31 years, time flies Options

[wonkipop]

1989
parked outside of frank lloyd wright's johnson wax hq in racine wisconsin.
might have been one of my first biggish drives in it.
think i was pretty stoked that day. 29 - grin from ear to ear.



2020
some place upside down. feeling a lot older. but still grinning.



i've tried to look after this car.


been pottering about in some boxes over christmas.
found some stuff.
stickers from swiss and italian 914 registry.
these must date from mid 90s when we started up 914 aus registry.
all three or four of us.
we swapped them our stickers for theirs.
wonder if these two mobs in switzerland and italy are still going strong?



still got one of the orig 914 register stickers on the car.
the sticker was designed by B C, founder of the club.
he was a graphic designer. did a nice job.
he passed away about 10 years back.



found a delivery docket for the car in amongst the documents.
forgot i had this.
car came from capitol porsche/audi in washington.
(wasn't a swamp then that had to be drained? or maybe it was).




and a photo i had dating from back in 1992.
the whimpering 1,8 fresh back from chicago parked next to a crayfords 73 2.0 belonging to BC who founded the register.
would have been the first time two 914s were parked side by side in aus since the days when the distributor had two sixes parked next to each other in 1971.

[phillstek]

Great story and really good to hear from another long time Australian owner. Coming up for 33 years of ownership of mine this year. Bought it in LA in 88 for 1500.

I don’t think people realise how rare these cars are here.

[wonkipop]

Great story and really good to hear from another long time Australian owner. Coming up for 33 years of ownership of mine this year. Bought it in LA in 88 for 1500.

I don’t think people realise how rare these cars are here.

good on you phil for keeping it.

you are right, they are rare here. lhd drive restrictions kept numbers down for a long time. you had to get off your arse and go get one from the USA like you did. that took balls back then. a few blokes did it. wonder how many of them have still got their cars like you have. i'm trying to remember them all.

[phillstek]

Great story and really good to hear from another long time Australian owner. Coming up for 33 years of ownership of mine this year. Bought it in LA in 88 for 1500.

I don’t think people realise how rare these cars are here.

good on you phil for keeping it.

you are right, they are rare here. lhd drive restrictions kept numbers down for a long time. you had to get off your arse and go get one from the USA like you did. that took balls back then. a few blokes did it. wonder how many of them have still got their cars like you have. i'm trying to remember them all.

Don’t know if it took balls but yeah, it was a process for sure. All I knew was that I had get one after years of reading out of date copies of Excellence and VW & Porsche magazines in the early 80s. The clincher was an article in Excellence about a red ‘GT’ owned by Steve Gaglione (?). I drooled over the pictures and read the article over and over again.

Having owned air cooled VWs pretty much exclusively since being able to drive the 914 was a logical progression into something interesting yet sort of simple. Sold my ‘64 Baja to fund the trip to LA and found a ‘72 with a carbed 1.7 and shipped it here.

As soon as it landed the 1.7 came out and a 2.7 went in along with the rhd and 5 lug conversion. When I thought it would pass the road worthy test I took it the Registration office where the inspectors, who had no idea what it was, proceeded to check a few items and asked me to show them where the engine was.

I filled in the paperwork and said nothing about the rhd and six conversion. To my astonishment they called my name and handed me the plates and rego papers. That’s how it started for me.

It’s been a journey owning this car for this long.