Better than being munsoned

73' 1.7 (now with 2.0) same ol' trunk.

Still need marathon blue on the bottom. What is this number on the lower right corner in the boot?

VERY nice trunk! Paint the bottom!

Number in the RR corner is Karmann's production numer and does not necessarily run in sequence to final production. Looks good Dion!

Thank you Pat. I appreciate the compliment. Thanks for the info on the trunk #. Waiting for this humidity to drop so the gentleman who did the body work and paint can coat this area. Needed to repair some rust in the trunk edge/floor near the rt. tail-light. Cheers,Dion

Hear what your saying about the humidity!

Does everyone know that the chassis number is actually a code with embedded meaning about your 914?

Manufactured 3/05:

Not possible. They didn't offer the crossbar until 4/05.
Please don't post false info in this forum

Here are a few rear trunk shots.
Craig

Hey Craig,

Could that possibly be Body Shutz under the paint?
Pat

Here's some shots from my all-original 1976 2.0 (build date late November 1975) which I bought just a few weeks ago with 24,500 miles. A few of them came out a little dark I'm afraid. I'm not really a concours type of guy, but I'm posting because at a recent get-together a fellow 914 owner who knows about originality told me it could be concours material with a little cleaning

Trunk with carpet in place:
Click to view attachment

Trunk with insulation mat in place, notice the unsightly blobs of unmatching paint left over after ripping out the rear reflector and temporarily closing up the holes it left. Lesson: After 30 years the touch-up paint stick may not match the original color anymore
Click to view attachment

Naked trunk:
Click to view attachment

Jack and jack mounts closeup:
Click to view attachment

Yes, another Nepal Orange 76!

Nice car. I have the rear reflector still in place as its a pain to fix those holes! Yours still has the decals atleast as mine were ripped off leaving a shadow mark.

Thanks! My reflector just had to go, with the intermittent solenoid it was impossible to take off the top and store it in the trunk.

I'll try to find a little paint that matches better to at least hide the holes more. I'm a bit afraid of the work involved in fixing this for good, with welding and respraying that area...

Jeff,

Enlighten the masses, pleas?

What about the 914's that don't have this stamped code anywhere??

Nothing on my 76....

Jeff,
That's pretty cool!

Fits perfectly w/my numbers.

Thanks to Dave too, who will soon become the member of the fugliest set of foglight grills!

Pat

i have had two 1970 914's (four cylinders) the first was about serial #1600 or so, and the latest is serial #1300.

On both of the them, the muffler heat shield is screwed to the trunk floor, later cars got them wleded in place.

Both early cars I had had minimal seam sealer in the trunk. The earliest had almost no sealer at all, many seams on the shock mount tower had none what so ever!

Is this a sign of an early car, or variation during production (ie Hans the sealer guy took the day off) i do not know?

But lack of sealer or minimal sealer was found on both my early cars. The 1600+/- serial number car had a build bate of nov or Oct 1969 per the door sticker, the #1300 car door sticker is not present.

On my #1600 car, dispite a letter from the factory (per my request) stating it was a USA spec car, had no vapor recovery system, no carbon can, no hoses, no holes for hoses, even the fan housing boss for the vapor line was not drilled out.

Forget if the 1300 car has vapor system of not, it is not at my house right now, so I will need to check it out too.

I bet the early cars rust more, with the lack of seam sealer.

I would think so.

I've seen 914's w/almost NO sealer & my '72, which "Hans" must have been having a good day with the sealer - looks like he used more than his alottment!

Maybe DaveP will chime in to verify...I dont think the 76 cars had the chassis # stamped into the rear trunk floor ...but it does appear on the skinny riveted plate on the pass side wheel well (below the tire board) in the front trunk and also on the Karmann drivers door pillar plate. The decoder above works on the the late cars too.

I wanna post in this forum at least once:

Umm, Brant - gorgeous finish!
Now, what about the rest of the car.....

BTW, you're missing some trunk plugs & what is up with the lights wiring?

oops..
sorry pat, I was crashing the thread.
the rest of the car is featured ad naseum right:
HERE

the wiring is because its a race car.
single strand of airplane wiring runs 4 rear brake bulbs...
(air plane grade wiring has a lighter insulation and the car was built with weight in mind!)

for example:

Brant - interesting. I keep learning here!

With that in mind (and I know ounces are important in racing), how did you determine the spots to be drilled on the hood? Obviously, structural rigidity is not paramount for a hood.

Yeah, I know, this isn't CW stuff, but I'm curious!
Pat

Pat,

I'm sorry this has turned into such a hijack...
regarding the front hood....
I first tried to remove the bracing on the rear hood: (see below)
in doing that I learned that the sheetmetal alone is way too flimsy to support itself.
I had to go back with balsa wood strips on the rear hood to give its shape back.
(it was sagging 6 inches from its own weight)

so when I got around to doing the front hood, I knew it would never withstand the aero force at speed with all of the bracing gone. I knew that I couldn't gut it completely... so decided to drill.

the diagonal braces seemed to be all of the real strength from my observations
this is backed up by the fact that they are the first thing to kink or show damage from any accident, and that the diagonals support all of the frontal force.

so the diagonals were left alone.

and then all of the rest of it, was just drilled to the biggest hole I could fit relative to the size of the area being drilled.

and when in place:

Lookit, not much seam sealer........

