Euro VS USA - Differences in pics

[tomphot]

My friend - Craig356 - and I both have 1985 - 911 coupes.
His was made for the USA market, mine is a ROW version.

I've noticed a number of differences and thought I'd take pictures and make a few comments.
I have no idea if what I've noticed is common to all cars or if some of these are just anomalies.
Your comments would be welcome.

First - the rear end - lens, bumper bolsters and fog light - On the ROW, does anyone know what the plug in the bumper is for?

USA Version


Front fender turn indicator on the Euro.


None on the USA version



ROW tachometer does not have an idiot shift light.



USA does



VIN plate is on the dash in the ROW with ZZZ



USA has it on the windshield pillar



Side impact door support was added upon import on the ROW, leaving bolt ends



USA



To be continued...........

[dtw]

Beautiful cars, both!

The dash VIN plate and obviously the door bar backing plate are both hacks from the federalization process. Grey market importers that did more elegant work did not do this.

The plug on the ROW bumper is for the tow hook access. Note that you have a plug on your US market car bumper's rubber trim strip, to the left of the bumper pad. The ROW car does not.

There are plenty more subtle and difficult-to-spot differences. For example, the ROW tail-light housings will be painted white, as opposed to your USA reflective-surface housing.

[tomphot]

In the trunk of the ROW, there is a rectangle cut out of the carpet that has the following info.




This is the USA



Fog light switch turns to the right to activate the rear fog light on the ROW



Connection point for the front of the door pocket on the ROW is into a plastic tab which is screwed into the door panel.



The USA has a screw that attaches straight into the door panel through the door pocket.



Info plate in the engine compartment about tires in the ROW.



For the USA car

Linked wrong pic - see below....


My ROW has a 9 speed heater switch with no red leavers.



The USA car




I'm sure I've missed some and I'm sure that these differences are not always the same.
Your comments are welcome.

[tomphot]

Both cars Road Atlanta

[tomphot]

Pic of Tire info plate for USA car.

[Canada Kev]

My '87 euro has most of what you show, although the door pockets are the same as the US model, so I suspect it was a mid-year change rather than related to the intended market.

-You might also have city lights.
-My tail lights, as mentioned above, are also white with no side facing bulbs, only rear.
-Although I see that yours have been changed, the front marker lights are signal only. Running lights are the city lights.
-I have no VIN mounted to the dash or A-pillar.
-My rear fogs are on a separate switch from the main. They don't activate by pulling out either. Probably just a year change and not market driven.

I can't think of much else. All my gauges are metric which is fine as I live in Canada. I have cloth interior which, as I understand it, is pretty common in Euro models.


My Swiss road inspection sticker



City lights come on with markers.



If you look closely, you can see the city light bulb just below the H4 bulb.



Rear fog light. For some reason, I have two in the reflector.



Though kind of a crappy pic, there is no VIN on my dash.



Door pocket with similar mounting as US model.

[tomphot]

Thanks Kevin and Dave

I think the rear fog light was switched to an integrated into the reflector style in '86 or '87.

I have H 1's and do not have the city lights.

My rear reflectors are white on the inside and Craig's are silver - I didn't want to take them apart to take a pic - thanks for the note.

I'm also told that I have an extra oil cooler on ROW car up near the flywheel - what's the story on that one?

[javadog]

Originally Posted by tomphot

I'm also told that I have an extra oil cooler on ROW car up near the flywheel - what's the story on that one?

Are you talking about a transmission cooler?

JR

[javadog]

Originally Posted by tomphot

USA has a screw that attaches straight into the door panel through the door pocket.

None of my USA spec cars are like this. In fact, all of my 911s have door pockets installed as you described for the ROW car. You sure that the door pocket on the USA car hasn't been screwed with?

JR

[javadog]

The two heater controls you showed aren't different because of the origin of the cars. They are different because one is equipped with an automatic heating control and the other has manual heat control with a three speed booster fan. Just different options.

jr

[tomphot]

Originally Posted by javadog

Are you talking about a transmission cooler?

JR

Maybe - When I looking at changing out the CHT sensor, A local P-guy told me it would be a pain as I had an extra oil cooler up in the area - maybe he was mistaken.

syzygy has the same door pocket as Craig's - as does another local guy with an '87 USA car - just wondering.

[rattlsnak]

You missed the obvious.. One is silver, and one is gray...

[Canada Kev]

Yeah, both my pockets are like that and this car is pretty damn original, with no mods other than what I have done.

Tom, the reflector changed in '87 when they went to the G50 tranny. At that point, of there were rear fogs, they were integrated into that. I am just curious why both sides have a fog light. Usually they are only on the driver's side.

My auto heat is an option listed on the plate. I don't recall which one it is, though, maybe 424, but I'm not sure.

[PK010]

The plug on the bumper of the ROW is for the screw-in towing eye to be inserted (you lever off the plug first).

Regards,

Paul

[tcar]

Originally Posted by tomphot

I have H 1's and do not have the city lights.

I don't think H1's have city lights, but H4's do.

[Paul K]

Thanks for posting! I always thought it was crazy that US cars don't have the fender- mounted turn signal.

[pavegeno]

Originally Posted by PK010

The plug on the bumper of the ROW is for the screw-in towing eye to be inserted (you lever off the plug first).

Regards,

Paul

That's cool....going to look for a part number for that...I don't think the US cars came with a tow eye, did they?

[Coastr]

Originally Posted by Paul K

Thanks for posting! I always thought it was crazy that US cars don't have the fender- mounted turn signal.

Federalisation included some wacky rules about what condo and could not be done.

[Bill Verburg]

Depends on the year
'76 Carrera 3.0
8000rpm tach, no CASIS light(shift), pressure goes to 10bar, temp #s labled



Speedo goes to 180mph(after conversion from 300kph)


Door pocket was like this


Door beams as on the euro, that's just the way it was usually done

Mine came w/ body color headlight trim rings


VIN on windshield pillar

here's an, '84-85 RoW trans cooler

[lpsalsaman]

Nice info with pics for comparison. When I was stationed in Germany back in the early 80's I was going to buy a euro version convert it and bring it home, so I started to check what I needed to change from German specs to US specs. Besides the obvious tach from K's to Miles, add a catalytic converter and back then from H4's to sugar scoops and add the side impact bar inside the doors. Most of the other things were minor in order to bring the car over.

The side blinker is a big safety feature in Europe, the same for the amber signal lights which mean "caution" or "warning" as this is what is thought and drilled into drivers when learning how to drive, at least in Germany that is how it was. The same with the back signal lights on the 911 the US cars had them all red while there had the 3 colors.

So if I would have brought the car over back then, I had to change the back signal light covers to all red. Also in the front bumper the German spec car only had the marker on front no side marker but a rubber piece hence the fender side marker, the US had to have a light side marker on the bumper. Also the bumper rubber needed to be change to the bigger one for US in the back.

The rear fog light is a safety feature that most Euro cars have, I remember seen it with the light attached to the bumper but there were some like your pic; where it was inside the Porsche red back bar.

However, when I checked about converting a 911 I was told that out of all of the cars that can be converted to US specs (back then) the 911 was the easiest because Porsche built them basically the same, in other words using parts that were spec wise the same. So the bumpers were already 5 mile per hour impact bumpers in Euro and US, just the lights and cushions. The glass was Securit on both US and Euro, unless you were shipping to California, you were pretty much good to go with little changes. You still had to go through the Customs and DOT/EPA inspections and so on, that does not change but overall the 911 was the car that most service members would try to bring over because it took less money to convert.