my grandads '74 restoration project Options

[_stickykitty79_]

just want to say hi to all you crazy people trying to revive these things like me. this is a bit of a sentimental project as its been in the family 3 gens now. was a Michigan car, suffered the consequences as the pics show, trailered it to california where it will remian.
my plans are to address all the obvious rust issues and do some fun upgrades along the way, some chassis stiffening, some minor engine tuning. (webers instead of fuel injection...yes i know the forum doesnt like it but it was always a disaster and carbs just sound better)
im a realist so heres what im prepared to face:

- tons of welding, i can do and thanks to Restoration Design i have plenty of metal to purchase as i go
-spending a few thousand here and there to do this right and time to do it. its a passion project and im in no hurry.
-building a chassis rig as i tear into the longitudinals, along with temp supports in the door jams.

i know this will seem daunting but i also dont think its at the point of scrapping based on what we can buy, and what im willing to do.
thanks

[FlacaProductions]

@wonkipop -

No tune up sticker or engine tin paint - i'm sure it went away when the original engine was swapped with a 2.0

my car was originally sold at:
Distributor: UC = VW North Central Distributor, Inc., Porsche Audi Division, Northfield, IL Dealer: Tom Chaney Porsche/Audi, Harvey, IL

Here's the factory info I have:
Model Type: 473434 914 Targa 1.8 with Standard Trim NA
Model Year: 1974
Production Date: 1974 01
Production Number: 529540
Karmann Body number: 529540
Engine Number: EC016573
Engine Type: EC engine 76 HP (DIN) NA except CA
Gearbox Number: not recorded
Gearbox Type: 914/12 5 speed manual
Color: L51P (J8) Olympic Blue with black Targa roof
Interior Trim: 11 Interior panels & seats Leatherette Black, Seat inlay basketweave, Carpet Black
Distributor: UC = VW North Central Distributor, Inc., Porsche Audi Division, Northfield, IL Dealer: Tom Chaney Porsche/Audi, Harvey, IL
Country Equipment: C02 Equipment for USA
Options:
M002 USA supplied sealed-beam headlights
M652 Intermittent windshield wipers 6 sec pause

[wonkipop]

@wonkipop -

No tune up sticker or engine tin paint - i'm sure it went away when the original engine was swapped with a 2.0

my car was originally sold at:
Distributor: UC = VW North Central Distributor, Inc., Porsche Audi Division, Northfield, IL Dealer: Tom Chaney Porsche/Audi, Harvey, IL

Here's the factory info I have:
Model Type: 473434 914 Targa 1.8 with Standard Trim NA
Model Year: 1974
Production Date: 1974 01
Production Number: 529540
Karmann Body number: 529540
Engine Number: EC016573
Engine Type: EC engine 76 HP (DIN) NA except CA
Gearbox Number: not recorded
Gearbox Type: 914/12 5 speed manual
Color: L51P (J8) Olympic Blue with black Targa roof
Interior Trim: 11 Interior panels & seats Leatherette Black, Seat inlay basketweave, Carpet Black
Distributor: UC = VW North Central Distributor, Inc., Porsche Audi Division, Northfield, IL Dealer: Tom Chaney Porsche/Audi, Harvey, IL
Country Equipment: C02 Equipment for USA
Options:
M002 USA supplied sealed-beam headlights
M652 Intermittent windshield wipers 6 sec pause

there is an interesting little statistic i can get out of the numbers on both our cars flaca.

so mine is vin 13361 and yours is 13488. thats 124 cars apart by vin.
although vin doesn't necessarily equate to the order they commenced construction in or the moment in time they got the number and plate. its closeish but the cars did not necessarily stay in order as they went down the production line.

the production plate numbers place me at car 43 on friday and yours at car 40 on the following tuesday. = 2 full production days apart. looking at the numbers i have across the data i collected i can see they usually did around 90 cars per day during this period. so its probably like 180-200 cars apart.

the engine numbers are the next stat.
mine is EC015941. and its the original engine.
yours is EC016573. and thats off the COA date you have and is original.
so we can trust them.

which is 432 engines apart.

so roughly half the EC engines being produced at that particular time were going in 914s. the other half were being fed to the production of 412 USA spec cars.
which is slightly surprising as the overall production of 74 412s to 914s is about 4 to 1.
which means that most 412s must have been being sold in europe and the market had really shrunk for 412s in the USA.
it seems in jan feb 74 its a pretty even split between engines for 914s and 412s.

i suppose if i was to take into account the first three months of EC engines was strictly for 412s from aug 73 to late oct 73 that makes sense, they built up a good stock of 412s then and after that the production of 412s must have dribbled out at the rate of production of 914s.

kind of an interesting insight into the end of the air cooled cars.
they just stopped selling.
apart from the beetles that is.

i'd love to find two 74 914s with vins right after each other and with original engine number info. just out of curiousity. i have got two cars like that in the data, one right after the other, but unfortunately don't have the engine numbers for them. i harvested the data off retail sales ads with insufficient information. i'm think the 914 engines must have been batched when being made at hanover because there is just enough difference in the throttle body set up and engine tin of course is quite different that they must have been batched. and it would be interesting to know just what order they ended up arriving at karmann in as well.