In the continuing tale of close but no cigar, we come to radios. The historical information I got from Pateman is pretty specific: M453 Blaupunkt Frankfurt US retractable antenna with loudspeaker & noise suppression.
Our car has a Motorola in it, for who knows why?
To my delight, one of the 914 my dad has in his stash had what appeared to be a Blaupunk Frankfurt. So I quickly retrieved that thinking our sourcing was solved. But I would sad to learn that there are of course several generations and variations on the Blaupunkt Frankfurt. There’s even versions going back to the 356 in 1960! Ask me how I know that… They also differ within the 914 years.
So for those with a keen eye and a heart for originality, here is what I am able to piece together. Focused of course on finding what would have been original for a 1970 914-6 destined for USA.
- FM band starting at 88 or 89. Have seen some where the bands are listed high to low (108 to 88) left to right.
- Blue dot left AND “Blaupunkt” text right center of display
- Rounded display corners
- Chrome display surround
- No faceplate
- Black buttons with white text
- US AM / FM buttons (as opposed to European L / M / K / U)
- Black knobs with chrome faders
The more that I think about this, I’m real close to saying “fuck it” and buying the very cleverly named Porsche Classic Communication Management (PCCM) system. Rolls off the tongue don’t it? It appears to get you a display, Apple CarPlay, and navigation in a factory dash slot. Only $1300 USD.
Maybe I could be content looking at a hole in the dash and listening to the engine…
