kalikazam

I am trying to get information on mixed stories I hear at the PCA meet ups I attend. I have a 1974 911 Carrera Targa. My grandfather bought the car in 1975 as 2nd owners and it had black painted mirror, black contrast inside the fuchs wheels, and black on the trim around the rear glass.

Someone claiming to be an expert at an event said that in 1974-1975 the Porsche US dealers were offering a "night package" for the cars and applying black accenting only in the states but it was "official" offering from Porsche. The dealers were painting these items, but they were not coming off the factory assembly in Germany with the finish. To me if this is true it not "factory". Someone else then told me that the Targa arch color indicates the appropriate trim color from the factory and the car's trim and accenting including the wheels should be returned to the color of the arch if I want to restore the car to the official Porsche factory specs. I was told to order a Kardex, but it seems that was discontinued? Can anyone shed some light on the facts here. Much Thanks!

raspritz

Well, this had to have come from somewhere. In 1973 a previous owner of my ‘69T had ALL of the chrome trim black-anodized in an addled attempt to forward-date the car. I can’t tell you how much time and elbow-grease I spent removing that junk!

Mark Salvetti

This came up recently in a discussion on vent windows. There was a window sticker presented that showed black trim as an option. It was a mid-70’s car.

I think it was over on Pelican, but not sure.

Mark

Speedster911

There are no absolutes on these cars. Additionally, this is an era of dealers doing whatever they needed to do to sell a car. Switching entire interiors, wheels, painting trim and wheels etc was commonly done. It was very prevalent if a 74 had been sitting on the lot for months and a new 75 was parked next to it. They wanted the 74 to look " modern" so they painted mirrors, trim etc to match the 75.

Have never heard of a " Night Package", certainly not listed in any documentation I have nor listed in the Snodgrass 2.7 Carrera book. . You say the trim is painted- is it painted or anodized? After 50 years, the anodization should be turning different shades of purple if original. If painted- it could be one of the few " bright trim" very early build cars that someone wanted to look modern so they painted the trim black. I have a 7/73 build 74 Carrera with bright trim, bright window switches, fabric seats, non black dashtop etc that were technically and by all documentation never sold in the US - listed on the COA and there are 3-4 known early cars like this. - its actually a 73 chassis and the " experts" at a C&C or local PCA event would say it doesn't exist/not correct. Another 74 Carrera I have with 8/73 build date is all black anodized trim, traditional black dash etc.

I responded to your DM, look forward to chatting..

kalikazam

Nice chatting indeed! When the car was first taken down from storage the trim was almost a burnished chrome look which I guess you could call purplish looking. The mirror was similar color, but had signs of black paint on it with chrome breaking through. I will be sure to get to the bottom of this mystery on my car! I appreciate all your help.

nathan1

Nate2046

My 1974 brochure lists the Carrera model as having “All exterior trim anodized black.” The pictured car has the black trim around all the glass and black door handles. The single flag mirror and headlight trim rings are polished.

Bill Verburg

Though individual pieces were black even as early as '68, the first all-black trim(no visible chrome) was on the '74 Carrera

Speedster911

This is a partially correct statement - although window trim was anodized black for the bulk of the 74 carreras, the majority for the US market still had chrome headlight trim and bright drivers mirror.. Several very early Carreras ( I have one, purchased from Nathan Merz) have bright trim. There are no absolutes with these mid year cars.

nathan1

For model year 1974 the Base 911 and 911S came with BRIGHT trim as standard and black trim as optional. For the Carrera it was the exact opposite, black anodized trim was standard and bright was optional. On @Speedster911 's car (very early VIN MY74 Carrera) which I sold him it came with bright trim as optional which is quite rare and should be noted on the window sticker or CofA. The earliest 74 Carrera's also still had some parts bright when the trim was black such as the headlight trim rings, drivers side mirror and front foglights. I cover the trim issue on my video linked above.

Bill Verburg

headlights on US cars are unique to that market, RoW came w/ body colored light trim, under that the edge of the lights are black plastic.

Bill Verburg

oe RoW headlight w/ black plastic edge









w/ oe body color trim in place


aftermarket RoW headlight w/ chrome trim and w/ body color trim ring