914, then and now

[Jim Smolka]

A while ago, there was a post on "what do you have" or something like that.

What about a thread on what 914s have you had and what 914s do you have now. Basically a history of 914 ownership.

This is my story...

1982
'70 914. My first one (I was only 19.
I was in the Navy and I loved that car...
I got it to run ok and then it BBQ in North Chicago.


1982-85
'70 914 that I rescued from the junk yard. It had Fiberglass flairs and a huge rear tail. Just needed to fix the left front suspesion and fender. Took the suspension from the BBQ 914. Put the fender back on and had it painted. I drove the car to a couple of spring breaks at Daytona when I was stationed in Orlando. I had a lot of fun in that car. Then, it died a terrible death on the interstate as the traffic stopped, I stopped, but the man behind me used my 914 as a braking device. Unfortunately, this time could not escape the junkyard man.

1983
'71 914. Bought it from my brother. Needed the engine. Sold it as a roller.

1990-1992.
'75 914. A fixer uppper that never happened. Sold it to go back to school

1998-9
'74 parts car, got the parts I needed and sold to a guy in TN

2000
'73 914 I was going to fixup, but had to sell it. Too many projects

The 914 I have now:

1998-Present
'75 914 orginally a 1.8, then 2.0 now 3.0

The lapses in 914 ownership occurred when I used the insurance settlement from the flaired 914 to buy a '73 911 (85-92)(I sold that too to go to school).

The other lapse occurred when I was a broke undergrad and grad student (92 to 97).



------------------
Smoke Daddy

[Dave Bell]

1999
My first 914... a White 75 1.8 flintstone mobile... definately needed some new metal on the floors. Purchased for only $500 from a local VW dealer... no title.... a trip to DMV for a temporary title and new battery and I drove it up over 5000 ft to Mount Wilson...ran pretty good. Drove it with big holes in the floor to 914 swaps while it was under repair. Since then I obtained a real title to the car and need only a stereo, a new windshield, minor body work and paint job to make it a reasonable finished product... it is the daily driver

August 2000
Picked up a red 73 1.7L with 911 front end parts and brakes and 5-bolt hubs. Just now getting around to tinkering on this one... would like to put a turbo in it.

August 2000
Picked up a yellow 73 roller for free. Someone moving out of state. A few weeks later and many Sawzall blades later it was totally disassembled into a heap.... A great education and lots of good parts.

- Dave Bell

[914Hugh]

I bought a 1976 2.0 when I turned 16 in 1989 (I was nervous that I was being taken on the deal bc I got the car for 4k with 50,000 miles on it! Nevertheless, it is only in the last year that I have had to start thinking about a rebuild.)

With the exception of driving a Jeep cross country while in college, it is the only car I have ever had as a daily driver (Sold the Jeep shortly after graduation). There arent many things like this that I got right the first time!

[CoolTool]

Well, why not ..... Just got my first 914 a couple of months ago! It is a 73 1.7L that was originally white, but is "Krylon" red now. In the process of a rebuild right now.

[racejoe]

Sure, I'll chime in. I am currently on my first 914, although my father had a new 72 that he drove for 6 years until it was just too rusted. My 914 I purchased in 97. A "rust free" california 914 belonging to my uncle. It had been parked for 3 years and hadn't run real great before that. After a year of coxing by my uncle I decided to buy it from him. After a few trips out there to whip the car into shape, my wife and I and all our stuff, camping gear, tools and spare parts drove the car from Sutter Creek, California (south of Sacramento) to Akron, Ohio near Cleveland. The car ran great other than the fuel pump pitched in Sidney, Nebraska and the fuse in the booster circuit for the starter blew forcing us to push start the car for a few days. Anyhow the car is currently under rust-oration to get rid of all the rust it didn't have. That is nearly complete and the restoration will begin.

[rookie]

I bought my first 914 after getting my first teaching job in 1976. It was a 75 silver 2.0. The silver didn't hold up very well, so the third paint job was to white. It was a daily driver for 13 years (80 miles round-trip to work).I sold the 914 and bought a TransAm. Why? Because I needed air conditioning. I mourned that car for 9 years. I spent 6 months trying to find one that would run and was not a rust bucket. I won't tell you how many pieces of junk, men tried to sell me because they thought I was an ignorant women. I finally found my 74 1.8 at a PCA event. I called the guy every week for 3 months. He eventually agreed to sell the car, to get rid of me I'm sure. I had the engine rebuilt, updated the linkage,put good shoes on it, and painted the top, rocker panels, bumpers a mirror shiny black. The other paint is good. This one is not as fast as the 75, but it sure looks great. Drove a 914-6 and decided this 1.8 wasn't that slow.Happy motoring from Tennessee.