same Scarlet (Mars) Red car. check out the condition of the 2 white floor plugs. the rear trunk pad and carpet are as new but not pictured. boner.

k

Rhody,

VERY nice finish! I'd guess that yours is a late '72 or later car. But, what's with the rear lighting wiring? Should be tucked away up in the taillight/lock asembly area.

door jam production sticker reads 11/74. not my car, YET. don't know what the deal is with the wiring. i noticed it too. rear trunk lock is absent as well.

k

Rhody,
This comment may be out of line, as I haven't examined any late model 914s recently, but, the paint finish on the rear trunk surface looks to be mighty thick and not too smooth. That, coupled with the out-of-place wiring and missing lock hardware would cause me to look closer at the integrity of rear trunk. 914s are noteworthy for having water collect in the low areas back there by the tail lights. For comparison, examine the thin, smooth paint applications on some of the original, pristine trunks presented in this thread.

[<!-- QuoteEnd --></div><!-- QuoteEEnd -->
One thing I'm trying to do by showing my rear trunk is that it has the short foam piece & it's a fairly late '72. Per Brett Johnson's book I shouldn't have it - should be a full, black foam pad (per his book). Brett's book is a VERY valuable source, but you can't take it as gospel for all things. This non-club is a far more reliable source of originality info & I want to make certain that the nuances are documented.
[/quote]

My 1970 914-4 (purchased used in '73) had a rectangular piece of Perlon placed loose in the hole area of the yellow pad. Can anyone confirm that this was typical? I can't image the former owner chopping up the carpeting (Perlon) elsewhere in the car just to fill the hole.

James,
My '70/4 has the original foam insert identical to the one pictured in Pat's post #11 in this thread topic. Gary's '70/6 (post #15) is similar, though the pictures seem to depict it as having a a 'brown" shade to it, as opposed to Pat and mine, which are a pale, dingy "yellow".

Paul

I'm with Paul on Rhody's car, sorry but that's not an original finish. But then what was supposed to be a thread about original finishes has turned out to be......

Was there a piece of Perlon placed in the rectangular opening?

[/quote]

Was there a piece of Perlon placed in the rectangular opening?
[/quote]

Gary's post (#15 of this thread) shows the (what I refer to as "mouse fuzz) trunk carpet fitment. The entire bottom of the rear trunk received this single piece of carpet. I've never seen this carpeting in anything but full size. The dense foam padding beneath it was used (probably) for heat and perhaps noise abatement. That foam piece nestled in the rearmost section of the trunk as seen in our thread #s 11 and 15.

Gary's pictures appear identical to my '70/4 with regards to fitment. I can't really tell from his photos as to the type of manufacture/weave of the carpet material. The carpet in the f & r trunk is identical to what is fitted in the passenger compartment.

Sounds like this car had the "Porsche" refelctor panel between the tail lights and and electric lock.

BTW, Mars Red was never a Porsche color - VW. Nice color though.

James,

Sure would like to see a pic of the placement of the carpet piece!

I've never seen such a thing, but I know yours is an early Euro car & anything may have taken place! Any chance for a pic? I know your ailing (to say the least), but it might help the forum with new info.

Pat

Ooops! Sorry, though we were discussing your six! But...I have a late '72 four & still don't know what you'r referring too. Pic possible?
Pat

I'm not trying to be overly picky here, because I know this is a special 914. I've also had zero experience with light colored 914's. But, isn't there something that can be done to remove the seepage of oxidation on this rear trunk? It's far from serious, but it's hurting the overall value of the car.

Anyone have ideas?
Pat

Pat, I hear you. I hate that little oxidation in the trunk however since she lives in a garage & has for over 30 years, it still looks the same as it did back in '78. George @ AA said not to touch my trunks, door jambs or engine compartment so I listened to him & left well enough alone. I was thinking of using CLR to clean up the stains & maybe scratch & touch up the micro spot on the upper right corner of the re-enforcing plate. Thoughts?





Edit: BTW- George repainted her back in '03

Hello,
I just got a '71 914. Sorry for the very basic question, but how the heck do I get the back trunk open? I see a lever for the engine compartment and the front trunk and that's it. It doesn't have a push button like I see in most of the pictures here.java script:emoticon(':headbang:', 'smid_29')

Sounds strange! Does your 914 have a reflector panel between the taillights with "PORSCHE" script? Can you send a photo?

Johnny,

I wouldn't try CLR, particularly because it could potentially seep into seam areas. I also wouldn't be all that worried about the stains.

One thing you may try is a Mister Clean Eraser (not the heavy duty one), with plenty of water & very light rubbing - I've had good luck with this product for removing the tire stains in the front well. Rub very lightly & see if it does any good - if not, you're out a couple of bucks. If it does work, be sure to put some heavy paste wax on afterward. They act like a very mild rubbing compound, so it will have to be waxed/polished afterwards.

If you try, let us know whether or not it works.
Pat

Yes, it does.
I'll send a pic if I can figure out how to do so. I called the guy who sold it to me and he said "it just opens up. If not, there's a switch under the steering wheel." It doesn't just open up. Presumably, there is a latch that would keep it from doing so. I tried pushing, pulling, jiggling. The only switches under the steering wheel are little things that don't seem to have anything to do with the back trunk. The guy was a little hard to deal with when I bought it from him and I don't know if he's giving me the bum's rush. He opened it while I was there, but I was busy looking for things like rust and didn't pay attention to how he did it.

Here, I hope is a pic:
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