Porsche 914 & 914/6 Tail Lights
Regulated Rear Style
In order to meet in-country regulation, Porsche 914 and Porsche 914/6 vehicles came with one of three Hella tail light styles: US, European/German or French specification. These designations are fairly self-explanatory, but it has been pointed out that the turn signal lenses referred to as "European Specification" by U.S. Porsche 914 owners are referred to as "German Specification" by French 914 owners (think about it). Other than the coloration of the various panels on the lens, the three production tail light types do not differ, and the housings are identical.
The Porsche 914 tail lights were never a
crowning design achievement. Normal problems
experienced with these assemblies include lens "spider web" cracking in
the
curved turn signal section, lens mount stud rusting resulting in
splitting of the plastic stud holder, and housing seal failure/leakage
resulting in serious rust damage to the back of the rear trunk.
Additionally, early model year Porsche 914 car tail light housings
frequently experienced melting/cracking from tail/brake light bulb
heat. This flaw was remedied in the later models through a slight
redesign of the housing reflector to include slots for slide-in metal
heat shields (as shown in the 1976 housing pictured).
Current eBay
listings for Porsche 914 and 914/6 tail light lenses and housings
(compare listed
items with
those pictured on this page to ensure authenticity):
Porsche 914 and 914/6 Tail Lights and Lenses on eBAY
U.S. Specification Tail Light Lenses
The Porsche 914 US specification tail light
lenses were uniformly red across the turn and running/brake light
sections with the standard clear reverse light panel. From the factory,
these lenses were paired with US spec front turn signal lenses which
are a uniform amber color and use non-partitioned housings.
European / German Specification Tail Light Lenses
The Porsche 914 Euro (German) specification
tail light lens has an amber turn signal section, a red running/brake
light section and a clear reverse light panel. From the factory, these
lenses were paired with European (or Italian) spec front turn signal
lenses which have separate orange signal lamp and clear running light
panels (or are completely clear in the case of Italian spec).
As noted on the TURN SIGNALS
page, the Euro spec
front turn lenses require the corresponding sectioned housing
to enable separate illumination of the lens panels. Also, Porsche 914
vehicles delivered to many European nations did not have side marker
lights (cars delivered to Scandinavian countries and Italy had side
markers... though the markers on Italian models are clear and wired as
turn signals).
French Specification Tail Light Lenses
The Porsche 914 French specification tail
light lens has an amber turn signal section, a red running/brake light
section and an amber reverse light panel. From the factory, these
lenses were paired with European spec front turn signal lenses which
have separate orange signal lamp and clear running light panels. Cars
delivered with French specification tail light lenses had no side
marker lights.