914 Travel Stories - Add Yours, How you used/use your 914 Options

[Tom_T]

What's your 914 trip story? .... here's one of mine!



Okay, so here is a thoroughly "[R-word] sanitized" version of a funny story about a long & fast +/- 570 mile each way 914 trip from Huntington Beach CA, up to Park City UT one October in the late 1970s, that I hope others will enjoy.

More importantly - I hope it will encourage others to add their own stories of trips in their 914s - old & current, funny & sad, related to other activities & events, or just for the shear fun of driving their beloved 914s.

Somebody on here had suggested this type of a topic last Spring, and I had started it here, but it was relocated to the obscurity of The Sandbox, because I included the dreaded "R-word" in that story & as a follow-on write-up.

So I've cleansed it of the dreaded R-word parts and only present the 914 trip part herein. Now here's my 914 trip story to start things off....

First a little background on my beloved old gal - an early model year 1973 914-2.0:

My particular 914 may be "The Fastest 914 Ever Built" - in that her VIN Label/Sticker denotes an 8/72 build month, and her Chassis No. Code translates to 8/31/72 - which was usually stamped earlier in the production process.
.... and I'll bet most of you immediately thought I meant speed on the road fast! (IMG:style_emoticons/default/biggrin.gif)

So that means that she was a one day build! (IMG:style_emoticons/default/biggrin.gif)
.... well not likely - more likely a quirk of the guys stamping & labeling 914s at the Karmann Plant late that Summer of 1972, but a good story nonetheless! (IMG:style_emoticons/default/laugh.gif)

"Back in the day" - for my particular 914, that is meaning Dec. 1976 to May 1985 - I used my 73 914-2.0 for everything! She was my one & only car, so I used her to/from work, on errands & groceries/shopping, hauling Xmas trees, on dates, to/from flying lessons & later to the airport or my solo flights wherever, for business trips, meetings & projects, to visit friends & family, go to airshows, to go camping - up to 2-3 weeks for two easily packs in if your careful, to go to R-word stuff, and to go skiing - both downhill &/or cross country & I'd borrow a buddy's ski racks for the right side set up to carry 4 pairs of skis for 2 of each type when a friend or girlfriend/wife came along.

I've seen others on here set-up hitches for trailers, racks for kayaks & surfboards, etc. ad infinitum! So we really do use our 914s for just about anything & everything!

I bought my `73 914-2.0 / "914S" at 36 months old in Dec. `75 for $4500, with about 45k miles on her (she was 1st sold 11/9/72 to the PO/OO). That was after an extended search for a good one over the prior 6-9 months (including looking at the 914's competitors back then), with all of them checked over & rejected until my 73 2L by my mechanic then & ever since - Hans A. of Hans Imports fame in Huntington Beach CA (I literally lived a block or two from his shop & equal distance to the beach in the opposite direction). I couldn't quite afford a new one my first full year out of college, and didn't like the detuned 2.0 GC's "only 86 hp" & big bumpers of the `75-76 MY.

I then put on about another 130k to the now +/- 172k in just under 10 years 12/75 to 5/85 as my DD, and I'd guestimate that about half or more was "recreational driving" & most of that was to/from [R-word] stuff! I was able to keep some mileage off her by riding my 10-speed bike from Huntington Beach to/from the OC Airport Area of Irvine where I worked, & on long lunchtime runs down to the Balboa Peninsula, across the ferry to Balboa Island & back to work - all in an effort to stay fit for the [R-word] game. But it also saved maybe 4-5,000 miles per year on her up to about 1979 or 80, when I had to coat-n-tie more for meetings.

Since May `85 she had sat on blocks in my SoCal garage, up until last year when I started to strip her down for what will turn out to be a full body resto (not my original intention, but necessitated by the 914s' propensity for rust).

In addition to mine, there were several other 914s on the SoCal [R-word] scene during the `70s & `80's too, along with 930s, 911s, 912s & 356s, and some of those dang water-bangers 924s, 944s, 968s, & 928s out-n-about. We'd usually get a bunch of P-cars showing up at the San Diego OMBAC, UC Santa Barbara & Monterey Pebble Beach tournaments, and we'd try to get all of the P-car guys to park in a group - no matter to which clubs they belonged or spectators.

