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]

one thing is for sure from the poster.
by the time of the definitive bb proto its a black base car.

so if it was ever a sunoco homage special blue base car its only those protos that bore the explicit can am side graphic lettering. because you are correct, there is no blue from the standard color range that is even close to sunoco blue.

what documentation exists suggest to me that the final form of the project unfolds very rapidly from some time in the new year of 74 until the first car of the line in mid feb.
probably 6 weeks at the most. that would be a pretty compacted time line.

whats also of interest seems to be porsche's intent to use the drop out graphic side stripe with rectangular letters on the 911 carrera range and thats as late as october 1973 (frankfurt and paris car shows of sept and oct 73).
but the can am 914 protos do literally use the cursive script from the 73 911 carreras - and thats probably going on around oct 73 to end of year?

its almost like they do a back flip and go back to the cursive script for the 74 911s in the production cars and the rectangular drop out graphics originally intended for the 911s and the turbo gets flipped across to the 914s. nice. if thats what happened.

i've always loved the drop out graphic letter side stripes.
but i never really knew the origins of it and when it came into the range.
now i am chuffed. i probably have one of the earliest cars to get them even though its not a BB or a CS, the cars that probably caused it to happen. (IMG:style_emoticons/default/beerchug.gif)
i also still remember how much people really had a negative reaction or opinion about them during the 1990s. i never took notice of them. of course now everyone thinks the graphics are cool whenever i take the car out. utterly 70s high end taste in the best way.

its an argument for proper restoration isn't it. i mean if you take the course of restoring a car. (the best option is always preservation and survivor in my opinion if you can, but thats not always possible). the real point is if you restore, then don't restore falsely.
mind you i am not against just going full tilt customisation either. nothing wrong with that. but a false restoration is kind of pointless.

reason i comment is i can now see quite a few 73 914 1.7s on bring a trailer for instance masquerading as original cars (with drop out graphic side stripes!!!). not quite right.
there is even a very nice green one thats been for sale twice in the last couple of years.
owner inbetween installed the drop out stripes. if you are gonna restore at least get it right is my view. but anyway.