Help! Originality questions for a '72 E

[jpachard]

All,
I am in the process of getting all the details correct on my '72. My questions is, The horn grilles are chrome but the lense trim is black( As listed by Pelican) for the indiactor lenses. Can someone confirm this? I have seen several cars with chrome horn grilles and chrome trim on the lenses but non with chrome grilles with black lense trim?!! Is this a '72 anomily? ( Wow, I almost feel like a concours guy.. yikes). If someone could shed some light on this( no pun intended) it would be much appreciated...

Cheers, James

[Rot 911]

My '72 had original black trim indicator lenses. You can see them in this pic. The black horn grills are not original.

[Hockey fan]

James,

I thought the 72 had chrome horn grilles and chrome around the lenses. Then in 73 when the horn grilles switched to black the lenses also had black. Maybe yours were replaced with 73 lenses at some point. I also checked in the Original 911 book and it says the same thing about chrome/chrome and black/black.

Although after reading Kurt's post above now I'm not sure.....

Hope this helps,

Jeff

[tryan]

72t with s options. chrome horn grills , silver trim. unmolested example

[jpachard]

Hmm, Thanks fellas'..Seems as if Porsche just put on whatever they had lying around in regard to the lenses. Hockey fan, if I'm understanding you correctly, your book states that chrome lense trim should go with chrome horn grilles. Kurt's car seems to contradict this which would support my theory about the random parts bins.

Cheers, James

[TWJ]

My '72 has chrome/chrome. My understanding is that the switch to black/black occured in '73. There have been other threads on this and similar '72/'73 originality questions, you may want to try a search and see what you can find.

[dtw]

Parts were not "random" but there was occasional spillover of years, if a superceded part ran out early or had extra stock. Leftover '72 parts might still be used for the first few cars of '73, and '72 parts that ran out before production cutoff might have been replaced with '73 revised parts on '72 cars, etc. etc. It is possible that his car did come with black grilles & lenses but it was a very late production date '72, and the silver trim items had run out. I've never heard of this example, but stranger things have happened.

There's no evidence of paint code "936" having been used in '72 or '73, but I've found 3 '72s and 1 '73 in the last few weeks with that color. Too many cars for me to just "run into" without looking for them, for it to be 4 special order cars.

The records are not gospel and should be taken with a grain of salt. To address your original question, chrome lenses and grills are the "correct" trim for '72.

[Hockey fan]

James,

Yes, the book I looked it up in is "The Original Porsche 911" by Peter Morgan. It says "It is also quite easy to tell 1972 cars from 1973 cars. The most obvious trim differences are that the rims of the side-light and tail-light lenses changed from chrome to black, as did the horn grilles."

Good luck,

Jeff

[pwd72s]

Original lens trim on my car is chrome...I did the swirch to euro lenses with black trim...lots of folks did. Horn grills are original chrome.

[jpachard]

Once again, Thanks for all the help, Chrome on chrome it is( I really like the look too).

Cheers, James

[724doorE]

Dang Paul, non original lenses, rims and seats! what else is gone! Just because you bought them in 76 or 77, you think your ok!!!! Next we'll find out you added the fogs in 81 and fuzzy dice in 85. Oh for shame, at least you don't have carrera tensioners or turbo valve covers!!, Oh wait, you do have some SC valve covers.....

Just pickin on the best 72S I've seen

I agree with the others, Chrome in 72, black in 73.

[pwd72s]

Hoot! I still have the original lenses, toying with putting them back on, since everybody now seems to go for the euro look. Alas, the fogs were added to the car during July of 1972...somewhere along the assembly line. Fuzzy dice? Well, they depend on my mood...if I'm at an event where folks are a bit too pretentious, out they come!

[Randy W]

Chrome grilles/Chrome trimed lenses is "correct" for a '72. To take it one step farther, the earliest '72s had the horn grilles made of chromed plastic - this was switched to chromed metal for most of the '72 production run.

[Jack Olsen]

Hmm. My 72 came (to me) with one plastic and one metal chrome grille. I wonder which one was original?

Probably neither.

Since correctness is one of the things I shy away from the most, I'm replacing them with black plastic, a la the 73 models.

[jpachard]

Jack, Normally I'm not the correct kinda' guy either ..it's just such a nice old car in 90% original condition, I'd like to keep it that way. It's the car my wife chose to get driven to and from our wedding in, so it holds a special place with her( It's her car too). Would you like my old black grilles??

Cheers, James

[Jack Olsen]

Thanks, I've already got a set.

I'll confess, when I got the 72 tub, it made me want to get an early car and restore it to pristine stock condition. Once you start modding them for performance, they lose something.

Of course, they also gain something.

[Brian993]

Paul, did you get a digi cam?

[john_colasante]

[peering from behind some bushes]

Shhh! Be quiet so as not to disturb them in this rare natural moment. Here we have the early 911 enthusiast in their true habitat debating the correct color of horn rim trim...

[pwd72s]

Originally posted by JackOlsen
Hmm. My 72 came (to me) with one plastic and one metal chrome grille. I wonder which one was original?

Probably neither.

Since correctness is one of the things I shy away from the most, I'm replacing them with black plastic, a la the 73 models.

Keep the metal one, Jack...in the future, some anal retentive will finance your retirement...kind of like having a factory original Corvair Turbocharge emblem. But in your case? Black plastic is lighter than chromed pot metal! GO BB2! I'm going nutzo waiting for the final result...(yes, I'll admit to living vicariously)

[TimT]

John..... these glimpses of the priveledged you shoudnt see...

I owned a 70 911 that had horn grilles that were both obviously metallic, but they didn weigh the same ( by a long shot)

and my other 911 came equiped with a plastic and pot metal horn grill.

This leads me to believe:

For a period of time you could only get factory replacements

then there were a few aftermarket suppliers.

And then there was the mixed up take what you can time....
returning to the NOS, and swap meet gems time

To think that I gave away some of these parts

better to let someone use them than, than let them get lost in the dust in my basement