Giving Up, Abandoning the project Options

[amfab]

Hi Everyone,

After not touching it for four years, I am reluctantly giving up on my 914-6 project for a variety of reasons: the tub needs too much work, i was dealing with some health issues, I have been wanting to spend more time down in Mexico working on my house there, playing around with my boat etc. I just crossed 60 and it seems there is just not enough time for it all.

In the next few months, I will be selling off the parts I have collected over the years. This will include a 1986 3.2 with a 915, restored chrome bumpers, decent seats and interior bits, fiberglass hoods, repro 914-6 rear calipers, restored alpha brembo fonts, 15 inch Fuchs, stainless headers, oil tank, restoration sheet metals bits, aluminum front cross members, a decent interior, 19mm master cyl. restored gas tank, etc. I also have a lot of 914-4 suspension bits and other parts lying around, front A-arms and a few doors, glass, window trim, gauges, taillights, and lenses—just a ton of little things leven a nice rotisserie with a jig thingy I made. I was collecting for so long I dont even remember what I have.

I have a couple of questions before I start digging stuff out and listing all this stuff and begin selling it off.

1) is there any sort of swap meet in Southern California that I could just trailer a bunch of stuff to anymore? I remember the old Pomona swap meet back in the day. And didn't Bruce stone set up a few swapmeets in the past?

2) I know posting in the classifieds requires pricing and I have been out of the loop for a few years so I will need some assistance with valuation. Where in the forum should I be asking those types of questions?

My main goal is to not make abandoning my project another big project.

Thank you in advance for any ideas, assistance or other comments.

-Andrew

[r_towle]

I would (might) be interested in buying everything at once.

DM me a price, you load it into one of the moving pods I will pay for.
I am East Coast.
Rich

[mgphoto]

Bruce Stone has a get together, don’t know about the Pomona swap meet, used to be good a while ago.

[bdstone914]

I may still have a swap meet this spring. You would limely sell some of the parts but buyers expect good deals at swap meets. I would take up Rich on his offer first.

[burton73]

Sorry to see you bail out, but I think you can find a local guy to take over your vision at the right price. Lots of us in the greater LA area. Or someone close to us. I had not looked at your link for a number of years and you have moved on lots of the items.

The good news is the 3.2 and the 915 have gone up a lot over the last number of years.

What ever you do ask a certain number for all of it with a Best Offer OBO to test the market.

It takes a lot of time to correctly list each part for sale and it would take you a very long time. Just the For Sale OBO none right with links back to the photos is going to take you a bit of work.(A LOT OF WORK( but that is what it is going to take to get the best $$$

Best Bob B


PUT SAD FACE HERE

[bdstone914]

@r_towle

Rich

Just an FYI. I priced the smallest Pod from Chicago to California and it was over $4,000.

[worn]

@r_towle

Rich

Just an FYI. I priced the smallest Pod from Chicago to California and it was over $4,000.

Keeping all that stuff in one package seems like the best idea. Those parts take work to track down and work to sell. I think it will be a great car when it is finished.
Can you realistically move a 914 in a U-Haul box truck?

[Superhawk996]

Quitter (IMG:style_emoticons/default/mad.gif)

Just kidding! Looking back at your thread I remember it from around 2018. You were doing some good work and I really liked your hybrid rotisserie. Time marches on doesn’t it?

Shame to see you bailing but you are wise to do a life assessment. Indeed, there is only so much we can do in this lifetime. Focus on what makes you smile.

I’m sure you’ll find a good home and caretaker for your project. Wish it could be me but I’ve got too many projects and not enough years left and I’m younger than you by a few years. None of us get to pick our best if used by date.

Someone here will come to the rescue and should be a good thing for both parties.

[Superhawk996]

Can you realistically move a 914 in a U-Haul box truck?

Having just used u-haul to move motorcycles and machine tools cross country a few years ago:

A 26’ box truck can easily carry the load.

The problem(s) would be:

Loading height which could be overcome with a loading dock and strong loading ramps
Clearance over the wheel arches / boxes that intrude into the box - could be overcome

IMHO the no go is the complete lack of adequate floor tie downs to restrain the car from moving around in the box.

Far easier to trailer it.

[rick 918-S]

I flew out to LA and purchased a 1959 MGA. Before I left the city the engine started to knock. I rented a U-Haul box truck, found a loading dock I could drive up on, went to Home Depot and bought some 2x12s, a screw gun, screws,2x4s loaded the car in the box truck.i used the 2x4s like chalk blocks, screwed them to the floor and strapped the car to the 2x4s. Long story sort, yes you can get a car in a box truck. Biggest issue is with all the people moving out of California renting a truck there is cost prohibitive.

[JeffBowlsby]

Put the chassis on a rental trailer. The rental cos. Will require a box truck to pull the car trailer, which should be big enough to fit whatever parts need to make the trip.

[ValcoOscar]

Oh Andrew

Must have been a hard decision.
I remember seeing your project first hand.

Here to help if you need anything.

