Rear Valance, Is this 914-6? Options

[DennisV]

Can anyone tell from the photo if this is the correct rear valance for a 914-6? I am referencing the Restorer's Guide to Authenticity, but the angles in the photos make it a little hard to tell. The text says

The four-cylinder car had this hole (tail pipe) several inches inboard of the 914-6 opening.

Given the condition of this valance, maybe we'll go for the M471 look (i.e. no valance). (IMG:style_emoticons/default/biggrin.gif)

[Cairo94507]

As far as I know, and have personally seen, the only 6 that came with the ignition on the column was the ‘72 model year.

I don’t believe anyone is arguing about bumpers, we all want other enthusiasts to know the differences so when they are looking at cars they may want to buy they can recognize what they are looking at.

[wonkipop]

As far as I know, and have personally seen, the only 6 that came with the ignition on the column was the ‘72 model year.

I don’t believe anyone is arguing about bumpers, we all want other enthusiasts to know the differences so when they are looking at cars they may want to buy they can recognize what they are looking at.

that is what i am saying too.

there was a real interesting six down here.
or at least it was in an interesting state.
and i have to confess i was part of undoing it.
it belonged to a mate of mine.
he picked it up in the early 90s from the collection of the aus distributor when porsche took over and the collection was sold off.

one of the original demonstrators.

we were all a bit naive back then.

it was all just opinion heresay and myth.

when he got the car he just assumed that the stories about the two 6s that came here were fact. most importantly that both had been lhd cars when they arrived here and were converted later in the distributors workshop.

as a consequence the first thing he did was tear out all the "wrongly" converted interior to put it "right". it was just assumed that the distributor had kind of improvised.
it had no backpad - the firewall was clad in felt carpet. it had little bucket sports seats. and a centrally fitted under dash 356/speedster handbrake. it also had a 4 speed gearbox. the gearbox should have rung alarm bells. it didn't. either with him, or me when he used to discuss what he was going to do with the car to sort it.

out came the interior and in went a "proper" interior from a 73 he sourced in the USA.
the handbrake was "rectified" by "properly" installing a correct mirror image on rhd side.

even the gearbox was going to come out and a 5 installed. until he ran into mr. hamilton one day and asked about it. he was told no - its original. "i ordered it that way".

etc.

at the end of the "tidy up" it looked like a "proper" 914, which was a bit silly really given that there is no such thing as a rhd drive 914.

or was there?

years later it has emerged that possibly this one was - sort of. still to be fully determined.
it certainly seems that it arrived in australia already with the wheel on the right hand side. not a production line job. but very possibly done in the workshops.
the distributor had a lot of pull with porsche. alan hamilton was his name.

now it looks like, the more old guys you talk to still alive that were around the workshops the more some of them are saying, yes there was only one that was brought in lhd. and it was in that form to demonstrate a factory interior. it was later converted to rhd here in the distributors garage. but the other one was driven straight from the docks and it was already the "right" way around. this was for customers to experience the car from a driving point of view? to get potential customers interested. a rhd production car was still being mooted back at the point in time. usually left hand drive models were released first with rhd to follow.

sadly - all undone thirty years ago.
worst bit is i was around and shaking my head in agreement with what my old friend was doing with the car. none of us thought twice about it. least of all him. the car was "wrong" and it had to be put "right". it was all done with good intention.

in the case of that car - all the work that had been done on it - after it left the production line - probably shortly after it had left the production line - made it interesting?
i think in retrospect way more interesting perhaps than it had been originally.

sometimes it pays to hesitate is what i am saying.

----

i have had similar experience with my 1.8.
even more recently.
the amount of wrong information still out there that is stated with strong conviction still surprises me. i tend to adopt curiosity as my default position. it prompted a whole lot of research.
not that it matters a huge amount, but its nice sometimes to be able to say with some certainty back, and politely too, well actually you are not quite right.
i can now do that with regard to irrelevant and esoteric details such as charcoal hose plumbing, (IMG:style_emoticons/default/biggrin.gif)
what glovebox manual actually came with the car, what color the head light motor surrounds really were and yes that pad under the trunk carpet is definitely right.
not because i go to concourses but rather to refute the guys who do.
call me a trouble maker. (IMG:style_emoticons/default/beer.gif)

very occasionally though i do think that a surprising detail can tell a story if you know what i mean.