Drove a 916 yesterday...and what a, weird way to fulfill a childhood dream! Options

[horizontally-opposed]

Drove the (repainted) Gemini Blue over Pumpkin leather car, fresh from a mechanical restoration with a 2.7 RS motor and new, period correct 185/70R15 tires.

Before you ask about photos, they're not back and I don't own them...yet.

The car was interesting -- both so much cooler than I ever imagined it would be and a letdown ( (IMG:http://www.914world.com/bbs2/html/emoticons/ohmy.gif) ) in other ways.

First, I am sure if you drove it back to back with any stock 914 of the day you'd be plain amazed. But it's not THAT fast by modern standards (though it's certainly not slow) and never feels "fast." It just feels really nice and really balanced and really well resolved.

Plus, all of our tinkering over the last 30 years means there are a lot of -- if not most -- 914s that have more grip from better tires, different suspension, etc. So I suspect a lot of 914club members have -4s and -6s that handle better.

But it drove SO well and there are some very cool "trippy" things like resting your foot on a a "dead pedal" that's oil coolers lines covered by plush factory carpeting or seeing the perforated white headliner in your peripheral vision as you haul ass down a back road in a 914. The absence of a dogleg tranny is a trip too, though many like Marty and others have these in their modified 914s.

Probably the closest thing I have driven to it in terms of overall input feel and sounds is a stock 2.7 RS, kind of like the same show in a different theater. The steering is remarkably similar, but does something different due to the 916's longer wheelbase. It feels the same, but has a more precise effect. And the chassis with that wide track and long wheelbase is FAR better, and a lot less "nervous." Not sure that's quite the right word.

I bet back in the day, this car would have KILLED an RS 2.7 on most roads. (IMG:http://www.914world.com/bbs2/html/emoticons/pray.gif)

pete