914 Can Am –
Correct Accent and Side Stripe colors
There has been confusion about the correct 914 Can Am accent colors
specification. Primarily the confusion
surrounds the color of available replacement 914 LE side stripes and written
documentation about the original 914 Can Am accent color specifications. The following discussion seeks to resolve
the discrepancies. The 914 LE cars were the only 914
cars to have the 914 LE side stripes installed at the factory as they were
part of the 914 Can Am package.
The original and authentic 914 LE side stripes were unique to factory
original 914 LE cars, are not available from the dealer, and the evidence suggests that they
never were. The
factory would surely not have produced two different shades of each accent
color for the 914 LE cars, so one must be correct and the other is not
correct.
The
correct 914 LE accent colors and side stripes are:
Bumblebee L13K - Sunflower Yellow
Creamsicle L32K - Phoenix Red
‘Factory’ new old stock replacement side stripes are
available from at least one source.
These stripes are marked PORSCHE on the original packaging and have a
part number ZPW 146 133 – Yellow and ZPW 146 129 - Green. I obtained a set of the yellow ‘factory’
stripes so I could see and compare the color for myself.
Replacement ‘Factory’ side stripes
To the point, these cannot be authentic factory side
stripes or even reproductions identical to factory side stripes, because of the
following:
1. Their color is different from the factory specification These ‘factory’ stripes are definitely not Sunflower
because they are brighter than Sunflower, and in fact they appear identical to
L13M - Chrome Yellow. Here are the two
sample colors so you can get a sense of how different they are:
L13K Sunflower Yellow is above
2. No Factory Part Number The factory never
assigned a part number to the 914 Limited Edition side stripes installed at the
factory. The ZPW-prefix part numbers
were actually part of the Dealer Accessory Program (DAP), which also included
the ski racks, intake grille mouldings etc, which were also not factory parts.
3. Packaging is not correct The printing on
the DAP side stripe packaging is artificial looking compared to other known
factory parts - the font is not correct for Porsche parts, and there is no crest
or other believable marking to substantiate that they are indeed factory
parts. The packaging is labeled
‘Negative Stripes’ and not as ‘Porsche Side Lettering’ as the wording used on
an authentic 914 LE window sticker, or even wording like ‘Limited Edition
Stripes’ as the factory most likely would have named them. Printing on the package says “Distributed by
Volkswagen of America, Englewood Cliffs NJ”, not “Dr. Ing h.c.f. Porsche” as
factory Porsche parts are marked.
Besides, it is unlikely that the factory would have gone to New Jersey
to obtain the side stripes for their 914 Limited Edition cars built at
Osnabruek. Now it is possible that the
factory could have made up additional side stripes and packaged them for resale
and distributed them through VOA, but if they went to all that trouble, they
would have probably just assigned them a valid factory part number and packaged
them accordingly. The fact that they
did not do this even though it would have been a good profit center is
meaningful.
4. The Black and Gold negative stripes were never available on a
factory 914 The DAP also offered negative side stripes for standard 914 cars in black and gold colors in addition to the yellow, red and green colors, which were also never available
installed on any 914 at the factory, yet more evidence to support that they are
not authentic factory side stripes.
Therefore, these Dealer Accessory Program replacement side
stripes may have been the only 914 side stripes obtainable from a Porsche
dealer, but they were clearly made by a non-factory entity and were merely
distributed by the dealers. These side
stripes then were merely aftermarket 914 accessories offered
through the Porsche dealer, just as the ski racks and intake air grille mouldings were.
This is not to suggest that the reproduction side stripes
are not attractive, they quite emphatically are, they are just not factory
correct. Given that they are the only
side stripes currently available, I would not hesitate to recommend their
installation and I sincerely doubt that a Concours judge would find much fault
with their installation for that reason.
More data about L13K - Sunflower Yellow
L13K
- Sunflower Yellow is a warm, medium yellow, which looks something like a light
school bus yellow, it has a milky, slightly-reddish hue. L13K was also named Summer Yellow for 1975,
two names for the same color and paint code.
L13M - Chrome Yellow has more white and green in it, making it a
lighter, brighter yellow. Chrome Yellow
is the name of 1974 paint code L13M, which was also known as Saturn Yellow in
1972-3, two names for the same color and paint code.
1. The COA for VIN
14680 states ‘Sun Yellow’. This car
does not have the original side stripes for verification.
2. The COA for VIN
15176 states ‘Sunflower Yellow’. This
car does not have the original side stripes for verification.
3. The COA for VIN 15391 states ‘Summer Yellow’. This car does not have the original side
stripes for verification.
