Thanks Joe Richard, new '74 project Options

[watsonrx13]

Thanks Joe Richard
new '74 914

This is a public thank you to Joe Richard. Due to Joe's unfortunate incident with his '74 914 he has graciously given the car to me. You see, his car burnt in his mother-in-laws garage. After Joe was able to salvage as much as possible, and purchasing a new car in Washington, he offered to give the car away if someone promised to restore it. Well, that someone is me.

The adventure began Friday night from Plant City, FL (near Tampa). After waking at 5:00 am and putting a full day of work, I came home and finished filling the new pool. I then went to my in-laws and my father-in-law had his truck and trailer ready for the trip. We left at 7:00 pm and headed for Mississippi. The trip was uneventful and we arrived about 3 hours early, so we stopped at a nearby rest stop and got about 2 hours sleep. We met Joe at his in-laws house at 7:00 am. Joe provided the fresh coffee (thanks). We spent some time moving the car from his trailer to mine. Then we went to his house and picked up the doors, hoods and misc parts. (thanks for the 914/6 spindles). Joe also allowed us to leave the car and trailer at his in-laws house, which we would pick up the next morning, Sunday.

My father-in-law and I then went to Biloxi, MS to meet my wife (Robin) (she flew into New Orleans on Friday) and my mother (who pick up Robin and drove her to Biloxi). We had breakfast and crashed for 4 hours. After a hot bath and sleep, we were ready to do some gambling. Oh, BTW, Biloxi is the 'Redneck Riviera', which is where the casinos are. I played craps and broke even. All four of us had dinner, comped, then hit the casino again. I went back to the craps table and, in 2 hours, turned $200 into $500. Everyone else went to the slot machines. By 10:00 pm I was getting tired and decided to head to the room. Everyone else, at this time was up between $100 and $300. Since my wife and mom weren't going to leave at 5:00 am, they stayed up. Before my father-in-law and I had a chance to crawl into bed, the wife returns with a $1000.00 payout. Everyone then went to bed.

We got up at 5:00 am and picked up the trailer and car and headed home. All-in-all, it was a great weekend. We had the rooms and meals comped, had a new 914 and an extra $1200.00. It was a long weekend, we drove 1100 mi round trip, but it was well worth it.

I will be starting a new post, similar to Gint's 'rustoration' and will document to progress to bring this car back to the roads. I currently am stripping a '74 2.0 that will get a complete repaint and a V8. I also have a '74 parts car. The plan is to use the suspension and interior from the parts car and the engine/trans from the 2.0. Stay tuned for the events as they unfold.

Thanks again to Joe and his son Chris for this opportunity.