914 factory assembly?

[TimW]

In dismantling my '70 914, I noticed the metal on the back side of the dash, particularly where the gauge cluster mounts, is clearly painted green, but the car was clearly painted blue at the factory. Green primer maybe?

This doesn't seem to be the result of a new front clip or repaint job (it would be too difficult, if not impossible, to get back there). The inside pass door is also half green, half blue (same colors as the dash/car).

Anyone know how this came to be?
Anyone else have two tone 914 innards?

Just curious.

[Conrad W Peden]

Both my 72 and 73 are the same way and they were Signal Orange to begin with. Your guess is as good as mine?



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CWP/VIR
72 914 L20E in rusto.
73 914 L20E 2.0L in resto.
http://members.rennlist.com/a914lover

[mejulihn]

This seems to be quite common to have the dash metal painted some color other than the exterior. My car is Nepal Orange and has a summer yellow dash.

[JP Noonan]

Unlike 911's the entire 914 dash (the metal part) is removable from the chassis. My White 72 had a red dash with hand written numbers on the back. My originally red 74 had a green dash, and my 75 I haven't dug into far enough but I'm sure it is a different color.

My personal WAG is that the dashes were painted with whatever color Karman had left over for the day, and were assembled later. Sort of "fire up the dash press/die machine. Spit out enough dashes for the next month. Paint them so they don't rust..." and the rest is history.

FWIW, not a big deal. Look under the carpet and behind the soundproofing. If the color is the same then it is original. Also look at the VIN sticker on the driver side door frame to find if the car has had a re-paint.

Honestly (Please don't hate me) unless you have original documents from the first oil change (...AND there is NOOOOO rust) or it is a 914-6 it really isn't going to affect the value of the car.

Drive 'em and love 'em.

'75 2.0L A/C Nepal Orange with PORSCHE side stripes. 25 years old and it beats most Miami cars in the twisty's.

[HMeeder]

I think the above post may be right. Karmann knew that the dash was going to get covered, so matching the dash to the car paint wasn't an issue for them. My'74 has a baby blue dash with a nepal orange glove box door. It looks like they painted it flat black before installation but in the few places where the paint is worn or scratched (especially the glove box) the color is clearly visible. My '72 is all black but in neither case do I believe that the dashes were ever replaced. It's just one of those things. Enjoy the car and I wouldn't sweat it. It sounds like many others' cars are the same as yours which means it does nothing to the value.

Herb

[TimW]

Oh, I'm not worried about the value of the car it at all. I just find it really interesting that 30 years ago someone designing and building a finely engineered German automobile made the decision to "just paint it whatever color you have left in the spray gun".

Funky eha?