Exterior color sticker?

[jeff968]

Do 914s have any kind of sticker on the body that tells you the paint color code or name? Thanks

[Dave at Pelican Parts]

Yes, it is popularly known as the "Karmann plate". It's on the driver's door jamb, and contains the Karmann chassis ID number, and the color code. You can look up the code on-line on several different websites. The color code is the "KUNSTHARZLACK" field.



--DD

[jeff968]

Thanks Dave, but just the code? Nothing that references the actual exterior color name like what you'll find on the cars starting in the eighties. (example pictured)

Jeff

[Gustl]

there was just the code on the 914

tell me your code and I'll tell you your color

[jeff968]

B3/11 w

[beatnavy]

Here is a color chart for reference: 914 Colors.

I don't see B3/11 w or how to obviously translate that to one of the standard colors.

[Gustl]

Originally Posted by jeff968

B3/11 w

this is definitly not a valid 914 color code

[jeff968]

What do you think?

[Tobra]

On the driver's side, there should be the plate pictured above.

What year car?

[jeff968]

Originally Posted by Tobra

What year car?

A 1995!!

It is a 968 in that color. Trying to determine if it really was a 914 color. Again, color code is B3. Sun Yellow.

[Gustl]

Originally Posted by jeff968

Again, color code is B3. Sun Yellow.

there was an internal color code, only on printed material from MY'74 and later, that was B3V9 for summer yellow
but this code wasn't stamped on the Karmann badge on the driver's side A-pillar or anywhere else on the car
at least not by the factory ...

[Dave at Pelican Parts]

Originally Posted by jeff968

A 1995!!

Gaaaahhh!! No wonder! (thwap! upside the head!)

Your guess is as good as ours on how close the color actually matches. The formulation would be different, because different types of paints were used in the 70s versus the 90s. The color names are all marketing-driven, so goodness knows if two colors with the same name are identical, or even closely related...

Jeff Bowlsby has copies of the info that Gustl is referring to on his website:



--DD

[jeff968]

Well, you can see from the sticker that by the time 1995 rolled around Porsche had labeled the color SONNENGELB and that translates into Sun Yellow.

So, I guess my question is:

Was there ever a Sun Yellow offered on the 914 here in the US or elsewhere?

Do you think B3 is all the same color with just different names depending on the model?

By the time the 968 was made they offer 33 different exterior colors. EVERY one of them translates 100% from the German description on the sticker to the Engish label used for the color name in all english literature (window stickers, sale brochures).

[Dave at Pelican Parts]

If you look closely at the color swatch I posted, you'll see that the yellow is listed as "Chrome Yellow" in English, but "Saturn Yellow" in all of the other languages shown. There are a couple of other examples of that I can think of with 914 paint colors (e.g., the "blood orange" color became "tangerine" in English). And if you check the page that I linked, you can see some of the other color pages from the factory documentation.

In particular, I noticed this page:


Note that "Summer Yellow" in English is "Sonnengelb", or "Sun Yellow" in German. (And similarly sun-related in French and Italian.)

So, yes--there was a Sun Yellow offered on the 914 in 1974, and possibly other years.

BUT--I do not know how that relates to the Sun Yellow from later years. As I said, the paint formulation has to be different because the chemistry used back in the 70s was no longer used in the 90s, so the colors are likely to be at least slightly different...

--DD

[Gustl]

as for the names and translations ... it's a little more complicate:

here with the example of 1974:

- there was the European multilingual "Colour Chart / Standard and Special Colours 1974" (German, English, French, Italien) - print # 1032.14 / Printed in W-Germany



- and there was the US-American "1974 PORSCHE COLORS" - print # 36-70-42011 / Printed in Canada




As you can see, not all names translate literally between German and English, and there are differences between European English and USA-English

[jeff968]

Originally Posted by Dave at Pelican Parts

Note that "Summer Yellow" in English is "Sonnengelb", or "Sun Yellow" in German. (And similarly sun-related in French and Italian.)

Thanks, but correct me if I'm wrong. there is only one translation of Sonnengleb when going from German to Einglish and that is to "Sun Yellow".

So if the US 914 documentation back in the seventies says "summer yellow" that was just some guy in the US marketing department deciding that he didn't like the correct translation of Sun Yellow and decided to come up with his own name for the US version of the color, summer yellow.

Would you agree?

[Gustl]

if you study the pages I posted above, you'd see that there are more colors that don't translater literally:


Sonnengelb = summer yellow = Sunflower Yellow

Sambesigrün = forest green = Zambezi Green

Saturngelb = chrome yellow = Saturn Yellow

Saturngelbmetallic = metallic chrome yellow = Gold Metallic

Alaskablaumetallic = metallic ocean blue = Alaska Blue Metallic

[Tobra]

Another thing to consider.

Sonnengelb on a '74 914 is not necessarily the same shade as Sonnengelb on a '95 928

[Dave at Pelican Parts]

Originally Posted by jeff968

So if the US 914 documentation back in the seventies says "summer yellow" that was just some guy in the US marketing department deciding that he didn't like the correct translation of Sun Yellow and decided to come up with his own name for the US version of the color, summer yellow.

Yes, that is exactly what I was trying to say. On re-reading it, I can see that it also reads like I was saying the opposite. What I meant was:
"Sonnengelb" == Sun Yellow; likewise the French and Italian names reference the sun as well. But the US name was "Summer Yellow", not the actual translation from the German.

Originally Posted by Tobra

Sonnengelb on a '74 914 is not necessarily the same shade as Sonnengelb on a '95 928

And that's the other thing that I was attempting to say.


Thank you both for expressing my thoughts better than I was doing!

--DD

[jeff968]

Originally Posted by Tobra

Another thing to consider.

Sonnengelb on a '74 914 is not necessarily the same shade as Sonnengelb on a '95 928

True, but they do share the same paint code: B3.

And it is a 968

Thanks Dave and everyone.