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

[wonkipop]

My images cam from the Ludwigsen EWE book. Th Porsche Parade was March 1974 and a press release in April. See below and the pdf attachment.

ok

so posche audi north america press release (15 Apr 74) is exactly 1 month after the first can am is started on the assembly line (15 Feb 74) - which is importantly likely a CS?.
nothing in the press release that is predictive, its an after the fact statement.

as to the poster. difficult to speculate in any accurate way without knowing the date of poster printing (to begin with) - but you could make a general observation that the reason they only show a bumble bee version and not a cs - instead using print color of text to allude to white and orange car is they don't have a white and orange car to photograph. the holes in the front bumper you have pointed out before indicate to me its some kind of "lash up" where they were studying the optics of the bumper colors in both euro and usa versions (given the usa versions had the tits which could have looked wrong unless color contrast visuals were confirmed), using that general logic the photography for the poster must have taken place before production existed and there must have been only one subject car proto floating around. so its well before feb 15 1974 be my guess on the photo for poster. which would make it mid winter in germany.
snow etc. i don't know where they went to get that photo with its background and foreground. but there isn't any snow and the grass is green. but it doesn't look lush like northern hemisphere spring or summer. (IMG:style_emoticons/default/confused24.gif)




coming at it from the other direction. the 1973 Can Am race series.
Porsche know that Penske Sunoco (Donahue) have it clinched by race 6 (sept 16 1973) and formally by the end of the series last race (Oct 28 1973). but they in fact know they have the series in hand as a manufacturer even earlier. the top 4 teams are 917/10s.
so its a dead cert from mid way through the series is going to be porsche. (aug 12 73).

my guess is around about aug 12 karmann and porsche get together to do the five flag cars in time for Frankfurt Motor show (13-23 Sept 1973). they have approx 1 month to get the cars together. its a celebration of back to back can am series wins in 72 and 73.
they know for sure that by time of frankfurt they have the series clinched but they can't be certain which team until around the time of frankfurt.

the 5 cars are a general idea around celebrating the wins and domination for 2 years. but at that point they probably have not necessarily thought to do a special production run of 1000 cars as can am specials.

needless to say these 5 cars are the only can am related cars in existence or visible to the public at that stage. nothing else is displayed or discussed publicly.

so the whole project has ts beginnings around mid august 1973 and the first cars are coming off the line on feb 15 1974 and is fully resolved as two color cars.

as we know now - they probably didn't take anything to paris that was "can am" related or "can am" celebratory when it came to 914s. seemed to be only the karmann stripe cars on the k stand which are not necessarily can am related. karmann liked to screw around with graphic eye catchers. if anything the twin stripe car that dates from 72 could be directly inspired by erich strengler's treament of his 914/6. he is super important and influential as he is THE porsche graphic design man.

however the 911 porsche turbo proto in paris would have been entirely relevant to connect to the can am series as the 917/10s were devastating race cars and were turbos.

its a pretty narrow window for the CS decision.
i don't think it was necessarily in the picture until very late.

you would think at least one of those prototype can am car photos would be one of them.
its possible K L just chose a run of bumble bee proto photos for his book. you did have to be a prudent editor in the days of print media, unlike now. illustrations were expensive to do in books..........but.

you would also think they could have done a CS poster.
the fact that its a BB with orange text is significant.
it says to me that is the only photo they had at that time of a can am mock up or completed prototype.

but anyway - thats just a bit of speculation based on what you have been able to compile over the years.

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all this stuff about drop out grahic side stripes and when they arrived on the scene in frankfurt has made me think of a remark you offered a year or so back on that earliest creamsicle that exists and was for sale. you were of the view that the stripes etc on it could well have been original and that anyone owning the car ought to seriously consider leaving it alone. (IMG:style_emoticons/default/biggrin.gif)
i think you are right.

its so early its entirely possible the selling dealer didn't actually have a set of drop out graphic side stripes to apply? (IMG:style_emoticons/default/biggrin.gif) (IMG:style_emoticons/default/confused24.gif) who knows. or the buyer took a look at the new stripes and preferred fitting the older positive ones. because we can't forget these side stripes had really not been seen before. a bit of consumer shock element involved. you would have either liked them or hated them. the market is a fickle thing sometimes. (IMG:style_emoticons/default/biggrin.gif)



anyway its high time someone wrote the proper history of the can am cars.
and your the man jeff.

but it will require some kind of dive into the porsche archives.

[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.