I have been a Porsche enthusiast since the mid 90s. Had a few 914s and converted them to 6s and had fun. Then I wanted a real 914-6 so I could have the genuine article, a car to restore to my own standards. In the mid 2000s you could find a beater 914-6 driver for $15k and a nice "restored" car for $25k. The restored cars back then were only restored within the dollar amount of their value or a slight bit over, these restorations had something to be desired and I thought I could build a better car myself out of a very good solid project car. I ran a classic car dealership in 2006, I looked at hundreds of cars per month for the dealership, snuck in a 914-6 search each day for a year... Then I found this car:
1970 Porsche 914-6, 2.0L, chassis# 914.043.0200, engine# 6404086 (Blue, 72,000 mi, steel wheels, needs work) in Houston, TX. Ph xxxxxxxxxxx Asking $13,000
This car was driven until late 1977 and then stored in my garage and totally neglected since I have been busy with other problems. Unfortunately I have lost the documentation on this car, so I will try to describe its history, but cannot back up many of my statements with tangible evidence.
I bought it used from a Porsche dealer (Holbert in Warminster, PA) in 1972 or early 1973 while I was living in northeastern Maryland. In fall 1973 I moved to Houston, Texas. It was maintained in Houston by the Jimmy Adams shop, which specialized in Porsches and VW's, and I drove it nearly every day. At some point (probably around 1976) the shop owner convinced me that Porsche 6-cyl engines needed a lot of care and would need an overhaul, so probably at about 60K mi (just my guess) the engine was torn down, rings, bearings, etc replaced, but I have no documentation. Adams said the pistons were higher compression than stock. In spring 1977 I was offered a temporary job in Austria, and the car was shipped back to Europe. I got to drive at 90 mph to work on the autobahn for a few months. I have documentation that the clutch was rebuilt by Porsche Wien-Liesing at 68K mi. In the ship on the way back to the U.S. the driver's door was dented. In late 1977 I noticed a lot of rust under the battery and on that side on the exhaust system. Also, the brake master cylinder started to leak. I took various things apart and cleaned and primered the battery area, but at that point (1977-early 1978) I became very busy, my job situation became unstable, and I have not touched the car since except to roll it out, clean a little dirt and put Armor-All on the vinyl last month. It has been in a closed garage but in a very humid climate since the beginning of 1978. I am looking for someone who wants it as-is to refurbish. I have been warned by an engine expert not to try to turn it over because he suspects rust internally.
On the way back from Europe the shipping company sprayed a brown polymeric goo on the outside of the car (esp. chromed parts) which was very hard to remove. In pictures of the car some brown is rust but some is this polymer. Also, the primer I put around the battery area is tan (almost rust) color. A prospective buyer will really have to examine it in person to decide, but I believe that someone can restore the car without major work. The fuel tank has been stored dry on a high shelf in the garage since 1978. In 77-78 the left door liner was removed and stored in preparation for removing the door dent, but this was never attempted. The front hood was removed and stored, but during storage a small patch of severe rust formed on the leading edge of the hood. In 77-78, besides putting primer in the battery area, I removed the exhausts and riveted pieces of galvanized sheet metal over rust holes in the heater boxes. More pictures on request.
Good old Dale said that he figured himself a hot shot when he got his PHD in the early 70s. He celebrated by walking in to Holbert's to buy a Porsche. Without the biggest budget he could not quite get into a 911. Maybe a 912 would work... the salesman took him over to a discounted 914-6 trade in with very low miles. Dale got the car for a great price and the moved to Texas and used the car as his primary driver. He got a job in Austria to work on the design of a power plant behind the iron curtain of the USSR and the 914-6 was shipped there to use as his driver. The power plant was canceled and Dale came back with the car. In 1977 he saw that battery acid had eaten the battery tray, this acid also dripped on the passenger heat exchanger which cause a few small holes. Dale panicked and took the battery out, the heat exchangers off and removed the front hood to get the fuel tank out (afraid of hidden rust down there too). This is the lesson to learn, he removed 3 critical functioning items from the car and ran out of time. The car then sat in his garage from 1977 till 2006 and was really a time capsule of originality.
