Hi Guys!

I have a 1975 that I am backdating the bumpers on. Now you can picture the car I have these questions on.

1. I came upon and purchased a limited edition front spoiler and it appears to use the same mounting location as the front valence. Were the spoilers put in in place of the front valence or in addition to (over the top of) the front valence? Did the spoilers all come in semi-gloss black or were they ever painted the same color as the car or some other color altogether?
2. Did all steel bumpers come in chrome or were there ever painted ones from the factory? I see several black ones but don’t know if this was stock.
3. Did all 914’s come with sail vinyl or were some painted same color as the car? I have heard that only some limited edition cars came with the vinyl on the sails and if that is true then would it be politically incorrect to have the limited edition spoiler but not the sail vinyl? I’m afraid I just don’t care for the sail vinyl that much but I am trying to make the car as stock as possible.
4. Were passenger exterior mirrors (the chrome type) ever offered? If so is it a different mirror than the driver’s side or do you simply turn it around? I am confused here because Performance Products offers drivers and passengers side (two different numbers) but Automobile Atlanta only offers drives side but I think I read some place in their catalog that it could be used for either side.

I would sure appreciate any info from you 914 historians and concurs enthusiasts.

Thanks, John

1 - ? don't know

2 - appearance group bumpers were chrome. non were black. many paint their bumpers the body color.

3 - appearance group sails were vinyl. non were body color.

4 - i don't think a passenger mirror was a factory option but there are nuts under the door skin to mount a mirror. simply turn a drivers side mirror upside down to become a passenger mirror.

1. well, I assume you have a fiberglass LE valence... so it just replaces it. It is most likely an aftermarket part..so paint it what you want. On real LE car, It was painted the color of the trim. yellow for bumblebee cars, orange for creamsicle..(there are no grasshoppers)
2. No, some came crome and some came painted. Some were painted black, some were body color, and some were crome.
3. Some did come with sail vinyl and others didn't. 2.0 cars, sixes, and cars with the appearance package had sail vinyl. 1.7 and 1.8 cars came without it, unless it was ordered. LE cars did NOT have sail vinyl.
4. I am not really sure about it. There has been some talk that porsche has a couple hundred NOS passenger side mirrors, but I dont think any ever came with them stock... I am probably wrong, but I havn't seen any that weren't added on later..
Hope that helps

Ah...grasshopper. so it is actually called an LE valence? Perfromace sells one and they call it a limited edition spoiler but I am sure we are talking about the same thing. I thought about painting the bumpers and LE valence the color of the car but I thought it might be too much. How do they look with car-colored bumpers? Any place I could see a picture of one like that? I have a truckload of those mirrors so I will turn one around for the passenger side instead of being greedy and selling it!

Thank you very much for the great advice and answers!!

John

The steel bumpers were chrome or painted BLACK (except those that were apparently body color. I hate being wrong) from the factory. The actual Can-Am LE cars, where the bumpers were painted the "trim" color (yellow or orange/red), not the main body color.

If you're trying to make the car "as stock as possible", then why are you not concerned about backdating the bumpers? Use the LE valance if you like. The LE valance only came on the LEs from the factory, but quite a few were fit to non-LE cars "in period", so it's hardly scandalous if you use it.

On the sail vinyl, if you have it now and you don't want it, be aware that removing it isn't all that trivial. The paint underneath it is likely in bad shape, and will be covered in old hardened glue that will pretty much have to be sanded off. So, you'll need to repaint the sail panels. Also, the chrome strip at the base of the sail is retained with clips that fit into holes drilled into the base of the sail panel, which will have to be welded closed and ground flush. Removing the stainless trim around the sail to do all of this work isn't all that easy without damaging the trim, which is difficult to replace.

1. Remove valance install spoiler

2. Bumpers were painted the same color as the body, you see them in europe.
Most of these were painted black for the american market. If you sand a
factory black bumper you will find body color.

3. Mine came from the factory w/out vinyl, but it is not an appearance group.
It appears to be personal preferance these days wether you use it or not,
politically correct? Well I see alot of 914's w/out vinyl but with the chrome
molding and posts on this very website about how to remove it.

4. I don't know if they came from the factory with a pass/ side mirror. But on the
pass. door there is hidden nuts for a mirror. I drilled two holes and screwed a
mirror to it, In england there would be a mirror there, and it looks stock.

The spoiler is substituted for the valance. On LEs, they were painted the "trim color". Yellow, or orange, or (possibly) green. On other cars, they were black.


On early cars (up through 72 or 73), the "standard" bumper was body-colored. Very few of those seem to have been delivered, though. Probably the dealers ordering everything well-optioned to jack up their profit margins? In 73 or 74, the "standard" bumper became black. The chrome was an (extra-cost) option for those years, except of course on the 73 2.0 (almost all of) which had the "optional" goodies standard.


Having the vinyl was an extra-cost option. Most 914s seem to have had that option. It may have become standard in 73 or 74, but if so many of the LEs went without it. (There is still debate over this point WRT the LEs, though.)


Another option, but a rare one. The mirrors should be the same, except that the glass would be convex. At least, that is what I've read. I have not, to my knowlege, seen an OE passenger's side mirror.

Note that, if you install the pax' mirror in the already-existing weld-nuts in the door (you'll have to drill through the door skin to open them up), most of the mirror will be obscured by the chrome strip between the wing window and the main door window. (Oops!) The pax' mirror is in the same location on the door that the driver's one is on its door.

--DD

Dang, that's a bummer. So there's not much benefit to installing it after all.

Concerning the LE spoiler, see my post digging up some tips on its installation.

I put a pass mirror on my 72 , in the factory location and there is no obstruction.

Here is an example of a standard early car ('71) with body colored bumpers. As mentioned above, the standard bumper in later years was flat black. Chrome was an "appearance group" option until '75 when the bumpers you are backdating arrived as mandated by the feds. Sail vinyl was also optional as part of the appearance package in the early years.

Right hand mirrors were standard in Japan apparently.
There is still only one LE we know of with sail vinyl, and it is at the end of the year.
The LE spoiler was introduced with the GT package available in Europe (not the 914/6 GT which is a completely different beast). The GT package was like the appearance group or the performance group packages: just an extension of the performance group. The spoiler was available as an option on almost any car after its introduction. Real GT spoilers have metal brackets attached to the bottom, going to the body for support.

The LE valance must have been available as a Factory/Dealer part as my 76 had one on in when I got it in 95. Yes, it was a real LE valance with the brackets and all! I wonder if they could have been delivered with them from the factory as part of the clearing out of parts at the end?