Price Check, Aisle 5 Options

[McLovin]

Hi there,

This is my first post, and I need some help. I'm looking at a 914 locally (USA) and I'm trying to figure out if it is worth the asking price. I've seen prices all over the map. My problem is what you can't see in he ads, so here's what I'm looking at.

Factor in that I'm in the Southeast. The names have been changed to protect the innocent.

I'm considering a late '70's 914. It had a color change on the outside and door jams only, (not in the bonnets and trunk). Has nice alloy wheels (an upgrade), but they aren't fuchs. Has the 2.0 Liter engine, but no fuel injection.

It's running a single progressive carb, but it runs nicely. Has an upgraded header style dual exhaust. I'm told it has a new shift linkage.

Has a near perfect interior. But the battery tray rusted out, yet underneath the battery tray it seems pretty solid...I will poke around there in earnest before I get the car. No rust underneath the spare tire. All of the electronics work well and the car is reliable. I heard that a seat broke/came loose due to an overweight person sitting in it and it had to be re-welded.

Has a rust bubble on the read quarter panel, but not near the hell hole...looks like poor paint preparation. Other than the rust bubble, the paint actually looks pretty good.

So can you give me you opinion of the high, mid and low range that someone might pay for a 914 in that shape?

Thanks for any and all advice.

[Dave_Darling]

The single-carb setup is not a great sign. The "racing dual exhaust" is very likely a cheap and not very effective aftermarket muffler on the stock 75-76 exhaust, or cheap cherry bombs on the lousy 75-76 down-pipes.

The rust bubble is likely coming up from the inside, so rot has taken hold of that panel and is likely much larger than the bubble you can see.

A broken seat mount is more likely an indicator of a rotted floor pan than of an overweight driver/passenger. The stock 914 seats can take well over 250 lb people over bumps without issue, unless things are weakened. (Usually by rust.)

More exploration is needed to come up with a value. I would not pay anywhere near top dollar for a car like that. Assuming things aren't worse than described, I wouldn't go over $5K and probably not even that high.

....Actually, I wouldn't even bother looking at it, because I'm a cheap SOB and I already have a 914... (IMG:style_emoticons/default/wink.gif)

--DD