I may find some old game & tournament pix with the Porsche guys parked around - or maybe ski or camping trips in her, when I can dig out my old footlocker with old pix & documents.

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Okay, so to the [R-word] trip aspects of 914s! (IMG:style_emoticons/default/driving.gif)

She was my DD and only car up to May `85, and I used my 914 all year round/all weather, to/from work, project sites, ski trips (yup - in the snow too), vacations - and to every [R-word] game & tournament, mostly Nov.-May, with "off season" ones sprinkled in the other months, as well as to practice/training 2-3x a week in season. With 16 cu. ft. in the 2 trunks, 2 [R-word] players could easily stash our play gear/kit, street clothes, often camp gear to save on hotel costs, and food/drink, etc.

Of added benefit, was the fun of driving the 914 - especially on the "curvies," and getting the attention from the ladies - and the ability to use the middle seat/cushion if one wanted a "ride" (I was single most of that time).

I played [R-word] from my Freshman year in 1970 at USC (Trojans - also 4 years on their Soccer Team), then continued through the `70s & `80s with the SoCal 1st Div. Irvine Coast RFC (now merged to form Back Bay RFC), & dual play while at UCLA's Graduate School of Management `84-86, then `87-96 with the "Coasters" Old Boyz club. Most of that was on the 2nds at Scrumhalf/Halfback (usually #9 on jerseys in the games), but I played all over the backfield and at Flanker/Breakaway over that 26 years as well.

I used to regularly drive 50-100+ miles each way to our [R-word] matches 1975-85 in SF Bay area, San Luis Obispo, Santa Barbara, San Diego, LA area, Inland Empire & Palm Springs, Phoenix, Vegas, Park City UT, etc. & a few times to the PNW - Ashland/Medford OR & Seattle WA - and it all was in my 73 2L 914 from 12/75 to 5/85 I might add! (IMG:style_emoticons/default/driving.gif)

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Now to that Fast 570 mile Utah Trip......

On one trip to the Park City UT Tourney in Sept./Oct. in the late 1970's, a non-player buddy and I had to work until 6:pm on Friday, & I had to play at 8:00 am on Sat. morning! (IMG:style_emoticons/default/blink.gif)

We drove the 570 miles from SoCal in 7-8 hours with one gas stop, and only one traffic cop stop in rural Utah - fortunately only a warning with the help of my buddy!
See that funny part of the story below!

It was on that trip prior to the cop stop, that I took my 2.0 GA up to 126 mph (downhill) on I-15 on the "sweepers" through the Virgin River Gorge (not quite "twisties," but imagine a smaller Grand Canyon with a freeway winding through it)! For the naysayers out there - I've confirmed with SLITS at last year's GPR BBQ, that indeed a stock 2.0 is capable of that speed downhill, and my buddy was there with me to vouch for it as well.

This was my buddy & I driving it ...... Phil> (IMG:style_emoticons/default/w00t.gif) (IMG:style_emoticons/default/driving.gif) <me (IMG:style_emoticons/default/laugh.gif)

Now my buddy Phil was an MGB guy - & I tried not to hold that against him (IMG:style_emoticons/default/biggrin.gif) , but he had a quick wit, liked to watch our matches & tip a few (IMG:style_emoticons/default/beer3.gif) & sing with the boyz in the pubs.

He had told me a story just an hour or so before the Utah cop stop, about him getting out of a ticket on Jamboree Blvd. in Newport Beach, when the NB cop asked him the usual:
"Do you know how fast you were going?"

Phil spied his little niece's toy phone she had left on the seat, got an (IMG:style_emoticons/default/happy11.gif) and picked up the toy phone's handset to his ear and answered in a thick put-on Scottish Brogue:
"Scotty, how fast were we going!?" (IMG:style_emoticons/default/lol-2.gif)
- (that's a line from the original Star Trek TV series, for the younger set).

