Having a weak moment, Looking into the possibility of selling... Options

['73-914kid]

Well, lately the 914 and I have not been getting along so well.......

When I was driving my car to and from high school on a daily basis, if something broke, it was no issue to have it fixed before the next morning to get me to school in time. It only left me stranded twice, both of which required waiting until I could get home, grab the trailer, and get the car home. I was never busy enough to highschool to ever have the car interfere with studies or school work. Now that I'm in college however, things have gotten to be a little different.

I've been stranded a total of 3 times now, always about an hour from home. I've done valve adjustments in the school parking lot, resynched carbs in the parking lot, changed tires, and fixed electrical problems. Lately, these problems have been occurring with more frequency. two weeks ago, I was stranded in Irvine with an electrical fault. Before that, I melted a distributor Rotor right outside of school. The recent problem was a failed fuel pump. All of these little things have been getting to me, and significantly taking time away from my studies. I'm getting sick of driving this car every day, and taking so much of my time to fix it.

So the question must arise... Is the car worth keeping anymore? What say you fellow world members? I love my car to death, and couldn't ever imagine seeing someone else drive down the road in it, but I just am ready to drive something that is more reliable, and it's not at all in my plan economically to purchase a second car. After 3 years, this car has become a part of me, so a sell would be unbearable... It's hard enough paying for college as it is, much less throw money at another car.


So help me out guys, what would you do? I'm hoping that the problems subside, but recently it feels like the car has been trying to tell me it doesn't want to be a daily driver anymore. I'm stuck..

Any advice appreciated.
-Ethan

[worn]

What you don't know is that back in the day, cars were not as reliable as they are now. They certainly required more scheduled maintenance. Now that the car is pushing 40, there are hundreds of failure-prone aging parts. I think that you can drive it daily. I use my porsche in summer as a daily driver. BUT I had to go through it regularly tracing possible faults and fixing stuff that looks suspicious. That is a lot of time to spend. A lot of time.

On the other hand I still have my purchased new 1994 Ford escort wagon that I drive in winter. It ran 90,000 miles on the factory spark plugs and has never failed me. On the other hand the brake lines, lower suspension and exhaust system literally fell off due to salt rust from the roads. But that wouldn't have happened in California. SO the beater idea has some merit.

If you have time though sorting out the 914 is more fun. If you have a 4 I suspect you would be far better off in terms of reliability with the factory fuel injection. But then again it needs sorting too.