Porsche 914 & 914/6 Components & Accessories
Mission: P914
The Website, P914.com (and its alias, P914.net), began with, of all
things, tool kit questions. We had been having an unreasonably hard
time determining exactly what tools were provided by the factory for a
specific Porsche 914 model year (1974). The parts catalog is quite
vague in this area (and many others). The owner's manual has an
incomplete list of tools and no picture. Opinions varied widely in the
forums (as they often do). Parts retailers... well, their
"factory-provided" information has an uncanny way of matching their
current inventory. "Authenticity" publications (or at least those we
read... likely the same that you have) lacked the level of detail we
sought, had poor pictures and many
inaccuracies... and we had to
pay for them.
Basically, we were getting nowhere fast, so we started collecting
data first-hand. We inventoried the tools in every car we owned and
every car that came into the shop. We monitored on-line sales and
queried the sellers. We solicited e-mail in forums. We bought lots (and
lots) of tools. We took pictures. We took notes... and we didn't stop
with tools. The research expanded to
additional problem areas: first gauges, then badges, and it grew (and
continues to grow). That caused another problem -- how to best organize
all the disparate records and pictures so that we could easily find
them. Voila! P914 was born.
The buttons on the left lead to sections with detailed descriptions, information and pictures of the components or accessories cataloged to date. Enjoy.
Not Just Fading with Age
The difficulty with researching production date-correct component information does not merely result from the extensive period of time that has passed since the Porsche 914 and 914/6 models were discontinued (production of the Porsche 914 ended after the 1976 model year and the Porsche 914/6 was terminated after the 1972 model year). The following factors serve to compound the confusion:
- The Porsche 914 was a joint project between Volkswagen and Porsche, AG involving integration of VW and Porsche 911 components into both the four and six cylinder models.
- The Porsche 914 was styled and marketed differently in Europe and North America.
- The four-cylinder Porsche 914 was assembled by Volkswagen in their Wolfsburg factory, while the Porsche 914/6 was assembled by Porsche in the Zuffenhausen facility. This created some additional process and terminology variations.
- Porsche 914 components and trim styles changed frequently, and, oftentimes, these changes were not indicated by a corresponding part number change. Additionally, component changes (including items as important as front brake calipers) occasionally occurred mid-run during a production model year as opposed to between model years.
As a result, it is likely that P914.com will never be complete
(especially given the intermittant nature in which we update it). The
information found herein is expanded and updated as available,
so check back frequently.