The NB cop was laughing so hard he could barely talk and let Phil off with a warning! (IMG:style_emoticons/default/av-943.gif)

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So then later when I got pulled over by this rural "County Mounty" in Podunk Utah, and the Utah Cop comes up with a no nonsense swagger - and then Phil looks at me with his (IMG:style_emoticons/default/happy11.gif) and says:
"No problem Tommie, I've got this one!"
(I was "Tommie Tee" in the [R-word] circle).

Needless to say, I was scared s**tless that Phil was going to use my CB Radio Mic (yup, I had one in the 914 back then), and call up "Scotty" for this yeah-hoo cop too! (IMG:style_emoticons/default/blink.gif)

Well, ole Phil had me on good, and instead, he was just polite and sweet as molasses with the sheriff, and explained that it was all his fault because he had to pee so bad and needed me to get to a rest stop or gas station that was actually open (it was after midnight in UT and everything was closed).

He wasn't lying either, cuz he'd had the "pee farts" for the prior 45 mins. - and it was a very good thing too that we had the top off, with the green cloud streaming up & out behind us! (IMG:style_emoticons/default/icon8.gif) (IMG:style_emoticons/default/lol-2.gif)

After a long and stern lecture from that Utah Copper - he all the time watching poor Phil squirm in his seat still having to "race like a piss-horse" - the good sheriff let me off with a "stern warning" and saying that:
"....he'd be looking out for me on my return trip Sunday night!"
- complete with the 2-fingers to his eyes salute & then pointed to me in the process! (IMG:style_emoticons/default/laugh.gif)

So that's my 914 [R-word] Trip story for today - but that's enough of my waxing nostagic!

Here are a few pix of my 914 - the culprit in the story - although she was still wearing the L96K Copper Metallic "war paint" on my 1976 repaint on this trip - very similar to Brent's 73 914-2.0 in the 3rd pic below.




These above pix are in her current condition after 26+ years sitting in my garage & now stripping down for resto, is my 1973 914-2.0 with 172k+ miles - much of that from that "[R-word] Touring" in it's last color April `80-85 (to present, pending resto back to the OE L80E). Part of the reason for going to this paint color was the story above (and other "incidents"), in order to get more of a low key "pavement cammy" color going - so she'd be less noticeable to the authorities on the open highway! (IMG:style_emoticons/default/shades.gif)

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She was Gold Metallic similar to this `75-76 & before when I bought her (PO/OO color change from L80E) - not my 914, just an example from another member's parts car (although I bought that bra for my post-resto baby from the guy who owned this gold one & he turned out to live a few blocks from my brother in Brooklyn IN - not NY; & TC bought then sold his yellow 72 project).

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Then I repainted her to Copper Metallic in Aug. `76-80, which was before the `80 Anthracite Grey Metallic paint job in the first pic. (this is Brent's 73 2L, in L80E below)

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After the resto, I hope she'll look as good as Brent's (bembry on here) L80E in this pic & in McMark's/Original Custom's banner ad (the copper one above was also Brent's in a prior paint - not my car, but same colors & wheels). Soon I hope to be (IMG:style_emoticons/default/driving.gif) her all purdy in L80E "Light Ivory" (white) with the #31 "Beige" (tan, caramel, cinnamon) interior all fixed up again! (IMG:style_emoticons/default/smile.gif)

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During Graduate School for my MBA at UCLA in the mid-1980s, my last [R-word] trip in my 914 was up to Stanford in April `85, during Spring Break for a inter-Biz School Tournament. I drove up with an MBA classmate & fellow player, who was also an `84 Olympics multiple-Gold Medal Swimmer BTW, who's Dad was a New Zealander Maori, & Rob had wanted to learn to play [R-word] like his Dad had played as a kid & young man, while Rob was in B-school with us.

Unfortunately, my poor 914 was whacked a month later in May `85 while parked in a UCLA parking structure by a sorority ditz when she "...forgot to turn left to go up the ramp...." (her words), which was after I'd spent $6500+ on a rolling resto & a full drivetrain overhaul ($20k+ today's dollars)! (IMG:style_emoticons/default/sad.gif)

After being whacked in 5/85, I stored her in my garage for later resto/repair, then I used my 85 BMW 352e & 88 Westy for runs to [R-word] games & tourneys, as well as other fun stuff & trips with our kids, etc..

