dash switch bezels plastic or metal chrome?

[pss]

both my 1965 911 cars came with interior in boxes. The dash switches all have plastic bezels, however I also see cars with metal chrome bezels.
What is correct for 1965 911?

[NeunElf]

both my 1965 911 cars came with interior in boxes. The dash switches all have plastic bezels, however I also see cars with metal chrome bezels.
What is correct for 1965 911?

Mine has plastic.

Here's a page from an October 1964 brochure which shows an interior with a few unique features:

• rubber floor mats,
• retouched 901 insignia on the glovebox
• no pockets on the wheel wells
• chromed switch bezel on the headlight switch; it looks like a 356B/C switch

Here's a page from an April 1965 brochure which shows the early 911 most of us are used to:





Those look like plastic switch bezels to me.

[pss]

Txs Jim,
indeed you are right!! The 1964 light switch clearly has the 356 bezel (showing an extra bevel, IE 2 tiers) and knob.
Were the chromed ones an option -or did they switch to chrome overall- at some point?

The 1964 also has a different shape ignition bezel; also chromed, not polished bronze as my cars have.

Also I see in the April 1965 picture that there is no alarm lights switch? The switches shown are the Webasto (right switch?) and the fog lights front (left switch?) I assume. Was the alarm light not yet included at the time? As of when did this kick in? I have alarm switches in the boxes that came with the cars March as well as May 1965 (one switch misses the knob though).

[NeunElf]

Txs Jim,
indeed you are right!! The 1964 light switch clearly has the 356 bezel (showing an extra bevel, IE 2 tiers) and knob.
Were the chromed ones an option -or did they switch to chrome overall- at some point?

The 1964 also has a different shape ignition bezel; also chromed, not polished bronze as my cars have.

Also I see in the April 1965 picture that there is no alarm lights switch? The switches shown are the Webasto (right switch?) and the fog lights front (left switch?) I assume. Was the alarm light not yet included at the time? As of when did this kick in? I have alarm switches in the boxes that came with the cars March as well as May 1965 (one switch misses the knob though).

The ignition switch in the 1964 brochure also looks like a 356 part. The headlight switch looks like the switch from a 356B or C. The glovebox door originally had a 901 emblem so it's obviously a very early car. I've seen two cars in the 300040 range but I never noticed unusual headlight switches. I didn't look for that feature, so who knows. One of those cars in the 300040 range belongs to the Petersen museum, you could ask them.

Here's the dashboard picture from my owner's manual (W312 e Edition 1/65):



Maybe this only complicates things. It's also obviously a very early car: the photo had to be taken in 1964, there's no 911 script on the glove box, and there's no pocket in the passenger footwell. Other photos in the manual show a car with painted steel wheels and the chassis number 300001, but Porsche did have access to several 911s.

It looks like this car has the switches with plastic bezels and the brass or bronze bezel on the ignition switch. It also shows an emergency flasher switch. Page 31 has "12 Emergency blinker signal (USA only)"

But! My car, 301382 has no emergency flasher and I don't recall ever seeing an emergency flasher in a 1965 911 or 912. Of course I wasn't looking for that specific feature.

Maybe the emergency flasher was something Porsche planned for USA bound cars but didn't implement until ~ 1966.

I've always thought my car was a USA version. While it was delivered on 21 June 1965 in Wiesbaden, it has American/English units on its gauges and they're date-stamped April or May 1965. When I got my car, it didn't have its original headlights (somebody had adapted 356 sealed-beam headlights) but I always thought that was a repair.

[pss]

Txs for your elaboration Jim.
My drivers manual is exactly the same issue 1/65. On the next page it explains '12 = emergency blinker signal (USA only)'. This suggests Europe did not get the emergency switch back then.

I would guess with the history of yr car it is a Europe spec. car, of which gauges were exchanged with period correct ones or just revamped for miles (?) and new lamps were mounted upon import in US? It seems confirmed by the lack of an emergency light switch, which to me sounds not logical to have been taken out.

By the way, I have seen cars with the ignition bezel chromed, e.g. the 1964 car (300170) currently for sale in The Netherlands.
http://www.marktplaats.nl search on porsche 1964

The one on your brochure picture is indeed a 356 one, but the one here is definitively a chromed 911 shape. Always wondered whether this was an early issue or whether it was just a wrong interpretation by the restorer. Could be as on this 300170 there are other strange things like a later period engine sword.

Cheer,s Jacques

[NeunElf]

Here's one other data point. This is a 1965 Porsche 912, owned by one of the founders of the 912 Registry:



This 912 has no switches at all above the radio. No foglights, no Webasto heater, and no emergency flasher.

I can't prove that my car isn't a European version, but it was purchased about a month after another '65 911 just a few chassis numbers away. That's certainly consistent with the car being special-ordered for European delivery. European delivery was a popular option in those days--the savings could pay for your trip.

I've seen internet references saying the flashers were mandatory in 1967, 1968, and February 1966. Multiple references say 1967.

Unless a few people chime in that their 1965 Porsche 911s have emergency flashers, I'll continue to believe they arrived in the 1966 model year.

[pss]

How beautiful such a 912 is! I find this much more core than a period 911 actually.

[pss]

Jim, do you have a steering lock in yr ignition switch? This should be typical for EU version.

[NeunElf]

Jim, do you have a steering lock in yr ignition switch? This should be typical for EU version.

My ignition switch locks the steering, but I always thought that another of the 1965 unique items was locking ignition on all cars, including cars for the USA.

The parts manuals don't shed much light on this and Brett Johnson's The 911 & 912 Porsche, A Restorer's Guide to Authenticity says US spec '65s had the same non-locking steering as later cars, but this April 1965 brochure says the car has "Steering wheel lock combined with ignition lock"





The brochure's printed in Germany but written in American English and it says the Fuel tank holds "15.5 U.S. gal. of which 1.5 are gal. are reserve" so I'm pretty sure it refers to US-spec cars. It also says the car has 148 SAE horsepower.

I realize the photo shows metric gauges, but Porsche reused a lot of photos in its brochures.

Unless somebody has an American-delivery 1965 Porsche 911 (not a '66 built in '65) without a steering lock I'll continue to believe all LHD '65s had steering locks.

[Silverbullit]

Have noticed quite a few inconsistencies re: steering lock availability/application:
I've owned 3 '67 Porsches (others have owned many more), all U.S. models, all with locking column.