small town exotics

[pavulon]

I live in a town of fewer than 5K people. There is a 914 (automatic) that runs around town and an abandoned 928. After that, no P car's I have seen. The front page newspaper lead this week is that a local school is not going to raise its price for lunches.

I went to get some groceries and fueling up at the co-op is an R32 Skyline (RHD) just arrived from Florida. A local youngster went down, got it and drove it about 1300 miles home. I never expected to see that today or any other day here. I won't say things are changing here but it still made my day!

[fastfredracing]

Did not know there was an auto 914. Bet that is a real rocket ship

[pwd72s]

Wouldn't surprise me to find exotics hidden away in small towns throughout the USA...when I was a barely in high school lad, a local mechanic had a rare all aluminum bodied Jag...memory says XK120? Might have been an XK140? It eventually joined the Harrah collection.

[id10t]

My town is a little over 5k, back in the 70s there was a Ferrari (and all else Italian) mechanic a few miles down the road from where my house is. Other than my 356, my next door neighbor has a few classic muscle cars, an Austin Healy 3000 Mk IV, a early 60s MG, and his wife drove a 993 for a while. Plenty of classic American iron at the Fall/Spring town festivals w/ car shows.

[Racerbvd]

Originally Posted by fastfredracing

Did not know there was an auto 914. Bet that is a real rocket ship

Yep, the Sportomatic is a rare bird, but real. I remember one forever listed in the old Auto-Trader, I think Ted Vernon had it

Porsche 914/6 Sportomatic – one of the rarest Porsche’s ever built

December 19, 2018*byMason

I want you to think of the rarest Porsche you can. Got it? What did you pick? The crazy excess of the 959? Nope, there were 337 group B wonders crafted. 904 Carerra GTS? 120 of those bad boys were made. The 924 Carrera GT? Forget about it, 76 of them rolled off the line in Germany. 911 GT1 Strassenversion? No way, due to homologation rules, 25 were hand assembled. The rare*916? Not even, Porsche made 11 of these killer 914 derivitives. You were getting close with the 916, but the 914/6 Sportomatic is twice as rare. Only five prototypes of the 914/6 Sportomatic were built in 1970/71.

With over eight thousand 911 Sportomatic cars built, it is significantly less rare. Internally very similar to the 911 sportomatic, the 914/6 version had the distinction of being the only 914 with two pedals. The Sportomatic is often considered the first “automanual” transmission in the same vein as the current PDK (Porsche Doppelkupplung) transmissions, only instead of paddle shifters mounted on the steering column, the Sportomatic had a more traditional shifter in the center of the car with only P for park, R for reverse, L for low, and D, D3, and D4 for drive. Also, the Sportomatic uses a Torque Converter type transfer of power, as opposed to the dual clutch type in the modern PDK.

In the engine bay sits a 2.0-liter six cylinder engine that takes the 914/6 SM from 0-60 mph (0-96 km/h) in 9 seconds. Top speed is 122 mph (196 km/h).

One of the original five sits quietly in the*Automobile Atlantashowroom in Marietta, GA. They acquired the car in 1996, and began an extensive restoration of the car. The engine had been rebuilt once already, the car had been repainted, yet the transmission still soldiered on. A full mechanical, and esthetic restoration was done, and the car is now completely pristine.




https://www.thisweekinmotors.com/porsche-9146-sportomatic-one-of-the-rarest-porsches-ever-built/

[fastfredracing]

Cool, learn something new every day . I was trying to picture a 4 cyl variant . I remember some VW's having autos back in that era. I had a friend with a notchback with an auto trans.

[pavulon]

were all 914 sportomatics -6's? I haven't been able to study the local car but I don't recall seeing 914-6 on the rear but do recall 4 lug wheels.

[fintstone]

I rolled onto a small Navy base in VA today driving my '89 911 Targa. The civilian gate guard said "that is a classic". I said thank you...as I had not expected such an informed comment. He followed with, "just like the one in the movie Risky Business". As I drove away, I said, "it is an '89...so the right decade". Pretty hard to mistake my red Carrera with the car in Risky Business...but I guess you have to know Porsches.

[JackDidley]

I live in a town, just over 3000 people. Lots of muscle cars and old hot rods but I think I have the only P car. Can not recall seeing anything exotic in the 29 years I have been here.