Back in the day, my 914 wore license plate frames saying:
"It takes Leather Balls to Play [R-word]"
...because that's what we used to play the [R-word] game back in the day!
Nowadays they use Plastic Balls, but it just doesn't translate the same for the license frames! (IMG:style_emoticons/default/biggrin.gif)

And if anybody wants to see the "R-word" means or that part of the former topic, go here:
http://www.914world.com/bbs2/index.php?sho...=158072&st=

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Okay, so now the rest of you can add in your own 914 trip stories! (IMG:style_emoticons/default/type.gif)
(IMG:style_emoticons/default/popcorn[1].gif)

Cheers! (IMG:style_emoticons/default/beerchug.gif)
Tom
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[Tom_T]

EDIT - I just added the other pix back in manually.
(IMG:style_emoticons/default/type.gif)

[Andyrew]

I see 6 total pics, 1 on the top and 5 below.

My 914 trip stories.

Not much, I've been driving it around town quite regularly and I used to take it a couple of towns over about once a week for work. Some wonderful sunrises and calm drives in there.

[Tom_T]

I see 6 total pics, 1 on the top and 5 below.

My 914 trip stories.

Not much, I've been driving it around town quite regularly and I used to take it a couple of towns over about once a week for work. Some wonderful sunrises and calm drives in there.

Thanx Andrew, I went in & added back the missing pix.

You need to take yours on a weekend run to Tahoe, Wine Country or something - they're such great road trip cars! (IMG:style_emoticons/default/driving.gif)

[Andyrew]

I see the pics now!


Yes I do plan on quite a few runs. Im sure you know my car is a little different animal than others and i've been working through the kinks for the past year as I drove it very regularly. Im just getting to the point of driving it outside my normal comfort zone and actually made a trip on the highway to a town 45 minutes away without a hitch. I'll get there, just for now its an in town car (IMG:style_emoticons/default/smile.gif)

[Tom_T]

..... just for now its an in town car (IMG:style_emoticons/default/smile.gif)

Yeeahhh ..... a freakin 5.7 L monster-middie "Town Car"!!!! (IMG:style_emoticons/default/blink.gif) (IMG:style_emoticons/default/biggrin.gif)

[vwsamba]

Once I drove mine from CA to the bonneville salt flats with a 4 speed and came home with a 5 speed. I bought a trans en route and was so excited to have 5 gears again i changed it one morning at the campsite before my friend woke up. The drive home was much nicer (IMG:style_emoticons/default/driving.gif)

[Tom_T]

Once I drove mine from CA to the bonneville salt flats with a 4 speed and came home with a 5 speed. I bought a trans en route and was so excited to have 5 gears again i changed it one morning at the campsite before my friend woke up. The drive home was much nicer (IMG:style_emoticons/default/driving.gif)

Now that's dedicated camping in a 914! (IMG:style_emoticons/default/biggrin.gif) (IMG:style_emoticons/default/smash.gif)

Your fuel burn home was probably 50-60% of up there without 5th overdrive too!

[Tom_T]

More stories? (IMG:style_emoticons/default/icon_bump.gif)

[bembry]

Since the rebuild, I've had mine on short trips in RI, Mass, and Connecticut. I even had it out 26 DEC in New England! We haven't had snow where I'm at yet.
This is a rust free CA car--it doesn't see salted roads.

Last trip, either speedo cable or speedo/odo head was making a nastly noise. I'll have to figure out what's up with that. (Speedo still works, odo hasn't since I've owned the car)

[rnellums]

2500 mile road trip in my 73 2.0L! I left late spring from Denver expecting great weather for my trip through Wyoming, South Dakota, Minnesota and Indiana. Instead, we got nothing but rain and snow the whole way. Still had a blast though!




My cooling fan snapped off the crankshaft mid-way through South Dakota and I lost cooling and the alternator. I was towed to Mitchell, South Dakota where a nice man allowed me to use his VW shop and some tools. I dropped the engine, used JB Weld on the fan and limped the remainder of the way to Indiana. What an adventure!