The car sat on Pelican classifieds for a while and I made an offer, Dale accepted $9k for it and I flew out to see the car in person. Dale met me at the airport with a sign that simply read "914-6". He was a geeky scientist looking guy and not someone you would guess was a Porsche owner. I interviewed him about the car in the car ride and he was fascinated why I would want to know all this about his old car. The car sat in his single car enclosed garage, it was like a barn find pulling it out, unfortunately the front hood was rusted because he put it in a corner low spot that flooded every once and while. The heat exchanger had some slight rust but they were an easy repair. The rest of the car was complete, untouched, and 100% original. The full tool kit was there, owners manual, and some of the records. The battery tray was rusted through but none of the rust passed into the frame area and the rest of the body was rust free. I pulled out $9k in cash, Dale and his wife almost fell over, he was shaking as he counted the money inside his house. This was obviously a big sale for him and I assured him the car was in good hands and off I went. $700 to ship to my place in California.
Then I went down a rabbit hole and thought I would triple my efforts into used Porsche sales and opened a restoration shop using a name I had created in 2000.... http://www.VintageExcellence.com
I had purchased a project 911S and this 914-6 as projects that I could tuck away and restore once production was up and running in the restoration shop. My dream of owning a perfect 914-6 and early 911S was on its way. I started the grab for NOS parts for my cars. These cars had to be perfect, I would use my knowledge from trolling VW & Porsche swap meets starting in 1994, expertise from a Porsche parts sales business started in 1997 thousands of parts sold and dozens of parted out 914/912/911s later, I worked for a shop called Oest Enterprises in Torrance for Dieter R. Oest restoring old Porsches and dealing with Dieters massive used parts inventory - Dieter was a former Vasek Polack 935 crew chief and a long time racer. I had worked for a kooky character named Bill Higgins who advertised out of the paper Auto Trader for many years selling classic Porsche parts - there I parted out cars and watched Bill flip a bunch of wrecks, I could not stand the junk car sales so I went out on my own at that point. I put myself through college via the Porsche parts and car sales business and learned plenty by the time I got my degree. I bought a suit and was interviewing for all these silly corporate jobs and I didn't like it so I took a few months off. Then through a friend I got the job at the dealership Cardiff Classics as the General Manager which brings us back to the beginning of the story.
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Since my job was now a career I had to put the 914-6 away just for a few months while I got the old 2 car garage ready to restore the 914-6. So I took the fence out and hid the car in the back yard so the city would not complain about non running cars in the driveway.
I'll put the 1970 911S back there too. It will only be there for 6 months or 1 year tops!
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Very Cool. I had a 70 s and it was very impressive. Your 6 is close to my 6 #41.
Engen number is 70 from mine.
Bob B
That's the same color as mine.
Congrats, but I hate the fact that you stole it from Texas.
Great read !
Cars outside in the backyard? Whoa....
Nice story and I love Adriatic Blue. I hope the car is restored and returned to the road soon. Good luck.
I am working away on this car, so much that I barely have time to post much. Here are some pictures of the car stripped. Time for a nice paint job. It was nice to start with a body in this condition. More later.
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Cool picture of the body parts. Keep up the good work.
When I bought this car I figured I would turn it into a GT. I saw a flared 6 driving around my town when I was a teenager so I really wanted that look. I was going to do steel GT flares, a 2.8L short stroke MFI engine good for 300hp and 930 brakes. One of my clients owned the Lufthansa 914-6GT back when I bought this car which kinda inspired me and I was on the fence of turning it into a full replica or a street GT version. I met Armando years ago, contributed to his amazing site and wanted to do something at least half as good as his car is to be. Eric Shea and Andy Thonet built some very cool GT cars. Hard to keep up with those types of builds when this is your side project and not your number 1 car. I got heavily into early 911S cars which is my number one passion but still this 914-6 has been on my mind for a decade so I have some decent ideas.
In case you have not paid attention to the dates it has been well over 12 years since I bought the car and the supply of 914-6 restoration projects has really dried up. My restoration business got in the way of restoring this car but that can be a good thing as nothing detrimental was ever done. Most of my daily work is bringing cars back to their original condition, not building race car replicas. It makes sense to build this car authentic and as an original condition show car, but with the proper drivetrain.
So the plan was changed to a factory looking car with all original parts. Except that lousy drivetrain that they put in this car.... because of all kinds of politics the 914-6 was doomed before it hit the shelves. The car bodies cost much more that Porsche anticipated due to management changes at VW raising the price. Then in a marketing management type thought process Porsche installed the previous years engine so that is would be slower than the more expensive 1970 911T - the worst 6cyl they ever built from the 69 911T went into every 914-6. These low horsepower engines are no fun, they were intentionally dumbed down, to bring the entry level price of the cars down and as an engine builder I can think of a dozen better configurations that should have gone in these cars. My overall goal for the car is the 914-6 that should have been built without regard to the 911 model, using factory parts from other cars, a 914-6S if you will. S brakes, front/rear swaybars, and some type of very cool engine. The entire car will look stock, no aftermarket junk or reproductions, no mods that the factory could not have done, and the beauty of the 6cylinder appearance is that it can look the same wether it is a 110hp 69T or a 190hp S config as long as you stick to carburetors.
