Have you always wanted to own a genuine, factory-converted Porsche 911 slantnose? Perhaps you wanted yours to be a turbocharged model, complete with those flared fenders and whale-tail on the engine cover. Money is tight, you say? Well, I’ve just found the next best thing. It’s almost the same, I promise you! Here on eBay you’ll find your answer: a Chalon-kit equipped 1972 Porsche 914.
The Chalon bodykit was exactly that: a gentleman named Allan Mittleman ran an auto parts business in California called Mitcom and had the crazy idea to create a kit that would give the homely 914 a more aggressive look, clearly inspired by the slantnose craze that led to many 911s being hacked up with poor-fitting body kits to imitate the factory-authorized conversions. Today, the kits command up to $1,000 for unpainted, uninstalled units. Since there was never an “official” 914 slantnose, this doesn’t offend me as much as a fake 911 might.
I actually like this Chalon-equipped car a lot. The kit works well with the 914’s lines and doesn’t immediately strike me as aftermarket. Of course, the quality of the installation is extremely dicey given you don’t know who installed it or what prep work was done. Was there any rust on the car that’s now been trapped by body filler? The seller does admit there is some rust bubbling where the kit meets the body, so it will be on the next owner to figure out how much metal work is needed. The color combination on this car is pretty terrible, so a re-paint is definitely in order.
There’s a good deal of disagreement on whether this kit is valuable or simply distorts a decent car’s originality. You’ll see these Chalon 914s pop up on the message boards every now and again, and there’s always somebody who’s searching for one – along with a number of people saying the kit should be removed and the car returned to its original form. Even as a bit of a purist, I think enough 914s were made that a few can get away with wearing what looks to be a well-designed kit. The car above is a finished example of a Chalon conversion, and that is something I would drive happily everyday. What about you?
I seem to recall that Rod Simpson — of SBC-powered 911 fame — made a kit for installing a Chevy V-8 in the 914. Add a Chalon kit, and you’d have a car I could really go for!
I remember seeing a few Chalon-914s back in the day. When properly installed and finished, I thought they looked worlds better than a stocker. I’ll bet they still do.
The 914 V8 conversion is called the “renegade.” I love the way these kits look on the 914.
Love these! I found the one Chalon used in their catalog on the local Craigslist..my buddy picked it up for a song and is going to bring it back to it’s former glory!
Can’t say I’m very excited about kit bodies, altho the stock 914 body is so underwhelming that I see this body as a definite improvement. But I’m wondering whether the seller himself likes the body because he didn’t show one overall photo of it, just mostly closeups. The only way I found out what the car looks like is from the photos added by Jeff and Rockabilly.
Buddy f mine used to have one with a Mazda 13B powering it. All 911 brakes, pretty fun car. The 914 can be the best handling P-car if set up right. An aluminum LS motor would be nice in the back also
New to me! I like it a lot! Nice find.
200,000 by the looks of it don’t be deceived this is a wreck of a car, body off,gel coat repaint at least 8k, then there’s all the rust how deep does it go, definate non 20,000,please help yourself get buried here.
At one time I had a a 914. I was young, it was fun, and it was a rust bucket dangerous car to drive but heck, I was invisible at the time!!! I did clean it up and did some minor, comparatively speaking, modifications. Now, if it had looked like the blue one above, I would genuinely say I missed it!!! Since it didn’t, I don’t. In reality, it was a VW with a little better suspension, same (if not worse) rust issues, and just as slow!
Been there, done that, wouldn’t do it again.
My 1/2¢ worth.