(Bob) Humphrey’s VW Porsche-Audi dealership, Washington State, Location and performance modifications they did? Options

[Rufus]

Been doing some digging on the history of my car. Seems it was sold new at “Humphrey’s”.

I’ve been told by credible sources there was Humphrey’s VW Porsche-Audi dealer in Everett, Washington. But another credible source has told me Humphrey’s was a VW Porsche dealer in Bellingham, Washington.

The only Humphrey Porsche dealer I find listed both in Jeff Bowlsby’s thread:

http://www.914world.com/bbs2/index.php?sho...amp;hl=Humphrey

and in an Early911SRegistry thread of 1969 Porsche dealers:

https://www.early911sregistry.org/forums/sh...-Dealers-(1969)

is Humphrey VW Porsche in Hayward, CA..

Can someone please clear up my confusion? I have no local knowledge of that area of the country.

I also understand Humphrey’s was somewhat active in doing 914/6 performance mods and / or selling performance modified 914/6’s during that era. Any insight on this is also welcome.

Thanks guys.

[914sgofast2]

Humphrey VW in Hayward, California, was in my hometown. It started out just selling VWs. Then it added another side to its showroom and started selling Porsches and then Audi's.in the late 1960's/early 1970's. I don't think they ever sold the Porsche 356 models, but they definitely sold the 911's, 912's and 914's. Hayward is in the San Francisco Bay Area.

[Cairo94507]

Wow! I was unaware Humphrey's in Hayward sold Porsches. I know they sold VW's, bought a Super Beetle from them. I know Ely Porsche in Hayward, right on Mission Blvd. sold Porsches as I bought my '73 914 2.0 from them brand new. Odd they would have to dealerships in one area. (IMG:style_emoticons/default/beerchug.gif)

[sixnotfour]

Yup, Bob Humprey had a few 914-6s,,,,, was fun to see em all being built there ...78-80s .. Is yours the one with the trunk cutout for cis ?
Humphreys was Everrett WA , his Finacial Guy Roger Jobs , opened a Porsche dealership in Bellingham Wa.

[Rufus]

Yup, Bob Humprey had a few 914-6s,,,,, was fun to see em all being built there ...78-80s .. Is yours the one with the trunk cutout for cis ?
Humphreys was Everrett WA , his Finacial Guy Roger Jobs , opened a Porsche dealership in Bellingham Wa.

Thanks for chiming in, @sixnotfour .

Yep, mine had a cutout trunk panel. The PO to me had the bulkhead filled in using a donor panel. Just spoke at length last night with Jay H., the 3rd prior owner to me. What he described matches what you remember very closely @sixnotfour . My 9140431482 had a stock 2.7L possibly with CIS, in 1993 when Jay owned it. His memory wasn’t clear if the car had a cutout or not; he just said it could have. The next owner then swapped to the 2.7L RS engine (but w/Webers) that’s still in it today. The combination of things you recall and what Jay passed along, makes very likely ‘1482’s the car you saw at Humphrey’s back in the day. Super cool!

So Bob Humphrey owned the dealership in Everett? Was the dealership’s name “Humphrey’s”? Seems odd it doesn’t show in sources I mentioned. Any idea why? Maybe the dealership name was something other than Humphrey’s?

Was it that Humphrey’s closed, and then Roger opened the dealership in Bellingham? Maybe I’m slowly catching on …

Did Bob Humphrey own a number of 914/6’s himself? Or the dealership just did some swaps and other tweeks for customers? Any idea if this was a formal offering to customers, or just happened because of customer demand? Any idea how many may have received this treatment? Can’t help but wonder about others that may still be around today… what engines, etc they got. Wondering about other on 914World whose cars were originally sold through Humphrey’s, or been serviced there in the late ‘70’s - early ‘80’s.

I spoke to Roger about a year ago. IIRC he mentioned there were a few such cars that may have rec’d different size engines, and he has one with a 3.2L.

[sixnotfour]

they where Bobs Project 914s ,, yours another orange one and a black Flared 6, and an ex racer/ autocross Flared 6 , that a mechanic that worked there ended up with.. I believe it was vw /audi and then added porsche as a dealer.. in the end I think it was bayside for a short period..

[Rufus]

So four cars, total?

I’m still puzzled about the dealership name at the time (late ‘70’s - early ‘80’s) in Everett. Do you recall? Or the location? Street name, or?

Trying to figure out if the location of the 1980+/- dealership might have morphed into one of the current Everett Porsche dealerships, or if Roger took the franchise with him to open his Bellingham dealership.

[sixnotfour]

(IMG:style_emoticons/default/beer3.gif)

[Rufus]

Awesome! Great info @sixnotfour . Thanks!

So there must be more to your story; … how you first became aware of the group of 914/6’s, found out who they belonged to, learned what Bob was doing with them, some of the work you saw in progress, who you talked to, did you visit just to see what was going on, aside from the obvious (color, narrow vs wide body) were they all similar or did some have distinctive features, stuff like that. Curious where they are today.

Please share what you recall. It’s a cool story (IMG:style_emoticons/default/popcorn[1].gif)


P.S. Sixnotfour, regarding the CIS vs carb question on my car. Years elapsed between ‘78-‘80’s when you recall seeing it at Humphrey’s, and ‘91+/- when Jay H. bought it with a carbed 2.7L (based on what Jay and the 2nd owner prior to me have reported). In that time someone could easily have replaced the CIS with carbs.

[Rufus]

And IIRC about my chat with Roger last year, he may have your old car

[sixnotfour]

I had bought a 914-6 and needed parts, closets dealer,, I was 18 and there pretty regularly..

[bossboy302]

Long ago I worked at Mozart Porsche/Audi in Palo Alto, Ca. That was right when the VW dealers were able to add P and A. I began picking up parts and sometimes did 'courtesy' drop-offs to other area dealers, including Humphrey in Hayward. Good store.
A fun 1.5 years.

[Rufus]

Thanks Sixnotfour.

Who knows, maybe other owners of Bob Humphrey’s 914/6’s will show up on the World in the future.

[Rufus]

@sixnotfour Quoting you from the 2020 thread advertising 9140431482 for sale:
“Didnt Bob H. buy it back, ?”

Can you please elaborate on this? Was mine the only one with the trunk cutout and CIS? Do you recall ever seeing it with roundels / numbers? Did it reappear after being absent? Whatever became of Bob Humphrey?

Sorry to ask so many questions. Trying to piece together the backstory using bits of info from numerous sources …

Your help is greatly appreciated