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Paint code samples. Bumpers are back from chrome, finally got to pull out my NOS front and rear bumper tops. I knew at some point they would become NLA, 12 years ago availability was getting spotty.
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Nice to see you working on the car!
Great looking bumpers....
Nice to see you working on the car!
Great looking bumpers....
Where was this car when I came down to your shop?
I'll bet the 914-6 rear badge I bought came from this car.....<
Nice looking bumpers.
When I did the work on the Orange car I doubled up on the caliper restoration, well quadrupled up. The rear calipers were involved and took some time to get right. Here are the calipers - I am putting 70S front alloy calipers and the stock 914-6 which is a great combo I think, throw in some spacers to add vented rear discs.
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Mark, you nailed the setup of #162. We are having a blast together! I'm sure the blue car will be equally impressive.
I made a number of changes to the suspension and brakes that were needed.
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What paint (brand/type) did you use on the car? Glasuirt? Single stage? Looks great!
MB
Great restoration.
Love the color.
What are you doing engine wise?
John
If Mark is doing it, it IS going to be Excellent!!!
Looking beautiful.
WOW, nice rescue. This car is going to be epic !
I wish this forum had better permissions to post pictures I have a ton of pictures but I have to resize them to post on here.
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Going to be bad to the bone
Great color and awesome build.
FYI, the front cross-member pictured above is from a 4. The torsion bar adjustment housing on the 6 is more square, while the 4 is more or less oval as pictured above. It wouldn't matter to me, but I thought I would let you know.
The crossmember thing is a little confusing. Logic says that since 6’s were assembled by Porsche, the parts shouldn’t have the odd VW part mixed in. Reality says that some of the 6’s have the VW crossmember and original and/or long term owners say they are original to the car.
Thanks for covering the front cross member. I have stated many times they used what was on the shelf with no regard to what would be considered original.
Doesn’t really matter what crossmember as it all works the same. On the suspension it was bone stock and never altered on this car. So I yanked the Boge front struts and T calipers, put Original 911 Konis with rebuilt inserts, alloy S calipers with good brake pads. The rear is the stock Koni shocks rebuilt, stock 914-6 springs which are at least 1mm thicker than another 4cyl set I have. Rear brakes are original-6 with 911 spacers and vented discs so we have the same brake clamping power as a 911S. Added sawybars, a very special 16mm front sway bar from the Racing department (not a 15mm) and a stock 15mm rear 914 swaybar. So the suspension/brakes are the same as a 1970 911S I have sitting next to the 914 now.
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I notice you aren't using Carrera chain tensioners. My car doesn't have them either, but what are your thoughts here?
Collars?
subscribed to watch a beautiful six come together.
Your car #200 is really nice. You are doing a super job on it. The front brakes are the same as mine on #41 and each element of the car is being done to a very high level. You should be very proud of the job that you are doing on it. California knows how to rock.
I think we have more that 10% of the 914s sold.
Best to you Bob B
Following this nice build..
I remember 914s on the road everywhere when I was a kid. When I graduated high school in 94 I saw the best you could find 73 914 2.0 in signal orange for $5,000 and thought someday I will get one. All the parts were still available but no one would pay $600 for an NOS dash or a pair of chrome bumpers. Flash forward 20 something years and I have this car that I stashed away many years ago and I am finally building it.
My professional work is sales and restorations of 911s. It is fun to switch gears and put together a 914-6 with all the best parts and to the same level as the 911S cars I build. This is my once in a lifetime 914 build. By the way I have had over 10 years to gather parts. The parts that count are original and these days it seems you can’t find near as much as you used to. Unfortunately the nature of the parts - they are flimsy and get damaged in the sun, I used to see these cars stored on the side of houses in Southern California all the time - all the interior parts and rubber rotted out.
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I also remember going to Ecology Auto Wrecking in the late 90s to pull good parts for cheap prices. They always had 4-8 914s in there. So many 914s were thrown away because the reliability. You saw complete 2.0 cars dumped in the junkyard with cobwebs on it, nothing else wrong, but once in the yard they were trashed.
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This trunk although much simpler than a 911 was still difficult to get right. The flaps in the defrost flappers were broken, took a while to find some replacement parts but it’s all original and working now. The fuel tank goes in next.
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Time for fuel, wait engine goes in first.
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This is going to be one Top Gun six !