4. Das Grosse VW
Porsche Buch says the German name for the color is ‘sonnengelb’, which
translated is ‘sun yellow’ and that name is referenced in their appendix as
paint code L13K, the same paint code for Sunflower Yellow.
5. My friend David
Pateman, who has followed the 914 LE cars and started the 914 Can Am Registry in
the mid 1980s and who has seen several original 914 LE Bumblebee cars, says he
has never seen an original Bumblebee that did not have the Sunflower Yellow
accent, and he knows the difference.
6. My authentic, factory-issued
original 914 GT poster has Sunflower Yellow side stripes,
they are clearly not Chrome Yellow.
This car was intended for European
distribution, but the color should have been identical to the 914 LE developed
at the same time. The poster is a
print, subject to printing tolerances, but it is a valid reference.
7. Two Bumblebee
owners who restored their cars have recently told me they were surprised when
they received the aftermarket yellow stripes which were in PORSCHE packaging, because they
did not match either the original or repainted Sunflower Yellow color on their
cars. Both owners decided to repaint
the yellow trim color to match the stripes.
See cars 14716, 15205 and 15391 on the 914 Can Am Registry, which have the
replacement stripes.
Therefore the reference to Saturn Yellow as
the accent color of the Bumblebee cars in the 700 Tips book cannot be
correct.
Replacement
914 Limited Edition Bumblebee Side Stripes
More data about L32K - Phoenix Red Phoenix Red is
actually a reddish-orange color. I am
told by one owner that the replacement Creamsicle side stripes also are not an
exact match for the Phoenix Red paint code, but I have not reviewed this in
great depth as I have with the yellow.
If the facts are true regarding the correctness of the Sunflower Yellow
side stripes, then it is reasonable that it would also be true for the Phoenix
Red side stripes.
1. COA for VIN 14416 states Phoenix Red.
2. Das Grosse VW Porsche Buch says the German name for the
color is ‘phönixrot’, which translated is ‘Phoenix Red’ and is referenced in their appendix as paint code L32K,
the same paint code for Phoenix Red.
3. Creamsicle VIN
16502 has original side stripes and they are a strong orange color, however
they also appear to be somewhat faded.
Compare them to photos of VIN 14508 which seems to have more of a
pinkish hue. There could be many
reasons for this difference…lighting, photography, computer monitors. The replacement Creamsicle side stripes
appear to be a much closer match to L32K - Phoenix Red, than the replacement
yellow side stripes are to L-13K Sunflower Yellow.
More data about – Viper Green The replacement green side stripes have part number ZPW 146
129, a color reportedly the same as L64K Zambezi Green. These replacement stripes are no
longer available. The white/green trim cars
are so rare, no cars in this paint scheme have been located for verification,
despite years of looking by many people throughout the USA, and no verifiable
documentation exists.
1. While the Bumblebee and Creamsicle nicknames
are in common use, I have dubbed the Light Ivory / Green trim cars ‘grasshopper’
because there was no previous nickname for them, and simply calling them the
‘white-green’ cars sounded boring.
2. It is the general opinion by several knowledgeable 914
enthusiasts who have seen actual grasshopper cars that the color was not the contemporary 914 Porsche colors Zambezi
Green (L64K) or Irish Green (L60E). The consensus by those persons most
knowledgeable is that the correct color is the same color as the white/green
1973 911 Carrera RS cars accent color called Viper Green (Glasurit color POR225). However until an actual example 914 LE
grasshopper car can be located for verification, it can only remain a
speculation. Why the correct color is
not a standard 914 Porsche color is a mystery, other than the obvious
connection to the 1973 911 Carrera RS car series precedent. (A Light Ivory / Mexico Blue 914 LE would
have been killer…I wonder if the factory considered it?)
3. The 700 Tips book specifies that the
green accent paint color on the grasshopper cars is Lime Green (6710 or 226),
which is not a typical 914 color specification and which I have not been able
to locate despite repeated attempts to find it. The author of this book would have used the green DAP side
stripes as a reference.
4. The German-only text Das Grosse VW
Porsche Buch does not mention the existence of the Light Ivory /
Green cars, nor does the 914 GT poster, which is completely justifiable because
the 914 GT grasshopper cars were not to be produced for Europe, but the current English
text version of the current www.porsche.com website does mention the
grasshopper 914 LE cars.
5. Rich Bontempi, the highly-regarded Northern
California 914 enthusiast with 30 years of 914 experience, only recalls seeing
two grasshopper cars in all those years.
Brad Mayeur, the respected 914 authority in the Midwest also with 30
years of extensive 914 experience, does not recall ever seeing a grasshopper
car.
If you have any additional information to verify or refute the evidence provided here, please let me know.