[S Schroeder]

Here's my saga...
In 1977 (I was 8) my Dad purchased a 20k mile light orange 914-6. It was in perfect condition. He drove it daily from Villa Park, CA to his office in LA. That car was never dirty - very well taken care of. Many great memories - many revolving around singing "Benny and the Jets" along with the killer 8 track player. He sold it in '82 as we were moving to Colorado and he deemed it unpractical. The business associate that he sold it to totaled it in less than a two weeks (we mistakenly got the insurance papers). The car was still in pristine condition. I always loved 914's, looked at a few through my early driving years and thank the high heavens that I could never pull the deals together. I new nothing about what to look out for and surely would have ended up with a basket case. Fast forward to '92 - married, house, job all that junk. I was living pretty high up in the foothills and driving an ABT prepped VW GTI that I had autocrossed all through college. It was giving me problems in the snow so I went down to look for a cheaper used SUV to drive on bad days - I was not willing to sell the GTI - loved that car. Ummm... I came home with a rust free(ok, ok - very small amount) '72 914 instead - and some *****en studded snow tires for the GTI. 8 years later - no more GTI (got a great truck)the 914 has two concours class wins (and a great sounding 8 track player...)no more wife, and pure and total happiness. You gotta have priorities!!!
Scott Schroeder
(here are my kids...)
'72 914
'72 911S
'52 MGTD
'66 GT 350
and one really great little red truck!

[mejulihn]

My wife and I purchased our first 914 in 1980, a '73 sunflower yellow 1.7 liter. We called it "Squish", a name she dubbed it because my wife frequently drove places with our two young daughters. The name turned out to be prophetic when a delivery truck with bad brakes plowed into the rear end, totaling the car. In 1992 I purchased an ivory '74 2.0 which I needed for a job transition. "Rolling Thunder" (it needed a new muffler) was my daily driver for a year but was sold to help finance a daughter's first year of college. In 1998 we purchased our current 914, a gorgeous '76 2.0 teener with nepal orange paint we call "Julius" (as in "orange julius... shaken not stirred").

[This message has been edited by mejulihn (edited 10-21-2000).]

[rich]

Hey All,
I thought I'd just post a link to the story of my 914 on my web site rather than take up a bunch of space here. Most of you probably know about my 914 (918-S)If it wasn't for the encougagement from all of you, I probably wouldn't have attempted the V8 conversion and just went back to Big Block Chevies.(not!) Bear in mind that the contents of my story page are purely my oppiion.
Enjoy, http://www.d.umn.edu/~jrichar4/story.htm

[hutchwe]

I feel slighly inadequate, because I've had only two... I bought my 1st new 914 in Miami in July of 1971. Green, 1.7, 12 miles on the odometer. I had it two weeks and went into the Navy. Let my dad take care of it for me. Got back 12 weeks later... car had 4000 miles on it. He said he only drove it for me to break it in. I kept the car for 7 years, put 180,000 miles on it and sold it to a Navy officer for $4,500. (Slept with it and waxed it every week) Just about $1,000 more than I paid for it. I did nothing to the car except normal maintenance. No major repairs. I now have a White 73 with I think, about 120K miles converted from a 1.7 to a 2.1 with dual webers. I am reliving old memories... what a blast.

Hutchwe

[hutchwe]

I feel slighly inadequate, because I've had only two... I bought my 1st new 914 in Miami in July of 1971. Green, 1.7, 12 miles on the odometer. I had it two weeks and went into the Navy. Let my dad take care of it for me. Got back 12 weeks later... car had 4000 miles on it. He said he only drove it for me to break it in. I kept the car for 7 years, put 180,000 miles on it and sold it to a Navy officer for $4,500. (Slept with it and waxed it every week) Just about $1,000 more than I paid for it. I did nothing to the car except normal maintenance. No major repairs. I now have a White 73 with I think, about 120K miles converted from a 1.7 to a 2.1 with dual webers. I am reliving old memories... what a blast.

Hutchwe

[hutchwe]

I feel slighly inadequate, because I've had only two... I bought my 1st new 914 in Miami in July of 1971. Green, 1.7, 12 miles on the odometer. I had it two weeks and went into the Navy. Let my dad take care of it for me. Got back 12 weeks later... car had 4000 miles on it. He said he only drove it for me to break it in. I kept the car for 7 years, put 180,000 miles on it and sold it to a Navy officer for $4,500. (Slept with it and waxed it every week) Just about $1,000 more than I paid for it. I did nothing to the car except normal maintenance. No major repairs. I now have a White 73 with I think, about 120K miles converted from a 1.7 to a 2.1 with dual webers. I am reliving old memories... what a blast.

