Friday, Sept 13th 1974

[GH85Carrera]

Tomorrow will be the 40th anniversary of me taking delivery of my first Porsche.

On Friday September the 13th, 1974 I finally took delivery on my new 1974 914 2.0. I returned it to the dealer on Monday morning for the 800 mile first service.

I was just 19 and walked into the Porsche dealership and was totally ignored by every salesman. I finally went over to the oldest guy in the place with the biggest office and sat down and stared at him. He finally looked up and asked if he could help me. In a purposely loud voice I said "I am here to order my Porsche" Evey salesman that ignord me looked over.

I told the guy I want a 2 liter, Olympia Blue, appearance package, front and rear sway bars, and on down the list of options I wanted on my car. They asked me about air conditioning. That was a $1,000 option so I declined. The radio was almost $800 so I did a radio delete and installed an aftermarket radio myself for a lot less. Of course he said we don't have one like that in stock so how about the one on the showroom floor. I told him he had one choice, order the car I want or I will go to a dealer that will take my money.

We negotiated a price and made the deal. They took my 1973 VW bug in trade for $2,000 and I paid a grand total of $6,750 bucks for the 914. They gave me a brand new VW Rabbit to drive as a loaner while my car was on order.

It took over 5 months for my car to come in. They just kept lying to me and said the car "would be in tomorrow" so I would call them every stinking day. The phone number was 277-1700. If they had just said call in a month I would have left them alone.

I had a lot of driving to do back in those days. I put over 9,000 miles on the Rabbit. I was a photographer and shot news stories all over the state. It had the original break in oil in it. I am enough of a car guy to not just destroy a car so I changed the oil myself since it only cost me a few bucks. They gave me the Rabbit with so little gas in it I almost ran out getting to the closest gas station. One of my goals was to return it with as little gas as possible. When they finally told me my car was in, I stopped at my brothers shop and we drained all the gas out and then I put 1/2 gallon in for the 5 mile trip to the dealer.

When I pulled up to the dealership the tech was about to put the dealer sticker on it. I stopped him and said it will cost the dealership $50 bucks a month to advertise for them. The car belonged to me. I had already made 4 car payments to my credit union. I figured the sooner I got started the sooner it would be paid off. The dealership had already been paid.

Alabama was a non title state back then so all I had was a bill of sale. That was enough for the credit union. My mother had to co-sign the loan because you had to be 21 to own a car.

I kept that car until 1996. I bought my 911 in 1995 and it took a while to sell the 914. I sold it for $4,000 back then. I still miss it but I don't have a place to keep it.

[Jim Richards]

Nice anniversary, Glen. I was probably out to sea for Uncle Sam back then.

[fastfredracing]

That's cool, bet you were a proud young man. I was still making a mess in my diapers in September of 1973

[Neilk]

Originally Posted by GH85Carrera

Tomorrow will be the 40th anniversary of me taking delivery of my first Porsche.

On Friday September the 13th, 1974 I finally took delivery on my new 1974 914 2.0. I returned it to the dealer on Monday morning for the 800 mile first service.

...

Great story, but "this thread is worthless without pictures!"

[Les Paul]

Yea and we know you have pics

[id10t]

I found the original paperwork for my 356 from when my Dad bought it new in '65. $3750 after tax, etc. and a dealer added Artic Kar AC unit. Dad took delivery in Tampa on 7/26/65

Strangely (hey, there is a 1 in 365 chance!) I took delivery of my oldest daughter on 7/26/2000 and that is the date that mom officially transferred the title of the 356 to me (Dad died in '94)

[scottbombedout]

What a fantastic read. I wish more people would share their stories.

[GH85Carrera]

This is from about 1979. The rear shocks were stiff and the rear springs were shot. New springs fixed this from happening. It made a great shot however. Like the 908 racing poster!

I will keep digging. I have some from back in the day.

[Gogar]

Wow, what a dick!

I mean, congrats, Glen!!

[GH85Carrera]

These pictures are a bit faded but this is all I found in a quick search. I know I have tons of photos but a lot of them are put away somewhere "safe" and I will have to discover them again.

It seemed like I was working all the time back then. I grew a mustache shortly after these were shot and a beard about a year later.

[widgeon13]

What a great story. I actually LOL reading it. Still have a smile on my face. F'in car dealers!

[Scott Douglas]

Two questions:
1) Was the old guy the manager?
2) What kind of camera were you using back then and do you still have it?
[OK that was really three but who's counting?]

Great story every salesman can learn from.

[masraum]

very cool story, thanks for sharing.

[Seahawk]

Originally Posted by scottbombedout

What a fantastic read. I wish more people would share their stories.

I concur. We done, Glen. I bet you were ballin' in the Rabbit

On Friday night, 13 Sept in 1974 I was a sophomore in High School probably getting concussed by a linebackers helmet hitting mine with bad intent.

[GH85Carrera]

Originally Posted by Scott Douglas

Two questions:
1) Was the old guy the manager?
2) What kind of camera were you using back then and do you still have it?
[OK that was really three but who's counting?]

Great story every salesman can learn from.

The old guy was the manager. He handed me off to his "top" salesman.

The camera was a Topcon 35 mm SLR. I don't remember the model number. I still have it in the closet. I bought it in 1972.

In high school I carried a Hasselblad and my 35 mm camera to school every day. I often went from school to the state legislature to work with a newspaper reporter to get pictures for his stories.



This is me in school. I worked as the year book photographer. I shot the vast majority of the pictures. The school had nothing at all for camera equipment. The Hasselblad belonged to the company I was working for.

The guy I worked for offered me a job while I was sitting in school in math class. Some photos I could not shoot because I was in class. He came in the room to shoot some pictures for the yearbook and leaned over and asked if I wanted a job. He saw I was taking away most of his business so he hired me. I did not even have to fill out an application.

[Craig T]

Fantastic. Thank you for taking the time to write it for us. Great pictures as well.