Pricing for a 914 project car

kolies · kolies's Garage

I am new to the 914 board here on PP. I looked at a 73 914 project car over the weekend. I am not looking for a concourse winning restoration. Want to do a lot of the work that is required myself.

Had been sitting for 25 year. Current owner stripped down and painted the car.

- Pain quality is about a 4-5 out of 10.
- Engine and trans are out of the car
- Interior is out
- All the seals are removed
- Panel gaps look pretty good. The one that looks worst is the passenger door. very close at the bottom, and a little wider at the top
- Battery support was rusted, but metal underneath looked solid
- One piece of metal was cut out and replaced at the rear of the rear trunk in the middle. Looked like an average job. Might have to be redone.
- Car comes with 3 1.7 l FI engines, and 3 transmissions. One set was original with the car.
- Additional extra parts from at least one other parts car.

Any ideas on what would be a reasonable offer for a project car like this? Any thoughts would be appreciated.

Thanks

racer · 08-31-2010, 12:48 PM

$500-1500 dollars is my genaric "parts car" pricing range.

There is an immense amount of work to rebuild a car and if the paint is only a "4-5", then it starts with bringing it back down to metal and starting over imho. No point reassembling the car and then being disappointed with the paint.

Be sure to spend some time trying to price out some of the known missing items.. some might be NLA, some might require digging around, some might be extremely expensive.

914s are NOT quite yet at the point where their resale value is higher than their restoration prices.. maybe if a "6" but not for the 4's.

For $5-7K you could buy a decent california sourced "driver" and spend time "fixing" it up and enjoy it while you do so.

rfuerst911sc · 08-31-2010, 01:17 PM

Where has the car been " sitting " for the 25 years ? I see you are in Michigan so I assume snow/salt exposure equals rust. I may be wrong but these cars rust if you drink water near them

. If you can find a fellow Pelican in the area that knows these cars I'd suggest throwing him a 6 pack of favorite brew to look the car over. If going in blind I'd say $500.00 - $1200.00 or so. To do things right it takes $$$ even if you do the work yourself. Because it has been sitting so long fuel tank needs to be pulled/flushed/repaired. All fuel lines replaced. Fuel pump replaced. All brake calipers rebuilt and master cylinder replaced. All brake lines replaced. Body work even if you do all the prep a good paint job will be 2k plus. Have mice/rats destroyed wiring ? The fuel injection/carbs need to be rebuilt you see where this is going. Not trying to push you into not considering the car just want you to know it will be REAL easy to sink 5-7k in the blink of an eye and that's being very generous. Good luck if you take on the project.

jhora · 08-31-2010, 01:59 PM

I agree with racer and rfuerst911sc they have given you great advice...

what you are looking at is a lot of parts and $500 is the mark...a project is a car that is together and needs lots of love

a bad 914 is a horrible money and time sucking thing...a good one is a delight and a blast to drive

good luck

Jagshund · 09-02-2010, 09:18 PM

I'll give you an idea. Six months ago I paid $200 for a car that had been blasted, primed (thickly, thankfully)and pushed outside for 4-5 years. It came with everything needed to become a complete car (minus an engine) but was a bare rolling chassis when I picked it up. Had to replace rear pans, hell hole area and corners of the trunk.

I wouldn't pay more than $700 for a complete car that required work. For $2K you can nearly get one that runs. However, if all of the engines turn and the HH is solid I might go as high as $1200.