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Mark's Corner: The Future of the 914

Thursday, August 26, 2021 5:10 PM

We can all agree the times we are living in are definitely not what we have seen over the previous parts of our lives. This is a time of great change and advancements that will alter the way we all live and work.

 

We are finally seeing a migration to the electric vehicle as prices for them are becoming comparable to the ICE vehicles we have grown up with.  If you are wondering what ICE stands for (I just heard this last night) it's an acronym for the term Internal Combustion Engine. My response to this is why bother with the acronym when the word GAS has the same number of letters and is more commonly understood? I guess I’m just getting old and cranky. Either way, it’s a brave new world with both exciting and disappointing changes.

   

For example, the new Tesla truck, yes it’s looks like a lunar rover, but the stats are impressive.  With a fully optioned drivetrain, the 0-60 time is less than 2.9 seconds which can rival almost any sports car. The range can top 500 miles. This is just the tip of the iceberg as Ford commits 30 Billion to make electric vehicles through 2025. It's almost hard to imagine no longer needing to go to a gas station and waking up to a full tank every morning, and some cars even have the ability to power your house in the event of a blackout - wow.

 

It seems we have reached the tipping point where GAS engines may become a thing of the past. For those that have been around long enough you might remember the song Red Barchetta by RUSH. Well it could be a realty in our lifetimes. We are beginning to see the prices on our cars move upwards and there are many indicators that this could, and probably will, continue to skyrocket as the stigma of these cars lessens. Unfortunately, this may price out many enthusiasts. It won't help that German bankers are telling investors to buy up old Porsche cars.

 

I do believe that we are in the cross-hairs since air cooled cars are already a novelty and the sound and feel can't be duplicated. At least Porsche is investing in continuing to be able to get the fuel we will need for our vehicles. My takeaway is that now is the time to repair and drive your 914 before it becomes too valuable to enjoy properly - on the road.

Happy motoring,  

Mark
aka Mikey914

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Say hello to our new Bumblebee 914! So first off what the heck is a Can Am or Limited Edition (LE) car?

 


In 1974 Porsche decided to capitalize on their success in Can Am racing and introduced a Limited Edition series of 1000 cars in 2 color schemes (500 each). The first was option was Black with Sunflower Yellow, also known as a Bumblebee, and the second option was Ivory White with Phoenix red, also called a Creamsicle.




Karl Schulz's LE Creamsicle from our Customer Car Story in May.


It’s easy to see that the how the black and yellow got its nickname, but why was the white and red called a Creamsicle? The red actually has a strong orange tint and against the white body it really looks orange.



So these colorful cars were definitely eye catching but to many the color schemes were seen as over the top. Most of these cars went into hiding as subsequent owners removed the orange and yellow decals from the car and repainted the wheels and front valance. Many were lost to the rust monster before their notoriety ever came to light.


There are a few ways to spot an LE car. The front valances were built from a heavier fiberglass and featured a notch in the center to allow for more cooling in the engine compartment. They look like this - https://914rubber.com/limited-edition-fiberglass-front-spoiler-for-914 Some retain the metal tabs that mounted to the back of the spoiler on the bottom of the undercarriage of the vehicle.




These cars all came with the M-778 CanAm equipment package from the factory. This was the only year it was available. It is also the only way to know you truly have a LE car. The Certificate of Authenticity (COA) from Porsche will specify whether or not your car originally came with this package.

 
 
Jeff Bowsbly maintains a registry of the Limited Edition cars on his website and currently has 277 surviving cars listed at https://bowlsby.net/914/CanAm/. If you have verified that you own one and have not yet registered, now is a great time to do so.




With the rare opportunity to acquire one presenting itself we had no choice other than to buy it. This car is fairly unmodified from its original state and we will be sharing updates on the disassembly and rebirth of this car. We are excited to have this opportunity to restore a part of history with you.



Sincerely,

Mark Whitesell

AKA Mikey914 on world
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Mark's Corner: The Porsche "914S”

Sunday, June 20, 2021 9:52 PM

The Porsche "914S”



After recognizing the need for more horsepower in the European market, the factory decided to increase the performance for the launch of the upcoming 2.0 model. They built around 2000 cars originally intended for the European market. These cars were meant to be more refined than the standard 914 but they never made it to European dealers and would eventually become  somewhat of an enigma in the 914 community.



Did the factory produce them?



Yes, they did create an “S” model, but it was done unintentionally.  When they created these European Spec cars, they included the larger displacement motor and used an 8.20 compression ratio to give the car more of a sports car feel. Front and rear anti-roll bars were now stock, also included was the appearance group package which came with alloy wheels, leather steering wheel, center console with padded armrest, and a leatherette wrapped roll bar pad.




Despite originally being made for the European market, Volkswagen of America decided to purchase the entire production run of the cars. They immediately went to work on a marketing campaign to announce this new 914 model in America, and thus the “914S” was born. This was highlighted in the dealer handouts and a few automotive publications at the time where it specifically called out the “S” designation.


Due to the lack of some specifications on the back of the hand out (ie weights, a mpg specification), I believe the handouts were printed right away to help promote the new improved model. This is where the “S” designation first came into play.

 


The Timeline



January of 1972 - Motor Trend does a comparison between the 914 and the “S” model that had an additional $288 price premium over the stock 1.7. No mention of a stock 2.0 vs the “S”.



February of 1973 - Road and Track publishes an article on the 914 2.0 where it highlights the tension between the Factory and VOA, specifically noting that they were self-designating the model as the 914/2 after the backlash from the "S" designation. 