[PD41]

I was living in a So Cal desert town Brawley of 20,000 by the Mexican border.
Was talking to a guy once and told him I had a 53 Porsche project car up in LA.
He told me about retired bee keeper that had a old 356 in his steel building.
Tracked the guy down one day, he open the door and there was a 53 same year as mine, all dusty, no dents or rust just sitting there with 4 flat tires. Not for sale of corse, called him a couple years later and he said he sold it to his doctor.

You always dream of a barn find, I'll just keep dreaming.

[Tobra]

When I was a lad of 12, I went to a small town in western Nebraska for a family reunion, which is a significant logistical operation in a case with a dozen brothers and sisters, generally with three or four kids along.

More accurate to say the small town in western Nebraska at the time I suppose, sparsely populated part of the country in its bicentennial year. Dad's friend was a contractor, and knows this plumbing supply guy with some cars that we would be interested in seeing maybe. Meet the nice man in his office, shake his hand, turns out he knows two of my uncles.

Go into this dark, dusty warehouse behind the business, go past a couple of rows of vanities and commodes stacked to the moderately high ceiling. Then we get to the cars, about 30 of them altogether, behind velvet ropes like we had at the movie theater where I worked a few years later. He had an Auburn, Cord and two Duesenbergs, the two seater supercharged one looked suspiciously similar to the two seater Auburn. Most enormous two seat roadster you can imagine. Had a Chrysler Airflow, several Packards, a Pierce Arrow, a V-16 Caddy, a Stutz.

This is one guy's collection in a small town. When I was a kid there was a guy around the corner with a GT 500 Shelby in his garage. There are some surprising things out there, you just have to look.

[tabs]

Slugomatic..

[wdfifteen]

Originally Posted by JackDidley

I live in a town, just over 3000 people. Lots of muscle cars and old hot rods but I think I have the only P car.

Same here. I live about 1 1/2 miles outside the nearest town. I don't know how many people live there. They have one traffic light, one barangrill, two gas stations, and a Subway in the police dept building.

[porsche tech]

I worked at a fairly large Porsche dealership for 42 years, starting in 1970 ( first year to import 914). I have seen probably thousands of 914's (2 liter and 1.7) and quite a few 914-6's and I've never seen a sportomatic in any of them. It really surprised me to see that orange 6 that Racerbvd posted in another thread. Unusual to say the least!

[epbrown]

I grew up here in KY - all domestics all the time. A Jaguar was a rare sighting here, and I didn't know from any European cars aside from what I saw on tv. When I moved to Chicago in 1985, a co-worker had a brand new white 325i convertible that the other guys were impressed by - I don't think I'd even seen a BMW in the metal before that.

Thirty-something years later, the Japanese have made strong inroads, but Volvos, BMWs, Audis and such are still scarce, though we have dealerships now. I saw a Jag XF, the first I've seen in the 4 years I've been back. I see the occasional newer Porsche, usually someone attending University of Kentucky, and a college kid at work had a 986 for a bit. A Ferrari or Lamborghini would be a shock, though some horse-breeder likely has one hiding in a barn. Most exotic thing I've seen here is a BMW i8 on a used car lot since last year.

[wdfifteen]

I had the Speedster downtown last summer talking to a guy who know what it was. Another local came up and looked at it and all he had to say was, "Kinda little, ain't it?"

[JackDidley]

Originally Posted by wdfifteen

Same here. I live about 1 1/2 miles outside the nearest town. I don't know how many people live there. They have one traffic light, one barangrill, two gas stations, and a Subway in the police dept building.

Pretty much the same here. We have 3 gas stations though. Small town life rocks.

[Evans, Marv]

I live in a village (I don't call it a town) of less than 2K people. For the "down town" area we have a post office, store that sells some groceries, gasoline and mostly liquor, and a small Mexican restaurant. We have an annual parade coming up around the 4th of July. Along with the usual horses, & organizations riding trailer floats, there are tractors and old cars. A few of the old cars are from the surrounding area, but it's interesting how many we have locally. That doesn't count a few sports cars and several muscle cars owned by people here.

[speeder]

Originally Posted by JackDidley

Pretty much the same here. We have 3 gas stations though. Small town life rocks.

How does it rock?

Serious question.

[oldE]

Small town here. When I had my Porsches (924S and later the old E) they were the only Porsches within thirty miles . There was a Ferrari 308 in the next town. Now there are a couple of Boxsters in the area.

Best
Les