With car lots chock full of new cars these days, seems like it's easier to pick a car off the lot or have the new car dealer swap with another dealer.

How was most ordering done "back in the day?"

Paul

Off the lot!

I'll bet most 914/4 models were bought as is. I'm sure many sixes (maybe half?) were to order- the ones with special interiors or paint- although perhaps most were not significantly different

Mine came off of a dealers lot. It was the "least optioned" 74 2.0 L he had.

Mine was to order. I was trying to get one of the very first cars the dealer received, but I didn't want the random color I'd have had to take if I kept my place in line (this was in 1970, the first model year). I wound up getting something like the 15th car they delivered, and it was exactly what I ordered, light ivory color, no appearance group, chrome wheels. There weren't many options in 1970 if you were buying a 914-4, so "to order" mainly meant appearance group (vinyl sails and chrome bumpers/targa trim) or not and the color you wanted.

both my 73 and 74 were "off the lot", the 73 came with just about everything you could want, and the 74 was packed with all the stuff that came for free on the 73 so we fought over the $ and since it had been a demonstrater (210 miles) I got the wheels and stereo for free....6310.00 out the door.

I sat down with the salesman when I was 19 years old and ordered a Phoenix Red with Black Interior 1973 914 2.0. It was a day that I will never forget for as long as I live. Only topped by the day the salesman called me on the phone to tell me that the car was in.

I would assume that my Sahara Beige 914 and my M471 914-6 were both special ordered too.

My 74 914 2.0 was on the lot. Traded an Audi 100LS for it. I can't remember any midwestern people that ordered theirs, most were just at the dealership.

LE was off the lot. Have no idea about the six but I'll guess the same.

I knew what I wanted....er, could afford........Sunflower Yellow, Appearance Group, Chrome Wheels. The dealer didn't have that combination but found another one a couple of cities over. Only new car I've ever bought.

My dads car was off the lot

'73 2.0 Phoenix Red/Black Vinyl... special ordered thru Coliseum Porsche VW in Ft. Wayne, IN..
Only thing the Dealer installed was the Radio Motorola IIRC
Oh, yeah, Heated Rear Window; but I think that was a factory option...

What a Beauty! A '74 Vette tried to outrun me one night on US30 to Lima, OH.

We both topped out at about 110 - 120! Boy, was he P.O.'ed Of course, the '74 Vettes weren't anything to brag about... he just thought he should be able to shake off the piece of orange snot hanging on his bumper!

I once asked my conservative engineer father what inspired him to buy a new Delphi Green 73 off the lot, and he replied that it was the only 914 they had in stock!

I was on the wait list for a '72 240Z - red. I waited almost six months & they said my car was in, except it was orange. Told them I wanted red & they said I'd have to go back on the wait list. Said no & collected my deposit.

Went to a used lot in Cincinnati. They had an Irish green '72 with 600 mles on it. Price was somewhere aroung $3400. Told them bye-bye, went to the Porsche dealer & got my '72. Late in the season & knew the 2 liter's were on the way, but $4295, for the '72, (with app grp) was more than I could afford. Bought it anyway & here it sits today.

Of course, it had to be red.

Never dreamed I'd pay it off in 15 months, what with earning a little shy of 10K a year, but fortune stepped in. History from there.
Pat

I bought a Copper 1975 914 from dealer stock.

My first -6 was a very early model and came off the lot at Joe Heishman's in Arlington, VA. I have never known a 914 owner that special ordered a 914.

It lacked fogs, and I later received a check for about $125 from Porsche because the fogs' cost was already built into the sticker price for all -6s.

Ordered mine, FEB '72, irish green, beige interior, appearance group --delivered 3 months later . . .

I went in to the Porsche dealer in Lubbock, Tx looking for a 73 2.0 Apperance group. The did not have the 914 in the color I wanted. They did however have a 911T Targa in yellow. I went home with the 911. An astounding $9,995 then.

I am not the original owner, but I have the story from records that came with the car:

Ordered June 16, 1972 for tourist delivery through German Services "Authorized Automobile Tourist Order Agent" in San Francisco, CA. Car is described as a '73 914 S in Irish Green. Of course, that color became Zambezi and the model designation 914 2.0. The total was $5231.99.
Options were AM Radio Wolfsburg $81 and Undercoating $14.

Here's a related question:

Did you have to be upper-middle class to afford a 914, back in the day?

Not 'Upper Middle", but at least "Middle Middle" ...

Most folks (including my parents) did not have a clue as to what a Porsche was back in the day! Think about it! The Japanese "Invasion" was just beginning (i.e. Pat's story), and there really was no comparison between a 1970's 911 and a 1970's Corvette, for example...

We were that strange fringe group that hung onto the edges of the SCCA, just because... when the real racers were driving Boss 302's and Z/28's!

But even at 35 cents per gallon,. I had to watch my fuel consumption back then, so a 914 made more sense than a 454 Vette! Especially when the '74 Gas Crisis rolled around!