Your story brought back a flood of memories for me, being a teenaged gearhead in the '70s. I am 4 years younger but I bought a '73 914 2.0 in 1976, when I was 16. I got a loan from my dad, I'd done something to please him, (which was rare), and caught him in a generous mood. You must have really had your act together at 19 to swing that.
I had already owned a 1971 914 1.8, bought for $500 with some body damage and rust from one of my neighbors, Dave Durenberger, who went on to become our U.S. Senator for a while until he left office in disgrace over some campaign finance scandal. That car had an interesting history of its own. But I digress...
My next door neighbor, exactly your age and a good friend, was on this legendary HS football team that won the Minnesota state championship. He had a lot of cool friends and actually let me attend his huge keg parties when his parents were out of town, even though I was his 8th grade neighbor. Just imagine "Dazed and Confused", down to the hot Scandinavian nymphets in bell bottoms, bong hits with the big dudes, the whole football team + the rest of the school in one house, etc...
One of his best friends and team mates was this guy named Kim Edwards, a big black kid from the champion team who went on to play college ball if not mistaken. He had his act together for a teenager and he owned a brand new 1974 914 1.8 in lime green with the Appearance Package and 914 Fuchs, god was it beautiful...I envied it as much as any muscle car at the time.
Thanks to the wonders of the internet, and FB specifically, I recently re-connected with my neighbor and good friend who now live in Olympia, WA. I had to check his friend list for familiar names and sure enough, there was Kim Edwards. Amazing memories for me and thank you so much for sharing your 914 story!