new person, a few stupid questions.. Options

[beast boy]

Hey all,
I currently own a '73 914 project, it was in a wreck, has been to the the body shop and has now been sitting in my driveway for about 9 months.
Anyway, first of all, I have changed oil, put a new battery in, etc. and now I basically wanna see if she'll start.. problem is, my only key broke off in the driver side door (I did manage to remove it.) Unfortunately, I have called every place in town, and they all want over $110 to re-key it. Before I do that, are there any other options? I am just dying to see if this car runs.. any possibility of starting her w/no key? I have no idea how to hotwire and deffinately do NOT want to screw up my ignition.

Also, after I get everything in working order, I was thinking it would be nice to replace the transmission w/something a little less awkward.. any possibility of fitting a tiptronic, or even an automatic? I live pretty close to a large junkyard/parts recycler that specializes in Porsche and Audi, so finding parts would likely not be an issue.

[beast boy]

Thanks for the info/warm welcome everybody.. I plan to pull the passenger side lock later today. Unfortunately, my car had a really shabby 911-style brake light conversion - whoever did it forgot to relocate the lock on the trunk - and didn't bother putting an actual light behind the panel. When I removed it to get into the trunk, I found nothing but a hole where the lock should have been (IMG:http://www.914world.com/bbs2/html/emoticons/tongue.gif)

My main reason for bringing up the tranny swap is the fact that
my girlfriend never learned to drive stick, and I really wanted something we both could drive... Well, that and the fact that a 914 w/tiptronic would just be badass (IMG:http://www.914world.com/bbs2/html/emoticons/wink.gif)

I'll try to take some pics later on today..