Hutchwe

[hutchwe]

I feel slighly inadequate, because I've had only two... I bought my 1st new 914 in Miami in July of 1971. Green, 1.7, 12 miles on the odometer. I had it two weeks and went into the Navy. Let my dad take care of it for me. Got back 12 weeks later... car had 4000 miles on it. He said he only drove it for me to break it in. I kept the car for 7 years, put 180,000 miles on it and sold it to a Navy officer for $4,500. (Slept with it and waxed it every week) Just about $1,000 more than I paid for it. I did nothing to the car except normal maintenance. No major repairs. I now have a White 73 with I think, about 120K miles converted from a 1.7 to a 2.1 with dual webers. I am reliving old memories... what a blast.

Hutchwe

[hutchwe]

I feel slighly inadequate, because I've had only two... I bought my 1st new 914 in Miami in July of 1971. Green, 1.7, 12 miles on the odometer. I had it two weeks and went into the Navy. Let my dad take care of it for me. Got back 12 weeks later... car had 4000 miles on it. He said he only drove it for me to break it in. I kept the car for 7 years, put 180,000 miles on it and sold it to a Navy officer for $4,500. (Slept with it and waxed it every week) Just about $1,000 more than I paid for it. I did nothing to the car except normal maintenance. No major repairs. I now have a White 73 with I think, about 120K miles converted from a 1.7 to a 2.1 with dual webers. I am reliving old memories... what a blast.

Hutchwe

[hutchwe]

I feel slighly inadequate, because I've had only two... I bought my 1st new 914 in Miami in July of 1971. Green, 1.7, 12 miles on the odometer. I had it two weeks and went into the Navy. Let my dad take care of it for me. Got back 12 weeks later... car had 4000 miles on it. He said he only drove it for me to break it in. I kept the car for 7 years, put 180,000 miles on it and sold it to a Navy officer for $4,500. (Slept with it and waxed it every week) Just about $1,000 more than I paid for it. I did nothing to the car except normal maintenance. No major repairs. I now have a White 73 with I think, about 120K miles converted from a 1.7 to a 2.1 with dual webers. I am reliving old memories... what a blast.

Hutchwe

[Pritchard]

I like telling this story. I bought my one and only 914 from an aquaintance back in '92. She asked me if I wanted to buy her old Porsche for $500. I almost bought it sight unseen. Anyway, after I saw the rust and yellow car under a tree in her parent's front yard, I bought it anyway and had it transported back to my house.

I knew absolutely nothing about this car when I started working on it. If I had only known then what I know now!! To make a long and fun story shorter, I reconnected the positive wire on the coil and it cranked (scared me half to death because the monza exhaust had rusted out) right up. Some silver paint and a few thousand dollars later, I'm still driving it around. It is not my daily driver, but it still sees its fair share of road time.

Pritchard

[Robert Helt]

Ok-my turn... I bought a 76-914 in January of 2000 for my 16 year old Son, James. His first car! Remember, every kids first car should be a Porsche
It has started World War III in our household, because he is learning to drive, and I am paying to get it restored between crashes, girlfriends and beach blanket bingo!!
I gotta say, this is really a fun adventure. I call buying a Porsche for your Kid a vist to Disneylands, Mr. Toads Wild Ride!!!

[hutchwe]

Sorry about the multiple quotes. My computer went braindead.

hutchwe

[LHAYES]

Long saga, short story...Bought my 914 new in '70, drove it six years and sold it to a fraternity brother. Came across it rotting away in a back yard 9 years later. Bought it back, still have it. It's survived four moves, two dogs, one wife, and a whole slug of other vehicles.

[usd jd01]

Well, I too will tell my tale. I got my 1st '74 914 2L at the age of 19 (about 1988), thinking that after the 4 or 5 VW bugs I had had I was moving up in the world. The car was originally yellow, but someone had painted it an ugly brown by the time I got it; it had an A/C unit (didn't work) and was pretty good at attracting the girls. It was my daily driver and lasted at least 1 1/2 years, until the engine blew. I took it to a shop to have it diagnosed, and being a poor student, didn't have the money to fix it (I ended up just giving it to the shop -- what a mistake!)
After helping my father restore his '61 356, and once again finding myself a student again (Law school), I figured, "Why be practical, get another 914." So, in May 2000, I traded my '90 Toyota 4Runner to a shop in exchange for a '70 914 2.6L big-bore that had sat in its lot for the past 10 years (I also got some cash.) The car had only 200 miles on the engine, 911 brakes, racing suspension, steel brake lines, etc. I have since started on the needed bodywork, added 16" Boxster rims, CD 4-speaker stereo system, Dino steering wheel, etc. I am planning on painting it Tangerine again, and am slowly working on re-doing the interior.
This is one fast, fun car to drive! One of the best decisions I’ve made.

Ty Carss, San Diego, CA