Oscar

[Superhawk996]

Put the chassis on a rental trailer. The rental cos. Will require a box truck to pull the car trailer, which should be big enough to fit whatever parts need to make the trip.

Just a clarification on this

U-haul will rent car trailers without box truck. Just did it in February when I bought and hauled VW bugs.

They do require that the tow vehicle GVW be 80% (or very close to that ) of the weight of car being hauled + trailer weight combo, have appropriate hitch receiver weight weighting. Also have to have working trailer lights (4 pin) which is sort of common sense.

They basically have an online tool that will let you know what they will approve. Enter your tow vehicle details+ what your towing and it will not allow you to select that trailer if the combo isn’t appropriate.

[mepstein]

Put the chassis on a rental trailer. The rental cos. Will require a box truck to pull the car trailer, which should be big enough to fit whatever parts need to make the trip.

Just a clarification on this

U-haul will rent car trailers without box truck. Just did it in February when I bought and hauled VW bugs.

They do require that the tow vehicle GVW be 80% (or very close to that ) of the weight of car being hauled + trailer weight combo, have appropriate hitch receiver weight weighting. Also have to have working trailer lights (4 pin) which is sort of common sense.

They basically have an online tool that will let you know what they will approve. Enter your tow vehicle details+ what your towing and it will not allow you to select that trailer if the combo isn’t appropriate.

(IMG:style_emoticons/default/agree.gif) you need to rent the box truck with Budget and I think Penski but U-Haul will rent just a trailer. Did U-haul many times before I worked at the shop.

[Unobtanium-inc]

Many times it makes more sense to rent the truck and trailer, even if the truck itself is mostly empty on the ride home. Many of the trucks now don't have wood floors you can't screw into so securing the car in the bed of the truck is tough, the side rails are not strong enough to secure the car.
When you book the truck get quotes from all the truck companies, U-Haul, Budget, and Penske, the prices can vary wildly.
Many times I will fly into a far off city, load a truck and head home.

[930cabman]

Put the chassis on a rental trailer. The rental cos. Will require a box truck to pull the car trailer, which should be big enough to fit whatever parts need to make the trip.

Just a clarification on this

U-haul will rent car trailers without box truck. Just did it in February when I bought and hauled VW bugs.

They do require that the tow vehicle GVW be 80% (or very close to that ) of the weight of car being hauled + trailer weight combo, have appropriate hitch receiver weight weighting. Also have to have working trailer lights (4 pin) which is sort of common sense.

They basically have an online tool that will let you know what they will approve. Enter your tow vehicle details+ what your towing and it will not allow you to select that trailer if the combo isn’t appropriate.

+1 with the U haul policy, a box truck is NOT needed. I have hauled home many old hunk of junks (wife talk) with a U Haul car trailer pulled with my F150.

Too bad you are throwing in the towel, but life is life often times.

[Cairo94507]

I am sad to see you are selling this project off- but I get it. Time is a biatch. Just a thought, when we picked up my chassis and the parts that had not disappeared from VA we used a U-Haul box truck and picked the chassis up and set it on 4 tires (no rims) in the back of the truck and secured it the best we could with some straps. Drove it from VA to CA and it never moved. I think it was the 26' truck. We had plenty of room for everything. It was me and the owner of the shop that loaded it by quasi-rolling it on a dolly up the truck ramp and then getting it on the tires. When we off-loaded it at Kent's shop ( (IMG:style_emoticons/default/first.gif) ) he asked a couple guys from neighboring shops to come lend a hand and they picked it up and set it on a dolly. All in all, a no brainer. Good luck with your sale and have a blast in Mexico. (IMG:style_emoticons/default/beerchug.gif)

[campbellcj]

Sorry to hear this as well and best of luck with everything! I can somewhat relate to the situation and if I had more sense I would get rid of a ton of stuff and simplify my life...

I'm sure someone will swoop up your project and carry it forward soon.

Cheers,

[amfab]

This is probably a TLDR for most

It was a difficult decision to give up on this project, but I have come to terms with it. You guys, however, jeese! Being away from 914world for so long I had forgotten what a supportive community it is with so many great people‚ you are making it hard to leave. Rich and Jeff have been unbelievable sources of information over the years, Bob, I still have the door and some other parts you sold me, I hope the projects you were working on have gone well. Oscar you bought my 2.0 and I still have the beautifully chromed bumpers you sold me wrapped up in plastic under the house. You were so kind to introduce me around at the gathering at Pierce College a few years ago. Bruce, I only met you once at your place but the gas tank I bought—and other small parts over the years, like the pedal cluster parts, etc. are so well done. I hope you all are doing well. I keep remembering a post by, I think it was Eric Shea a few years ago about how easy it is to take a car apart but to finish a project and put it all back together is something not everyone can do.

Back to the parts pile. I want everyone reading this to know that I really should have started with a better tub. As we all know how these things go, once you decide to go all the way you just keep uncovering more and more issues. That was my downfall. After the sandblast, I should have gone looking for a better tub. I didn't and went down the rabbit hole of repairing what I had. This is what did me in when other life things got in the way.

