When I purchased my 73 914 the interior was pretty much all removed.
Is there a way to determine if the car originally came with a center console with gauges etc.?

Was it a 2.0?

1.7

i don't believe 1.7s in 73 got a console and gauges as factory option for appearance group. they seemed to get the parcel bin "console" instead.

74 and 75 1.8s did have the option for the console and gauges.

99% on that from research info gathered on 1.8s and 1.7s.
but......you can always be wrong i guess?

if it was a 2.0 (either 73 or 74) and it did not have the console then the lhd gauge in instrument panel was a temp guage instead of handbrake flasher.

ps according to @JeffBowlsby the wiring is there in the tunnel loom for the temp guage hook up in all the 73s. just not the rest of it. so if the wiring looms are still in the car its doable.

All 1973- 76 chassis harnesses have the hookups for the center gauge consoles - clock, voltmeter, oil temp and their gauge lighting.

Yes there is quite a bit of wiring in that general area, would anyone happen to have a picture?

Here's the layout - not a pic of the actual wiring from Dave D.
Click to view attachment

only 73 2.0 models had center consoles, was not available for a 1.7. ALL 73 2.0s had center consoles. One instant way you can tell is the 90 degree heater lever on the center tunnel. Comes up from the tunnel, takes a 90 degree bend then goes straight up where the knob screws on. Will also have a temp plate and sending unit on the bottom of the engine

Not definitive, but a good indication. Another option is the PPS, though I AM NOT recommending it.

Left dash gauge. If you have a temp gauge up top then no. If it's a stupid large brake warning light, then yes.
Doesn't mean it wasn't switched out at some point. The console isn't big shoe friendly and quite a few of us had to remove it so out feet didn't get stuck between it and the brake pad.

Its funny you said this, I drove a buddy of mines with a console, I had flip flops on, and they kept getting stuck, so I drove it barefoot.
I'm thinking I'll just mount gauges under the dash.

The heater lever comes up then points to the front. As some else mentioned the left gauge doesnt have a temp just the big red brake light.

If you want a combo/temp gauge, I have two for sale....

The 1.7s didn't have a temp gauge in the dash to my knowledge.

The 2.0s without a center console had it, but not the 1.7s or 1.8s without a console.

The heater lever is probably the simplest way to tell. If it has a zig-zag to the side (two 90-degree bends) it is a center-console lever; if it doesn't have those bends it is a non-center-console one.

BTW, I know of some 73 2-liter cars that did not come with all of the options. They are a handful, but they apparently do exist. So it is possible that there were one or two 2 liter cars in the 1973 model year that never had center consoles.

--DD