Agreed on the trunk space. It's an area most people look and say, 'Yeah, so what, a trunk.' But when it's as nice as yours is going to be (already is!) it'll stand out that much more.
Have you resolved what to do about the tar goo that goes atop the shock towers or are you going to leave it nice and shiny?
Either way, love the build and especially the color. Subscribed!
AHudson raises a great point. What are you going to do with the shock towers? I have decided to leave mine clean which I am sure will cause some consternation amongst the ranks.
Looks fantastic. I just a few months away from doing all this myself and quite excited about it too.
Not sure on the goo on top of the shocks. It wouldn’t go on until after the car is well dialed in. It’s gross so might not do it. They just lathered it on with a brush so it is a bit chaotic and you need hot tar to do it right.
Engine is together after much fussing of little parts.
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Wow that looks great, Mark!!!
I'll bet the 914-6 rear emblem I bought from you is off of this car?
Nice build! Your work is excellent!
Glad I put away a nice roll bar pad a number of years ago
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AB. The color of my first 914 when I was 16. Love it!
Great work.
Starting to open its sleepy eyes. Engine is in for the first time in 10 years.
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Money shot
Still having many issues, 911 rotors are rubbing ever so slightly on the spaced calipers. Got a number of tasks to figure out before we drive this car 400 miles up to Rennsport.
Wish me luck.
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Any updates for 2019?
I think he might have sold it.
He mentions he sold car in a for sale ad.
Good Afternoon,
I bought #200 from Mark (Vintage Excellence) back in 2014 for him to restore. I've been lucky enough to have Mark do work on a couple of cars since I bought a early 911 front wing & a '67S engine from him in 2005.
I only had to wait 33 years to find the right 914-6...
#200 (Bleue) is back East & is currently under the care of Peter @ Dawes Motorsports, to address an issue with the rings (fail). Which BTW has absolutely nothing to do with the rebuild or Mark's work. Peter & Tony @ Dawes were very complementary of the attention to detail, quantity of Marks restoration and the engine rebuild. & when my 'D' finishes @ Uni, I'll be back on Marks doorstep for a 912, to round out my 'unloved' Porsche collection (912, 914-6 & 931).
Gettysburg
Summit Point PCA Experience
First Baby Picture courtesy of Safespeed in MoCo
Very nice!
I'll add some additional pictures when I'm able.
As found...
Thanks for the reply and Congratulations on getting such a nicely rebuilt 914-6. A few questions for you:
1. Did you ever get the motor dynoed so that you documented power, torque curve and operating characteristics? What do you think of how the motor drove?
2. How were the 40IDA carbs set up?
3. What exactly happened to the failed ring and which cylinder? Oil problem?
4. Any other pictures of the restoration work after late 2018?
5. How do you fell the upgraded brakes work?
6. Did you also go with the Mahle Gas Burner wheels? He seems to like those on his restorations.
Please pardon the delay...the duties of King & Country take me away from time to time..
1. Did you ever get the motor dynoed so that you documented power, torque curve and operating characteristics? What do you think of how the motor drove?
A: Not this time, but we will have one after this rebuild. Peter (Dawes) will break in the engine and tune their Dyno.
2. How were the 40IDA carbs set up?
Displacement 2381.23cc (87.5x66mm), CAM DC30
V: 32
M: 135-140
E: F26-F1
A/C; 180
I: 55
3. What exactly happened to the failed ring and which cylinder? Oil problem?
IDK; Wasn't a 'ring' failure, it was the "rings', appears to be the piston/cylinder (s). I do not have the measurements on the P&C, but everything points in that direction.
4. Any other pictures of the restoration work after late 2018?
yes, I have picture of every phase & nearly aspect. What are you specifically looking for? Something from freshly painted tub to final assembly?
5. How do you Feel the upgraded brakes work?
Having only driven a 914-4, to compare I'd have to use my time with early 911's. Less prone to fading than '67S (long gone) with a better feel than the '72T. The '67S was nearly the same weight and set-up based on the same requirements, but the 914 has a longer wheel base & a bit better weight distribution than a SWB. I run the same loops I've used in the Catskills, Poconos, and Finger lakes, for years.
6. Did you also go with the Mahle Gas Burner wheels? He seems to like those on his restorations.
Yes, I have the gas Burners they really suit the car well. I also have a set of 14x5.5 Fuchs restored by Harvey which will get some XAS or N36 this spring. & I have the orignal Steel rims. I have though about trying a set of early Flat '6s (7/71) from the '72 911, but I'd prefer deep 6's if I put the 15" fuchs on. My only concern with the gas burner is the roads I travel are not kind to any rim, and I really cringe with the magnesium rims.
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