OEM Black Door Handles Options

[pfreiburger]

I am now quite certain that the factory did install some black door handles. I came to this determination in a roundabout (and expensive) way, starting when my inner hammer mechanic escaped and broke the driver door handle.

As no black ones exist, I picked up a new chrome (Sierra Madre) handle and was surprised to find that my old lock cylinder (after removing the black paint) would not fit the chrome handle. The length was fine, but it fit so tight it could not be turned. At all. Measuring the ID of the handle bores confirmed that the black handle was larger, even with paint on it. The used chrome-handle lock cylinder I bought on line later fit and turned in the new chrome handle just fine. And that used chrome handle cylinder definitely had more clearance when inserted in the old black handle. Measuring the cap ends of the lock cylinder confirmed it – the cylinder from the black handle was larger in diameter.

Dissimilar sized handle components are almost certainly no customizer job, and damn sure no hot rod job. The only conclusion I can draw is that Porsche had a supplier make a run of black handles, and for whatever reason some components were made a little different. This fits with what I found when I scraped some black paint from the broken handle: no evidence of chrome ever being applied to the casting. Lastly, there are factory pictures (albeit poor ones) of black A pillar cars that look like they have black handles also.

Am I missing another explanation?

[wonkipop]

here is the thing i was trying to find.
a document - rather than pictures.
it spells out the 914s fate - its a porsche document? maybe?

the 914 was already over by mid 72 - in porsch's mind (not just VW).
the document is dated late 1969, when the 914 had just been released.
all indications are that the successor to the 914 was to be released as the first part of the EA 266 program. see the intended release dates of the various models.
The EA 266 roadster was to be released as a 73 model year after summer 72.



i had never really realised the extent to which the EA 266 project was entirely porsche.
i'd seen images and assumed that it was a VW project with Porsche input.
but the whole thing was done at Porsche. lock stock and barrel.
The styling, the engineering and the testing. Nothing was done at Wolfsburg.

It was in fact a repeat of the beetle. an entirely porsche design, to be built by the industrial complex called VW.

The styling team was primarily
Exterior - Wolfgang Mobius
Interior - Hans Braun.
These are the two guys who did the hands on work of the 928.
H. Klie and F A Porsche headed the styling team, but the real work was the two above.
(thats for the little golf like car).

The project leader and head of engineering was F. Piech.

The air cooled type 4 914 was not, at least in 1969 intended to last very long at all.
it was going to go the way of the 411/412 - out the door - at around the same time the 412 was going out the door?

until......Mr. Rudolph Leiding showed up. in 1971.

within three weeks of taking over he entirely detonated the EA 266 project which was 2-3 months away from commencing production (possibly that account an exaggeration re time lines?).

as far as i can tell looking at the dates, Mr. Piech walked out the door of Porsche at precisely that moment.

there are a few accounts out there of what was done.
crushing prototypes with a leopard tank, etc.
destroying all design documents.
whatever went down was big.

but...
one of the interesting side aspects of it is the Leiding had come from Audi (with a stint in Brazil between). At Audi he had sorted out the mess it was - basically audi was NSU or what was left of it. it seems he developed a side engineering operation there out of view of VW central that involved perfecting the front engine front wheel drive engineering package that would be VW's engineering future. after detonating porsche as engineering R+D, he rolled that tech in.

the strangest thing of all, is that after a year cooling his heels and looking dangerously like he might work for the enemy - Mercedes Benz - Mr. Piech accepted a postion with Audi in 1972. he could not possibly have had the job offered to him without Mr. Leidiing's approval.

-----

the 924 was never the successor to the 914.
it was not even a joint venture car in the true sense of the word.
from what i can work out, it may have been a contract from VW to keep some kind of link between the two companies after the meltdown moment in 1971.
the contract was very tightly written for the original design of what would be the 924.
it had to be entirely built from the VW parts bin. no porsche parts.

that is the big difference between the 924 and the 914.

-----

i hope the stories are not really true that Mr. Leiding ordered the destruction of all the design documents. hidden in them is the full design for the 1973 914?
mid engined, water cooled in line 4 (laid flat). packaged pretty much like it is in the boxster.

------
as an aside, as an interested australian driving on the wrong side of the road.
for me that is the best explanation for why there was never a RHD 914.
why would you bother.
you could gear up RHD with the replacement in 72.
but it never happens.
instead it soldiers on for another 3 years or so in the aftermath of EA 266.