Just for laughs.

[Speedo959]

I don't know what it is. Maybe it is the green color or maybe I am just paranoid. I have a stock green 71 914 that is constantly getting laughed at. I know I know who cares what other people think and for the most part I don't, but what gives? Do alot of you other guys go through the same thing? I never had a single laugh in my Charger. The only other thing I can think of is the fact that I am over 6 feet and weigh 235 and maybe, just maybe look a little big in the little car. I hear comments all the time about how I need to sell it and get something that fits like a Camaro or Mustrang. I just laugh along with them. I have been told that it leans towards my side with me in it. I never really gave it much thought until I mentioned which car I drive in class and this uproar of laughter followed. What?! I like to think that it is the color. lol

[HMeeder]

Hey Speedo!

They laugh at you out of ignorance, my friend. Just try and find a car this size that is as roomy or versatile. It's one of those small on the outside and big on the inside kind of perversions of the laws of nature. Or those clever Germans achieved the height of packaging efficiency 30 years ago.

As far as the color goes, I personally love it and the Chrome wheels give it classic look. (check out my Tangerine Orange car. It positively glows.) The colors they gave these cars in the '70s make them standouts and I have only ever gotten great feedback about mine. Children, for some reason, really gravitate to it.

Where in 'Central California' do you live? That term applies to an area the size Arizona. If you have lots of farms around you'll have to forgive them for their narrow minds. Their world view sometimes only goes to the horizon (or was that a narrow-minded characterization?)

[Speedo959]

I am in Visalia, home of just about every truck you can think of, unfinished baja bugs and ranked fourth in the nation for having the worst air. Other than the air I like it. I was just in San Diego this past weekend. Use to live there, wish I would of never moved. Had fun on the drive though, left kinda late for the D&G swap meet, made the tale end in enough time for that picture to be taken. Made it to San Diego and back in 12 hours with a total of 4 hours of not driving. One more thing, ever notice how the name PORSCHE makes every kid in a honda wanna race?

[Mockmaw]

The color is beautiful in my opinion.. it's certainly eye-popping and I can see how a lot of people might not like it.

It reminds me of the first bass guitar that I bought brand new.. I was given the option of a lot of different colors.. my two favorite were transparent blue and transparent green. I went around asking everyone what they thought, and it was always the same. Everyone enjoyed the blue, it was 'nice'.. but about half the people loved the green and half the people couldn't stand it! ("looks like a lollipop" was the common reply.) Needless to say, I went with the blue.

I'd say it's a similar situation with your car.. strikes me as a particularly 'hit or miss' color. I'd have to say, though, that one of things I love about my 914 is that kids love it! The 5 year old next door can't get enough of watching me work on my tangerine 1.7!

And yes.. other children (read as 'kids driving mommy's acura') are gravitated in a different way. I have to say that my favorite thing to do when someone next to me wants to race (and revs their engine.. you know, the whole shibang).. just let them peel out, scream down the block to the next stoplight. I've always thought it made them look like an ass when I accelerate normally off the line with no intention of dragging.

Just blabbering at this point... nice car though! =oP

Ahhh.. one last thing.. the surprising roominess of european sports cars reminds me of the Volvo P1800, which is remarkably roomy if memory serves.

[Speedo959]

Hey Mockmaw,
I know exactly what you mean by how the kids love it! I have twin 3 1/2 yr. girls that just can't get enough of it. A big treat for them is to ride with me as I put it in the garage every night. Yeah the color is kinda hit and miss like you say with people. I love it! As far as the room goes it has just as much leg room as my Suburban (I'm telling on myself, I like trucks though, true Visalian, lol) I need to learn self control like you when those kids pull up. As most of you know a stock 1.7 isn't much.

[Mockmaw]

It's really hard to maintain the control, especially when the people trying to race me are my age or older! (yup, I'm a young'un!)

The day I got my car running, I was sitting at the light that's at the base of this hill that's at least 2 miles.. notorious road for racing where I come from. He's revving his engine, so I thought I'd give it a go.. see how well my cheesy driving can get me. Sure enough, I did okay, was neck and neck with him (wow!) until we hit the turns.. he slowed down, I kept on chugging.. going out of the turns for the straight away, I catch a glimpse of impeding danger.. he picks up speed and launches ahead while I slow down and watch the cop on the otherside turn around to go after the Late 90's 240SX I was racing.

It's stuff like that that makes me realize it's just not worth it. A speeding ticket sure would've killed my day! I'm still riding on a perfect record! =o)

[SummerSledSix]

Speedo, green is a well known color for sports cars, and yours appears to be in awesome condition based on that picture! Now if you had some yellow daisy decals plastered on it, you might get some chuckles, though the decorations would be correct for the vintage .

Too bad you are surrounded by such ignorance. Sounds like you're a 4-banger in the cradle of V8 land, and a big guy getting into a small car. This may be amusing to those bone heads that do not realize how space efficient the machine you are getting into is. Just tell them their laugh gives away their ignorance...

[Jim Smolka]

Drop in a 3.2 and stiffen up the suspension. No more chukles. On the track, the one thing really I like is passing RS Americas and Carreras.

Oh and the color is cool

[maf 914]

Speedo,

What's going on in the parking lot in your picture? Besides your very nice green 914, I see two more, or possibly three more (see the windshield corner behind the Chevy Avalanche?) 914s. It's rare to see more than one 914 anywhere unless there is an "event".

Mike

[jenmcd]

Nice car. I like the color...it fits. Out here Ford trucks outnumber people so I get a lot of looks. Got to love the exhaust pipes from all the diesels pointed at your head. I saw a guy about your size driving a Morgan Plus 4. I had to do some serious manipulation to get my 5'-10" frame in to one of those...can't imagine how he got into it. People were laughing at him in the parking lot and I was chuckling too. But I notice something; a huge grin on his face. He didn't care what people thought, just out enjoying the ride.

