Too much for too cheap?, Driving a rust bucket Options

[nditiz1]

If I bought a 914 just to drive around and knew about the rust issues it had, but was more into it for the fun of driving it and owning one is $3k too much to spend? An earlier one I looked at, 75', had some major rust - in the door jambs on both sides to be exact, which you all have taught me means the longs are toast. There was also rust in the front and rear trunk that looked to be surface but that is usually on 10% another thing you all have taught me. The hell holes were solid. It was however a running, driving, stopping, cool looking - at least from 10 feet (IMG:style_emoticons/default/biggrin.gif) 914. It has 2.0 fuchs (only4) dellorto carbs, over jetted, 1.8. The interior is original and would definitely need to be redone, which I can do (kits $500??). My thinking is this, even if I don't fix the body and eventually want to transfer the parts to a better one, I have what $800 rims, $1k motor, $500 dellorto carbs. Those 3 items almost pay for the car. I would also try to get the genuine service manuals thrown in (~$600 -800). Oh and the stock steelies that came with the car. Would that be justified?

[Spoke]

If I bought a 914 just to drive around

Your highest priority when buying a 914 should be your ultimate goal with the car. Driving it? Working on it? Long term classic car project? Hot rod project? Investment flip? Parts flip?

The answer to your ultimate goal should guide what condition of car to buy. If you just want to drive it and don't want to work on it, you should buy a well sorted 914 which would push your budget up considerably.

If you want to do a parts flip to a better chassis, you won't be driving it for a while. In 914 terms, "a while" is anywhere from a couple of months to a couple of years to forever. You said you just wanted to drive it around.

My suggestion for looking for a nice 914 is to look beyond your backyard. You might find a nice 914 locally but there are many nice 914's around the country. I traveled about 200 miles to buy a nice 914 for cheap that I found on this board. I picked up my 930 in Denver, CO. I live in PA.

More pics of the car would help. Everyone who sells a 914 and doesn't want to show the vulnerable places show only the outside pics.