With
1973 came the introduction of the VW®
assembled 2.0L four-cylinder 914 model,
replacing the Porsche® assembled 914/6 which was discontinued after the 1972
model year due to poor sales. This vehicle was initially marketed as the
"914 S" to match the 911 "S" ("Super") designation
for the more powerful version. No Porsche 914 cars were actually produced with
an "S" emblem. Instead, a second rear emblem was introduced on U.S.
specification 914 models to denote engine displacement in liters:
"1.7" or "2.0" in 1973, "1.8" or "2.0"
for 1974-1976 model year vehicles. Marketing quickly followed suit, and the new
vehicle became the "914 2.0L." The European specification cars
continued with the single "914 VW Porsche" emblem as described on the "Euro Badges" page.
Similar
to the "914" rear badge, the finish and material
used for these engine size insignia changed several times although the
style and dimensions remained constant for each.
The
"2.0" badges are all exactly 83mm long by 20mm high. With the
exception of the insignia on the 1976 models, they are 3mm thick and
attached to the vehicles by two 10mm rear prongs that fit through holes in
the chassis and are subsequently secured via speed nuts. These prongs are
spaced 51mm center to center, with a 4mm offset (higher on the right).
This mounting post spacing is uniform across all three engine size designation
emblems (1.7, 1.8 & 2.0) permitting chassis production consistency.
Current
eBay listings for Porsche 914 "2.0" emblems (compare with items
pictured on this
page to ensure authenticity):
Four-cylinder
U.S. specification Porsche 914 automobiles produced for model
years 1970-1972 were all 1.7L cars and had no engine
size rear emblem.
"2.0"
rear emblems on the early
to mid 1973 Porsche
914 2.0L models were black-anodized aluminum. The black-anodizing,
however, varied in shade and tends to fade to a
purple-tinted gray or even a grayish-silver hue (examples
shown at right). Moreover,
the "914" and engine-size badges were anodized separately, so the two tend not to match. Such rear emblem
"set" color variation pictures are shown in the
top-most right pictures.
Later
1973 Porsche 914 and some early 1974 Porsche 914
2.0L vehicles
(including some of the Limited Edition cars) came equipped with
black-painted aluminum badges. Note that these emblems are
painted semi-gloss black only on the front and edges; the rear of
the emblem and pins are unpainted, raw aluminum. This makes
it fairly easy to determine if a painted emblem is its
original finish or an earlier anodized emblem that has been
painted black (or a refinished painted emblem).
Whether this change to paint resulted from the hue variance
inherent in the black-anodized emblems or cost-cutting is
unknown.
Cost-cutting
was definitely the determining factor in the next badge
iteration. Rear emblems on 1974-1975 Porsche 914
2.0L vehicles (except the few early 1974 models fitted
with black-painted emblems as noted above) were made out of
black plastic. From the front, these emblems are almost
visually identical
to the black-painted examples. Unlike the painted emblems,
the plastic badges are (of course) uniformly black on the
front and back.
Apparently
mounting plastic emblems also proved too costly, as the 1976
model year 914 2.0L vehicles received only vinyl decal
rear badging. It is possible that this change actually
occurred late in the 1975 model year production (if you have
a 1975 Porsche 914 with factory vinyl decal badging, please ContactUs@P914.com).
Unfortunately, examples of factory vinyl badging become more
scarce each time a 1976 Porsche 914 is repainted.