Keith

[HMeeder]

Hey Kevin Foust,

I thought that might have been you at the San Diego AX on Saturday. That was me with the blown out wheel bearing. Poor sap working on his car while everyone else was having fun. Hope you keep coming out for more events. AS-S Class has some good competition and we drive a lot . Ron Parker (Baby Blue '75 1.8 with the tail) told me that you were going to Irwindale the following day. He says that those guys don't know how to drive--not competitive at all.

Speedo--if you want to see a green 914, Kevin's is even brighter and more colorful than yours! A lighter green with a ton of metal flake. I think he told me a body shop guy or possibly mechanic used to have the car and they did a beautiful one-off paint job. They also custom fabbed a dual exhaust that is too cool.

[rdvnac]

I waited many months to find just the right teener in either yellow or orange. Ended up with Canary Yellow, a color so bright you need sunglasses to look at it, but that's one of the things I love about these cars. Like HMeeder says, the bright '70s colors are part of the fun.

I know somebody who owned several really nice 914s at once, each painted a different bright color. For local PCA events he and a bunch of his friends would drive his little fleet of 914s parade style into the parking lot. As they pulled up, people at the event would yell out "Here come the jellybeans!" ;-)

[sammyg2]

Some of the drivers in the Orange Coast are every bit as competitive and skilled as those in San Diego, they just realize that these events are not the Grand Prix of Monoco, they are fun weekend outings where we try not to knock down cones.

The OCR also caters to first time drivers. They try to teach them to safely handle the cars at speed. Isn't that the real purpose? To teach driving skills, and not to delude the participants that they are real race car drivers?

Lets face it, when I see some of the participants at Jack murphy stadium strutting around in their 3 layer custom fitted nomex with matching gloves, custom painted helmets and driving shoes so they can go out and drive in 2nd gear (sometimes 3rd) in a stock 2 year old boxter or carrera, I have to giggle. I guess they are prepared if one of them cones suddenly explodes.

BTW, I am not knocking the people who put on these events, they always treated me great and deserve many thanks for their efforts. It is just a few of the participants who take the AX and themselves way too seriously. Ego does not make a car go any faster :-)

[Dave at Pelican Parts]

Speedo, don't change a thing! I love that color--and the chromies with baby-moon hubcaps really set it off well! It was good seeing you, even if it was after a lot of people had left.

MAF, there was an event. It was the Don & Glenn swap meet, as announced here several times. For more pics, see: http://www.pelicanparts.com/swapmeet_pics/don-glenn4/Page1.htm

--DD

[JRust]

Hey Speedo sweeeeet ride. Most people just don't realize what we tweeners allready know. These 914's are the nicest 2 seater I've ever driven. I will own one till the day I die. By the way I have twin daughters too. Mine turn 7 this month. Kinda of a bummer they both can't go for a rid at the same time but oh well. Laugh back at them too

[rdvnac]

Sorry to be too off-topic here, but when both Jamie and Speedo mentioned that they had twin daughters too, I had to chime in....

I, too, have twin daughters. In fact, I have two sets of twins, 5 year old girls, and 9 year old girl/boy twins. There is at least one local 914 guy in my town with twin daughters. And we can't forget Mike Z., another 914 guy who, when not firing up the sawzall, is father to twin girls.

Twin trunks = twin daughters? 914 drivers are so manly they are more likely to produce twins? Who knows what the cause is, but *look out* you single guys and newly-marrieds....

[Speedo959]

Speaking of twins, my best friend since I was 5 called three months before we knew and said that his wife was having twins. Guess what! He's a 914 nut too! So here we were both with twins 3 months apart. Not only that my wifes best friend has twins. They look so much alike people have stopped them asking if they are twins. Man this is getting too weird.

[HMeeder]

SammyG...

Didn't mean to disparage Orange, sir. I sometimes forget to turn my social filter on before spewing off at the mouth. Just plain bad manners.

You're right about some of the posers in their high-priced toys. They make me giggle too (there's a couple of guys in 996s that strut around like F1A drivers, chatting on their cell phones with their driving gloves on.) For comfort alone, I wouldn't wear a full suit at an AX. Just too damn hot.

I joined PCA to drive and compete, even if it is only on weekends, and I'm very glad that SDR is so active in that regard. I guess I take pride in it and hope that we continue. The present board is very pro-track time so it's looking good.

Again, any way PCA and the regions can promote the safe and fun operation of these cars, is all good by me. If you can't drive safely, you shouldn't be driving at all.

[Rouser]

I don't know if there's any particular association between having twins and owning a 914, but it's weird that it seems to be cropping up; humm ...

I have four (4) sons, all grown, with a set of twins in the middle. They all inherited (in some form or another) my love of sports (sporty?) cars, even though they lean more to the "rice."

A '90 Miata (twin), a '93 Celica GT (younger), and a '95 Eclipse RS (twin) vie for parking space with my wife's '01 Caravan, after my eldest took his '97 Supra and new wife off to Phoenix, AZ.

Of course, I'm often chuckled-at as I crawl around my 914, with quips frequently hurled my way; stuff like "Dad, you're always dinkin' around with this thing; get something that runs." My standard answer: "Yeah, when I get done paying all you guys' college bills, I'm buying a Boxster!"

Youth; humph ... wasted on the young.

[Joe Bob]

Yup....my first 914 was sitting in the driveway when the wife announced that she was gonna have twins.....they are 8 now.

It's a germ I hear...