1973 Paris Auto Show - Karmann Stand, ......and the Flag Cars Options

[wonkipop]

@JeffBowlsby

good thing i got my 914 out this morning on dawn patrol.
had a great drive down in the docklands wasteland with no nongs in SUVs blocking my various hooligan antics. (IMG:style_emoticons/default/biggrin.gif)

nows its cold/raining this afternoon but i am still in 914 mood/mode.

dragged out the Karmann Stand @ Paris Auto Show 1973 photos i dug up.
i discovered them on a blog about historic car shows.
they were captioned as from the Paris Auto show 1973.

time to check veracity.
image 1 i found.



compare and contrast with image from ludwigson on your can am website (from excellence). checks out. see notes on photos. its from paris 1973 if K L is to be trusted. and normally he can be.



these appear to be the two cars you term Can Am prototype 2 and 3.

from your website.


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which led me to the mystery car on the stand you term protogype 4
and which ludwigson described.



and this other image i dug up from the blog.
its definitely another 914 that was on the stand at the Paris Auto Show.
it was captioned as but additionally the carpet floor tiles on the stand are a match for photo of other 2 cars on stand as are general decor wall colors and graphic thematic.



i conclude two possibilities.
1). this is the image of the third car you seek and K L was mistaken. it did not have drop out side stripes as per porsche turbo on porsche stand. instead it had the earlier form of side stripes. it was not an USA model.
or
2) there was a 4th car on the stand and this is it and the drop out side stripes remains still to be found. (IMG:style_emoticons/default/biggrin.gif)


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additional trivia.

this ones been of interest to me for a while.
the five cars that come under the banner of prototype 1 in your website.
frankfurt auto show cars. the 5 cars with flag themes to do with Can Am.

here is your explanation of the flags and what they represent.




a better clearer picture of the 5 cars in question.




ok i can't see anything french in these graphics or canadian.
i've looked hard.
all that is there is USA, UK and Germany.
no pausible symbols relating to french or canadians.

but i think i cracked it.
there are 5 cars because porsche participated in the CAN AM series for 5 seasons.
1969, 1970, 1971, 1972 and 1973.
(winning the series in 72 and 73).
they did not enter in 66, 67 , 68.

and the teams that fielded porsche cars during those five years were from 3 countries.
UK, Germany and USA.

Penske (USA) , J.W.A. (UK) , A G Dean (UK) , Martini Racing (Germany), Porsche-Audi North America. (USA).

its not about the drivers. they came from backgrounds including canada, mexico, brazil and switzerland as well as UK, USA. its just the teams.
thats my theory anyway.

(IMG:style_emoticons/default/beerchug.gif) (IMG:style_emoticons/default/biggrin.gif)

i wouldn't mind betting there is very specific intentions in the livery that relates each of the 5 cars specifically to each of the teams. but i don't know enough about the particulars of the teams that would be the clue. the english ones are very interesting.
i can see why you thought the one with rondels might have been french. but the french rondel (air force) is a blue dot and red outer ring. thats the UK rondel from the royal air force. its a pointed reference. either J W automotive (john wyer) or A.G. Dean had something to do with the Royal Air Force. same goes for the USA team cars. one of them is very flamboyant.

whoever designed these liveries was really having fun. i think they are very literate as they say in art criticism circles.

[wonkipop]

@JeffBowlsby

i've gone back and dug up the bit in Ludvigsen carefully.

he says

"Some spectacular stripe patterns had been shown by Karmann at the Paris Salon in October 1973, on two 914s; the American model had a more conventional bold stripe along each side with "PORSCHE" dropped out in the body color."

I think what he is saying here, with the semi colon punctuation is that when the american model came out it had the drop out graphics, not that there was such a display model at the Paris Auto Show.

The sentence before in the same paragraph, introductory sentence is describing the special american model that was to spur sales. i think what he is doing is discussing the origin of the "can am" car model in the graphics being experimented with at frankfurt and then paris.

i think you have in fact found all the cars that were ever openly displayed.

to me it also seems unlikely that porsche would have wanted a 914 with drop out graphics alongside the reveal of the 930 turbo prototype. they would have wanted maximum impact from its unveiling. i can't see them having a little 914, special as it was borrowing from the - at that time - unique graphics. i think they decide a bit later to use the drop out stripes for offerings including 911s for 74 models.

interesting, because it probably means that the first 2-3 months of 74 MY 914s (which were all 2.0s as far as i can work out) probably did not get the drop out graphics decal on them. not yet available to dealers. be interesting to know when it became available.
had to be after the publicity with the turbo was finished with.

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that third car from paris is a funny one.
i reckon its an older car from karmann's display stock.

photo from karmann post from 1972.



i have a feeling its the same car used again on K Post cover from april 1973 and dispayed at paris in oct 1973. they updated it by taking off the pedrini alloys and fitting fuchs.
(possibly even retro fitted it with a console?).
its a 1972 model if it was the same car used again for karmann show display.