Spotted: the elusive 914S, Real world sighting Options

[Millerwelds]

Spotted in Folsom CA a few weeks ago. Black trim around the windshield looks original.

Talk amongst yourself's...









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[wonkipop]

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i think the original batch of early 73 914s (1000 or so as mentioned) as well as having a pillar vinyl (if they had b pillar vinyl/appearance group) also had no additional badge on rear trunk panel. both the 1.7 and the 2.0. they only had a 914 as a badge there.

if you look at the published magazine articles of the time where they test a 2.0 you can clearly see the rear badging lacks the additional 2.0 number. just says 914.

i've seen a very few examples for sale on BAT as well that were very intact early 73 cars of both varieties. 2.0 and 1.7s that have very slightly mismatched coloring on the badging as if the 2.0 and 1.7 badges were either later added if lost, or were mismatched from the factory (hard to believe vw or porsche would be that poor at quality control) or they were added at the time back in the day but some months later.
for one of the cars, in the comments column, an original owner of a new 73 2.0 back in the day signed on and related a story of how his car was called back in by the dealer and the 2.0 badge was added.

if all thats true there was definitely some uncertainty early on with how to badge or market the cars. even from porsche and vw themselves? before they settled on the final identification on the two models by calling them 1.7 and 2.0.

as to calling them an S in the rest of the world. thats certainly true of the UK and japan. i've seen and have copies of the UK distributor ads. AFN referred to them as an S in the UK. however the cars did not have the badging. they had 2.0 attached.

as to being referred to as an SC in the UK, i've not seen evidence of that.
i think that arose from a published road test of a privately imported 73 914 2.0 imported to australia after a crayfords right hand drive conversion. the australian owner probably big noted it to the australian reviewers as an SC. the car had a front air dam spoiler fitted to it with 914 SC written across it. aftermarket add on by a very self concious owner trying to counter act aggresive owners of "real" porsches.
no - i don't own a VW sort of moment. (IMG:style_emoticons/default/biggrin.gif) (IMG:style_emoticons/default/biggrin.gif) (IMG:style_emoticons/default/biggrin.gif) (IMG:style_emoticons/default/beer.gif)


additional to the sales literature in the USA that called the 2.0 an S there is also the CARB documentation submitted in 1973 for emissions certification. in those documents the 2.0 is listed as 914/S. and the 1.7 is referred to as 914/4. that wasl also very early on in the piece when the cars first start arriving or maybe just in advance of the first cars hitting the showroom. the documents were submitted to CARB by VW North America.