I have a 72 914 with the appearance package and the grilles that surround the fog lights have been painted black and that paint is chipping back to the natural metal. i want to fix it so what is the rule with these grilles are they suppose to be black or silver or natural metal?

thanks
Chris

Chris....

Here's a picture of our knowledgeable CW moderator, Pat Garvey, detailing his '72/4 w/appearance group. Note the F/L grilles are silver. I'm assuming that for 1972 model year 914s, the silver color was impregnated into the casting, rather than painted. Pat will probably know for certain.

Grilles were either black or chrome plated. The base plastic is a white color most times, at least on the chrome. I have seen few black ones and have never cut them to see if they are solid black plastic or painted.

i have a '74 1.8...no fogs....what color should the grills be??? they are black now, but look scruffy....--JON

Agree. Also, I read somewhere that some of the very early grills were actually potmetal, not plastic. But, these were VERY early.

Naberhause, you have a pretty early 914 - are yours plastic or metal? I'd bet metal.

it shows how close of a look that i had with the grilles i thought they were metal.. since Pat Garvey's 72 had them silver and mine is a 72 also with the appearance package i will restore them back to silver.

They are chrome or painted black.

Yes some of the VERY early ones were potmetal like the early 911 grills. I have seen exactly 1 of them. A pair of those would definitely qualify as RARE on E-bay

And VERY much worth the cost of replating, if necessary!

As much as I'd love to have some (yeah, like they're common), they sure wouldn't be right on my '72. Wouldn't stop me from snappin' 'em up though.

I'd have to look but it seems to me that the set I bought are metal.