When I received my '72 914, the radio was not connected and previous owner indicated they hadn't tried to hook it up. I pulled the radio and sent it in to check out. I was told it was a Blaupunkt “Emden” model and that it worked fine. Here is pic of the radio with some codes which I have NOT been able to identify. At this point, I'm trying to figure out how to properly reconnect this. I was told the brown wire was for speakers, the blue wire was for "illumination", and should connect to dash lights, and the black wire was the power feed. The antennae feed connection is in the rear. I'm a little hesitant about properly wiring this. For one thing, I assume I need to attach a ground from the back of the radio to the chassis? Any advice on this would be greatly appreciated, either in confirming the model or advice on reconnection? Thank you.

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Hate to be the bearer of bad news. It is a mono AM FM Motorola.

Not sure if that is a Blaupunkt,the rear wiring isn't how Blaupunkt do it,looks like a dealer supplied Motorola.

Interesting... (the repair guy told me that) but no big deal. I suspect that would be considered more valuable, but just having the Motorola working would be a big plus for me. The repair guy did send me a video with it playing, so I know it works if I can figure the wiring out.

the radio guy should be able to help

Hey Michael! Hope all is well! Unfortunately the radio guy is in New York and I've lost some faith in him since he identified it as a Blaupunkt! He did get it working though (he sent me a video). He did advise me on the wires, but I don't believe he is in any way a 914 guy or has any car specific knowledge on connections...

After searching through some other postings here, it appears factory Blaupunkt's weren't really found in US cars and this Motorola was one of the common dealer installed options so I'm pretty sure this was original with the car... I don't think the speakers were original though or even if they are correct for this radio so I'll probably replace those as I get this figured out.

Time to study some wiring diagrams I guess!... I doubt I even play the radio much if at all, but I like the idea of a working radio (just so I can "yeah" if a passenger ever says "does the radio work".

You can email matthiasklassen@aol.com, who owns Oldtimer-radio in Germany... outside of a person in London, I trust Matthias to fix these old radios.

Looking at the wiring, Black (ground), Blue (power), Brown (speaker)

Btw. More pics of the border collie please

I agree with the wiring. Matthias only repairs blaupunkt. We have a full line of his rebuilt radios on the shelf for all years and models of the 914 as well as owners manuals, instructions wiring installation pieces and ipod adaptors



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Would you settle for a Newfoundland... . ...but I am a border collie fan.

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Actually, the Motorola is fine. I don't think these speakers are though as the don't really fit correctly. Do you have any speakers correct for an early model year '72? Or any manuals, instructions, etc. that would be of use to me with this Motorola radio? Thanks!

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Fair enough . Lovely dog!

I have to look, but think we have an NOS set of Motorola speakers somewhere. Do you want stock or IIRC there are some new speakers out that will fit well.

Thanks George, makes sense.

In the pic it's fur looks like another small dog is on its back.

We also have a BC.

NOS Motorola would be great... Thanks, let me know.

As an aside, researching these radios is quite a rabbit hole. My radio is definitely a Motorola, but since they made these for a number of cars, the model numbers sure get confusing. Between the VW numbers and the Sapphire labels the model and serial number of this one has been elusive so far although I've got close.

Good deal! Cosmo is our third BC. Our first two (Jett and Tye) lived to 18 years but once you have had BC there is no going back.

Ha! He is a big boy. 160 lbs. His voice is deep and delivery folks tend to freak out, but he's the most gentle and sweet animal you'll ever meet.

lol I grew up with a Newfy and he would always have at least one branch/log in his mouth... loved all the kids in the neighborhood and we would play for hours giving him more sticks to carry... From his perspective there were never enough sticks to carry .

I wish we had pictures!

Sounds like a Newf. Cosmo is a nice looking Border Collie. Border Collies are really great dogs. On my list for my next dog.

By the way, on the earlier response, if you do find you have NOS Motorola speakers available, I'd be very interested. Not really looking for a great sound system, just would like something functional and original as possible. Thanks!

I checked and we have a set of NOS Blau, but not Motorola. I must have out them in our 75 Palma car. Sorry.

Thanks so much. I assume the NOS Blau would fit fine on a '72? Would you be able to sell them to me? I think they would work fine. If you want to use regular email, mine is Baumgardner.Mike@gmail.com. Thanks again for getting back to me.

This should help with wiring. This is installation instruction for Motorola Sapphire.



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Thanks Mike. I really appreciate it. After continued research, it appears the Sapphire is very close if not identical to my unlabeled Motorola.

Michael - Glad to see you're continuing the journey of bringing the car back to "somewhat" original.

Thanks Michael. And thanks for putting this in mechanically sound condition so I can play with tinkering on mostly easy minor stuff!

Just to make note on this thread, I believe that it is actually black = power, blue = ground, brown = speakers. This is based on looking at a number of Motorola sapphires that have these colors. Here is example:

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Noting that the black wire has the inline fuse, I assume it must be the power...

Buy the best speakers you can afford. Ones that fit. That way you'll hear how bad your old radio really sounds. And that way you'll want to buy a nice stereo radio with BT & some real output power. My two cents.