27,000 mile original '74 on BaT, This will be interesting Options

[Big Len]

I'm going for it, $71K.

https://bringatrailer.com/listing/1974-porsche-914-59/

[Big Len]

Not that my opinion matters much, but do I think this car has 27,000 miles?
Yes, I'm buying it (not literally). Here's my reasoning -

First, I've followed BaT for a long time well before they had auctions, so these are just my oberservations. Many cars with low mileage are east of the Mississippi and north of Interstate 40. They have low mileage because the WEATHER SUCKS. We get maybe 6 months out of the year with lots of rain and cloudy days. In winter, the roads are covered in salt and acid-like brine that dissolves metal, so unlike California and other places, the car stays unused for those months. This applies for all collectable cars, not just our 914s. This car has remained in that zone.

Looking at the car, it's condition is very good. All the carpets look near new, the hardware, the upper heater hoses (Yes, I know wonkipop, you mentioned he ordered new ones, but those part numbers are different than the ones going to the fan), any touchable surface, and the body and floor panels look great. There are some oddities. It looks like the car was partly driven on gravel roads, perhaps a long driveway to the house as the chassis looks dirty and lightly chipped especially around the springs. For whatever reason, the owner didn't bother to clean this area.

I read George's opinion early in the comments section and granted he knows 100X what I know, but I was a little surprised by his negative comments. He called it "a stripper". Well, it may not have fogs and a console and chrome bumpers, but it does have tinted glass and factory F & R sway bars. I wouldn't have called it that. And I don't care about the striping. No harm, no foul.

Listen, I don't think it's worth $70K, but buyers on BaT put a sizable premium on low mileage, colorful cars. They have developed a pretty big audience of potential buyers and it only takes 2 dreamers to run up the price to $60K and above. If this was a 2 liter with all the options, yeah, I'd go north of $82K or so, crazy, but again, it only takes 2. The stoppage in bidding is typical, so I wouldn't go by that. So I'm betting on the bidding and not so much the car's value. But who the hell knows.