Part number??? 72/73 Front Latch Panel for AC Cars

[edmayo 2.0L Find all posts View Profile Close edmayo]

Now that makes sense Rick!

[Dirk07 Gipsy KIng Diggler Find all posts View Profile Close Dirk07]

John, no extra part number. The hole was drilled by a worker. All of the ones I´ve seen are not even close to circular round.

[WHCJr72S 2.0L Find all posts View Profile Close WHCJr72S]

JP
The part number for the rubber plug is 914.559.251.10. I got that from the 72-3 parts book. I also purchased the plug for my car in 1988 using that number.

[JP aka LiveFromNY Find all posts View Profile Close JP]

JP, I think the reason you can’t find a part number for the panel is because there isn’t one. I believe there was a template that aligned with the other outer 4 quarter sized holes and they simply drilled the large hole.

I considered this, Rick. But I'm not sure as there are differences besides just the blower hole.

Looking at my factory non-AC cars, the front panel has the full array of metal stampings like this:



Looks familiar, right?

But all of my factory AC cars with the round cutout have different stampings:



If you look closely, the stamping furthest to the right is missing on my AC car. The one circled below, specifically.



So; it looks, to me at least, that there were two different parts? Unless we're to believe that Porsche both cut out the hole later AND pounded out the extra stamping?

That's what we're doing:



Caveat: My sample size is small. Less than 10 cars. But, for me at least, the differences in the front panel (cutout/no cutout and right stamping/no right stamping) is consistent among my AC and non-ac cars. And doesn't it seem coincidental (at least) that the only difference is the missing stamping on the right that would have interfered with the blower hole?

[Rick Cabell 2.0L Find all posts View Profile Close Rick Cabell]

Well, if you have a half a dozen mixed early cars with no metal press rib on the drivers side, then you are proving a point.
in the late 60’s and 70’s, a lot on cars coming in from Europe new had AC installed at the “port”. Also factory kits were supplied to dealers. I saw dealers install what they called factory supplied kits. Those kit had a template for drilling the AC hole.
I have both PET and the old parts catalogs. Neither seem to offer a different part number for the front apron for AC cars.
So, my guess is that due to the fact these cars were pretty much hand built back then, they requested the guy stamping the front panel to make a few for AC requested cars with that area unstamped. Another guess is that from 65-73 fewer than 15% of the cars were delivered with air. But, many were later converted to AC cars at the dealer, or independently owned shops. In the early 80’s I brought in 100’s of cars from Europe. It was very common to have Mercedes from the factory with NO AC.

[JP aka LiveFromNY Find all posts View Profile Close JP]

Well, if you have a half a dozen mixed early cars with no metal press rib on the drivers side, then you are proving a point.
in the late 60’s and 70’s, a lot on cars coming in from Europe new had AC installed at the “port”. Also factory kits were supplied to dealers. I saw dealers install what they called factory supplied kits. Those kit had a template for drilling the AC hole.
I have both PET and the old parts catalogs. Neither seem to offer a different part number for the front apron for AC cars.
So, my guess is that due to the fact these cars were pretty much hand built back then, they requested the guy stamping the front panel to make a few for AC requested cars with that area unstamped. Another guess is that from 65-73 fewer than 15% of the cars were delivered with air. But, many were later converted to AC cars at the dealer, or independently owned shops. In the early 80’s I brought in 100’s of cars from Europe. It was very common to have Mercedes from the factory with NO AC.

Interesting, Rick.

For the record, when I reference AC cars in my findings, I am only referencing factory AC cars. I do have one car with a dealer installed system and the front panel on that car DOES have the additional stamping that my non-AC cars have. Again, I'm operating with a small sample size so this all may mean nothjing but it seems clear there were two front panels used at the factory. If not due to AC cars, perhaps we'll never know the reason.