According to R&T, comparisons were being made between the 911S and the 914S in the early marketing literature and that rubbed factory the wrong way. The 911 had a bad habit of the rear end sliding around if you let off on the throttle. While this characteristic could be exploited by experienced drivers, in the hands of a novice it could end badly.



With the 914, the center of gravity was so close to the middle of the car that it was a much safer and easier to drive car that could utilize the HP in cornering. With the added stiffness of the roll bars (producing understeer) and the increase in HP there was more and more talk about the 914 compared to the 911S.



This is where the the engineers realized they had made a car that could kill the flagship model if it was given the same HP. After the initial delivery of the 2.0 European spec cars the compression was lowered and the appearance group package was split up with a few a omissions. 



In late 1972 the updated brochures and literature eliminated the "S" from the official 914 line up. We will probably never know the entire story, but you can see that from 1973 forward the cars only got bogged down with more heavy emissions equipment and no further increases in HP. In all actuality this “S” designation may have put the prowess of an improved 914 on the factory radar and may have contributed to its subsequent elimination early in 1976.



So how can I identify a model “S”? It should have a late 72 production date and a serial number in the 1st 2000ish of production. They start at 473290001. The true tell tale sign is the leatherette roll bar pad. They do not crack like the factory non-wrapped ones. I actually came across this as a prospective sample for our tooling on roll bars we made, but ultimately we made the more common texture as it would suit a larger number of cars.



One of our customers is currently selling a car that fits into the category as far as we can tell. It exemplifies all the attributes of the cars first designated as an “S”. The VIN is 4732900184 and it is a well cared-for rust-free Oregon car.
 



 
If you are interested please contact Pete Olson via email at visach9@gmail.com



Sincerely,

Mark Whitesell AKA Mikey914
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Mark's Corner: New Roll Bar Pad

Tuesday, June 15, 2021 9:43 PM

New Roll Bar Pad Coming Soon



I would like to thank everyone on 914world who supported our efforts to create the new roll bar pads for our cars.



To recap, we created these using a metal substructure just like the OEM part. This was the only way to get these to secure to the body correctly and allow for a softer formulation of rubber. Another manufacturer did try to make these but skipped the additional cost of the metal structure and went with a plastic material that is much harder than the OEM.



We created the correct texture to make the new ones hard to distinguish from the original part. The OEM version was a soft foam that had a textured vinyl thermoformed over it. This is the same technique that the dash tops used, and as time has shown us, they have the same issues. The foam and vinyl expand and contract at different rates. Over time they all form cracks at the same stress points.



We have utilized the same technique that we use on our dash tops to make these. We utilize a self-skinning foam injected into a mold under high pressure to pull the texture off the molds. This means the product is made from the same material all the way through, creating a uniform elasticity throughout the part that should last (I.E., not crack) indefinitely.



Production on these is in the final stages and we expect to have them ready to launch next month. While not required we have also put together a “hardware kit” that consists of new screws and screw hole plugs. The new screws are a #2 head that will make life much easier should you need to remove the roll bar pad in the future. This kit consists of 12 screws and screw covers.



Tips for Removing the Roll Bar



The factory screws are quite small and use a #1 Philips tip. Try a #2 and you will strip them out. I recommend using a shop vac and a tool like a small screwdriver or pick to clean out the openings on your old roll bar. If you can see the screw head, it makes it much easier to remove without stripping. A little bit of additional prep time here will save you loads of headache later.



Also unannounced, but I wanted to give you a heads up about a kit we are making to rebuild the rear roof latches. I wanted to mention this as we are making the springs now and within a month hope to have the complete kit together. It will be comprised of new lever plates, double loop springs and a replacement pin for the arm. It is virtually impossible to clean the old latches up fully assembled and recoat them. You will have the ability to do this shortly.



 Again, thank you all for your support. I have several other exciting new items coming soon.



Sincerely,

Mark Whitesell AKA Mikey914

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Mark's Corner: The Haltbar Resins Program

Friday, June 11, 2021 8:21 PM

Haltbar™ Resins Program



We have decided to bring all of our fiberglass parts together under our new Haltbar™ Resins Program. The word haltbar means durable in German and we thought this was the perfect way to describe our new resin parts.



How did this come to existence?



A business associate of mine that has many years of experience manufacturing both commercial and military-grade aviation composites helped us put this program together. With the acquisition of the Sheridan molds we were able apply different techniques and create stronger parts. These panels represent a significant advancement in materials composition and manufacturing techniques that are similar to those used in high performance aircraft manufacturing. 



While Sheridan was well known for making body kits and panels, these were skins only that attached via Dzus fasteners. While these are great for the race market, we felt like there was more work to be done.

 


The first improvement we made was to manufacture the substructure needed to make these bolt on just like the factory parts do. We created a stainless mounting structure to allow these parts to be bolt-on replacements.
 
 

 
In another twist, we will also be adding carbon fiber options to the mix. With the carbon fiber we can offer a product that is much lighter while not being significantly more expensive than the fiberglass.

 


The front and rear hoods will be the first release of the series of products that you will be seeing soon.

 

We have also acquired a few other sets of molds that will allow us to launch a wide variety of new products, many of which are not available anywhere else. With the carbon fiber products we can even do custom build schedules by special order.



All of these will be part of a more complete system with numerous options for valances, flares, and more. We look forward to sharing more soon!



Sincerely,

Mark Whitesell

AKA Mikey914 on world
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