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.

[JeffBowlsby]

Wow. What excellent info you have researched and the sidebar context is tremendous. Your research matches mine, and with greater detail.

The Can Am cars were built from mid-February thru the 1st week of April. Promotion by US dealers began in April/May. One of the earliest cars is the Matsuda Japan SL that George Hussey owns, built first day of production, and it has the negative stripes.

I think you are on to something with that L&M car color scheme and the Creamsicle, LIKE the reference. That CS color scheme is also on the 73 911RS cars. But not the black/yellow combo, I have not found a literal reference for that scheme.

Good on you...

[wonkipop]

Wow. What excellent info you have researched and the sidebar context is tremendous. Your research matches mine, and with greater detail.

The Can Am cars were built from mid-February thru the 1st week of April. Promotion by US dealers began in April/May. One of the earliest cars is the Matsuda Japan SL that George Hussey owns, built first day of production, and it has the negative stripes.

I think you are on to something with that L&M car color scheme and the Creamsicle, LIKE the reference. That CS color scheme is also on the 73 911RS cars. But not the black/yellow combo, I have not found a literal reference for that scheme.

Good on you...

yeah - agree re bumblebees - not literal like the creamsicle.

but what if the bumblebee was originally going to be dark blue and yellow.
when they were still thinking of explicitely doing a "Can Am" edition before the last minute pull out of the race series in jan 74.
and then as a last minute adjustment just like using the drop out graphics from the frankfurt show 911s they went to black as an opposite to white.

i'm thinking if only those can am proto car photos you got hold of on your website were color rather than black and white. the ones with the can am lettering on the side.
its a dark car for sure with light contrasting bumpers etc. but it could be a color that is not black. we are kind of conditioned to think it must be black.

of course you need the photos. i bet the originals on file with VW or Porsche archive are color. they would have to be given they were assessing and designing the color scheme.

once they detached from them having to be actual CAN AM series celebration cars they were free to move on to another idea about them being 100,000 anniversary special editions.

the red and the yellow might be remaining elements of the earlier original proposal.

again, just a crazy theory, nothing else.