.
i saw the car from Modern Motor in the late 80s and it was still pretty much as per the photos. it was still covered in porsche decals everywhere as it was in the 70s - but if i remember right the rear vw/porsche badge was obscured by a full width porsche reflector update. I've not seen that car since, not sure what happened to it, but i think it might still be in the hands of the fellow who owned it in the late 80s. probably sitting in a shed somewhere. i know he made contact with the 914 register sometime in the mid to late 90s and the car was still in melbourne australia then.
the other "SC" (metallic green) also had the reflector update for a time in the 80s.
it was removed when the car got a light restoration in the late 80s.
i knew the owner of that car back then and he had all the sales reciepts and records for it from Malaya Motors and Crayfords Engineering (who did the RHD conversion).
neither car had any sort of SC badge on it, it was just a pure dealer marketing reference i think.
Click to view attachment
Cool! @wonkipop you sure do know your 914 stuff! Thanks for the history lesson. 
QUOTE(StarBear @ Nov 11 2021, 07:19 AM) 
no, i just have a memory.
there were only two 914s in melbourne back in the 80s.
its not hard to remember them, not dealing in bulk amounts of random access memory!
both those cars originally lived around sydney in the 70s.
someone probably is still alive who remembers them there then when they were brand spanking new.
actually i lie, a couple of german mechanics had one each as well in melbourne that they brought in from germany. but they were different and german cars.
there were the rumours about the 914/6s.
but i didn't get to see one of those cars until the early 1990s until after i came back from the USA. so again its not like you have to remember much. i only ever got to ride in one 914/6 which was the one that hamiltons brought in way back in 71 and that was in i think around about 1993 or something. i had seen that car as a child, but did not see it again until i was in my early thirties.
thats it. rare cars in australia at that time.
most people dismissed them, but a few souls were into them.
americans know heaps more about the cars.
even the germans have forgotten what they did?
Peeked my interest as had an old photo of AFN with some 914's in it......
100% sure the picture on the 'wet pavement' is actually the slip way down to the Thames in Old Isleworth. Good for getting slightly overhead shots from the pavement above & have also sunk a beer in the pub right next to it & walked on it
Porsche Cars Great Britian / AFN (as in Frazer Nash) were based at Falcon Works, London Road. A stones throw to the north of this location
https://www.google.com/maps/place/59+Church...!4d-0.32053
If you look closely the 914 with oval German plates it has US warts, the right-ish colour hue & hubcaps. Same car?
The AFN photo has J reg 911, ignoring the presence of 914s for a sec that absolutely places the photo between 1st Aug 70 and July 71. August was UK car sales peak month as everyone would hang back from buying until the new 'year' reg plates came out
New model '914' driven over and 'show plates' swapped for the photoshoot? & also great for new UK registration promo?
Further down the row is also a European spec 914 without warts (ties into the commentary about which spec the UK would get?) and also ANO 914 with alloys or no caps fitted? But oddly that looks as if it has been UK registered as it has the period rectangle black plate with white letters
Artistic licence perhaps on the advert copy as being the 1st 914 but seems to be definitely one of the 1st 3Nr 914's in the UK
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100% sure the picture on the 'wet pavement' is actually the slip way down to the Thames in Old Isleworth. Good for getting slightly overhead shots from the pavement above & have also sunk a beer in the pub right next to it & walked on it
Porsche Cars Great Britian / AFN (as in Frazer Nash) were based at Falcon Works, London Road. A stones throw to the north of this location
https://www.google.com/maps/place/59+Church...!4d-0.32053
If you look closely the 914 with oval German plates it has US warts, the right-ish colour hue & hubcaps. Same car?
The AFN photo has J reg 911, ignoring the presence of 914s for a sec that absolutely places the photo between 1st Aug 70 and July 71. August was UK car sales peak month as everyone would hang back from buying until the new 'year' reg plates came out
New model '914' driven over and 'show plates' swapped for the photoshoot? & also great for new UK registration promo?
Further down the row is also a European spec 914 without warts (ties into the commentary about which spec the UK would get?) and also ANO 914 with alloys or no caps fitted? But oddly that looks as if it has been UK registered as it has the period rectangle black plate with white letters
Artistic licence perhaps on the advert copy as being the 1st 914 but seems to be definitely one of the 1st 3Nr 914's in the UK
Click to view attachment
Click to view attachment
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@SixerJ great photo of AFN
those thin bumper 911s look almost anachronistic against the wide low 914s.
wonderful to see the exact moment in history like that.
those thin bumper 911s look almost anachronistic against the wide low 914s.
wonderful to see the exact moment in history like that.
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