To give you the state of the tub now, the rear fenders and rear panel taillight-to-taillight are off the car from the sails down and back. The Restoration Design floor pan has been fitted but waits to be welded on until after the center hump is restored.
The outer lower firewall is tacked in and the upper firewall has been substantially patched. I have a section from another firewall that will make a nice access panel for the center. There is no rust on the car—but that means nothing other than you can clearly see where all the rust was—holes where the rusty stuff was blasted, cut, or ground away. The inner longs have been restored as well as the engine compartment on top of, and up the wall from the hell hole. The longs are patched, reinforced along the bottom, and coated inside up and over the rear suspension but the heater ducts and RD outer clamshells have not been installed, nor has the little box under the front door post (I was trying to work out something clever to support it that will allow the oil lines to go to a cooler) I have the Brad Mayeur Kit that was to go on after the longs were sealed up. I also have just the firewall piece from an Engman kit—with the Brad Mayeur kit I felt the full Engman was overkill. I say all of this to give those thinking this is a chassis that needs a couple of things then it can be assembled a sense of the reality of the situation. I stumbled across a beat-up, but dry 73 with primer all over it a couple of months ago at my mechanic's and seriously considered buying it because it would possibly make the project doable for me—he wouldn't sell. I am saying all of this to let people know that the tub still needs a lot of work. Maybe not as much work for some, as I am a bit of a perfectionist. But if you want something on the road quickly you should probably look for another tub. My goal was to build something 100% filler-free where weld patches were undetectable and a car as light and as stiff as I could from the ground up. A narrow body without the weight of big late-model calipers with all reinforcement down low. Fiberglass hoods up top followed by a long-term low-carb diet for me.

The chassis sits with door braces on a jig I made that attaches at the front and rear suspension points. With all the metal lost and replaced over the years, I was continuously surprised at how close the measurements stayed to factory spec.—I remeasured every time I did substantial welding. The jig I made is mounted to a Titan 4500 rotisserie (that will go with the project) it is in good shape aside from some stains from dripping Ospho or welding sparks. Without too much trouble the chassis on the jig can be removed from the rotisserie. The whole thing however will not fit in a POD, unfortunately. If this was to go any distance a trailer is the best option with it on the rotisserie.

I am actually in a good place mentally giving up on this. Aside from wanting to spend more time in Mexico, I have some foundation issues I need to address in my garage and under my house—exactly the places where all the stacks and boxes of parts from the 914, my 1964 International, and misc extras from my 993 are making any work inaccessible. I am also considering selling my 993 Targa as well as I haven't driven it in three years now. I bought an Audi Q3 and now that I am working remotely, most of my driving is just back and forth to Baja.

As you can see, there are a lot of factors going into giving up on this, but the last straw was visiting my sister two weeks ago and borrowing my brother-in-law’s low-mile 1999 Boxster that he picked up for $13k. While it is definitely not a 914-6, it has the motor right behind the seat and has that non-polar movement balance feel of a 914, and is just underpowered enough to be fun. Most importantly it is cheap, assembled, and running. Too bad I do not like fried eggs.

All of this being said it is going to take me a while just to dig stuff out, catalog, and snap picts. I am heading to Mexico for a month or so next weekend so that will not happen soon. I will start the process a bit this week.

From the responses I have received, I think the sell-the-whole-thing-as-a-project Idea is probably the best route. I will provide more information to those interested in that route. For now though, I will probably not entertain individual parts requests.

Just starting this post and having people respond reminded me that I have the plastic backing for the firewall pad, the oil tank and lines from Ben, the headers are from him too. Also, I sent some 911 struts to Chris at Tangerine to be modified years ago but he never got to them and I never followed up, they may still be there. Honestly, there are some things I may have purchased or may not have—I was racking my brain to remember whether I bought a front adjustable sway bar or was just shopping… I remember I bought a rear one and mounts…

You can see why the whole-thing-as-a-project seems the most attractive right now.
Sorry for the long post I will follow up on a couple of DMs now. Pricing as a whole is hard to determine at this point. I need really need to figure out what 3.2s sell for currently as it will determine the lionshare of the total. I bought the motor six years ago and everyone is telling me 3.2s are quite hard to find these days.
Attached is me shaking the sand out. You can see how its mounted to the rotisserie.

-Andrew  914Shake_copy.mov ( 3.86mb ) Number of downloads: 148
 914Shake_copy.mov ( 3.86mb ) Number of downloads: 148

[technicalninja]

Wow, the TLDR post made me look closer...

The "list of included items" so far looks like a 6-figure car to me finished!

I was expecting the videos to show destruction and they show what looks like a nearly finished major reconstruction.
The post says the rear fenders and taillight sheet metal are off...
Have replacements?

Might be easiest to just make a 5-10 min fresh video of the car and its parts.

I don't have the coin for this project but if I was serious about having a "correctly" updated 6 I'd be very interested in the car.

I'm interested in what the Gurus on here think it's worth...

Looks NICE!