And the wonders awaiting in Indiana...

[Tom_T]

Since the rebuild, I've had mine on short trips in RI, Mass, and Connecticut. I even had it out 26 DEC in New England! We haven't had snow where I'm at yet.
This is a rust free CA car--it doesn't see salted roads.

Last trip, either speedo cable or speedo/odo head was making a nastly noise. I'll have to figure out what's up with that. (Speedo still works, odo hasn't since I've owned the car)

Last I saw, they still sell the gear sets for the speedo/odo to rebuild Brent!

I'll bet it hauls (IMG:style_emoticons/default/bootyshake.gif) now with the McMark 2056 build in it too! (IMG:style_emoticons/default/driving.gif) (IMG:style_emoticons/default/w00t.gif)

[Tom_T]

2500 mile road trip in my 73 2.0L! I left late spring from Denver expecting great weather for my trip through Wyoming, South Dakota, Minnesota and Indiana. Instead, we got nothing but rain and snow the whole way. Still had a blast though!

Great trip! Those pix remind me of taking mine to Tahoe & Mt. Ashland OR - the latter being about a 2500 mi round trip including side trips & local driving.

The bottom pic reminds me of the many camping trips out of my 914: umbrella tent, propane stove, & sleeping bags in the rear trunk; 2 mid-sized coolers in the front trunk; food & soft luggage bags for 2 interspersed between. Packing a 914 for a long trip, camping, skiing, etc. honed my packing skills for later years, cramming 4 of us into the Westy for 4000-6000+ mi XC trips every summer! (IMG:style_emoticons/default/biggrin.gif)

And the wonders awaiting in Indiana...

So sad.... (IMG:style_emoticons/default/sad.gif)
... well at least you've got the ice green beauty now! (IMG:style_emoticons/default/wub.gif)

Thanx for adding guys & Happy New Year!

Others??...................
(IMG:style_emoticons/default/popcorn[1].gif)

Cheers! (IMG:style_emoticons/default/beerchug.gif)
Tom
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[bembry]

Since the rebuild, I've had mine on short trips in RI, Mass, and Connecticut. I even had it out 26 DEC in New England! We haven't had snow where I'm at yet.
This is a rust free CA car--it doesn't see salted roads.

Last trip, either speedo cable or speedo/odo head was making a nastly noise. I'll have to figure out what's up with that. (Speedo still works, odo hasn't since I've owned the car)

Last I saw, they still sell the gear sets for the speedo/odo to rebuild Brent!

I'll bet it hauls (IMG:style_emoticons/default/bootyshake.gif) now with the McMark 2056 build in it too! (IMG:style_emoticons/default/driving.gif) (IMG:style_emoticons/default/w00t.gif)

It does haul some serious ass now. And yes--I've been meaning to rebuild the odo/speedo--just one more thing on the list (IMG:style_emoticons/default/drunk.gif)

I do have my old blaupunkt in the shop to get looked at and fixed if not too expensive--a vintage radio shop in Sacramento. (IMG:style_emoticons/default/piratenanner.gif) I gotta get some tunes!

[914.SBC]

Those are some great stories. I dont have anything to match.

I drive mine once to three times per week to Starbucks for coffee in the morning. I like to wake up the neighborhood. Once a month I might drive it to my office 25 miles away. I take it local car shows regularly.

[TheCabinetmaker]

No pics, but a couple of (short)stories.

My first 914 in 73 came with a luggage rack, and I used the crap out of it. My girlfriend and I went camping in Missouri for a weekend. Both trunks and the rack were full to the brim. We rolled up to campgrounds, found a suitable place, and started to unload. I was in my 20's at the time. My girlfriend was a knockout with rather large breast, so everyone was getting an eyeful between her and a car they never seen before. An elderly couple were sitting in lawn chairs across the way and his eyes were riveted on my lady (or so I thought). First we unpacked the front trunk, then moved to the rear and cleared the rack. When I opened the rear trunk and started taking things out, he stood up and made a beeline for us. He walked up, looked over the car then said" I just got one question. Where the hell is the damn motor?"

The best trip by far was just before Christmas of 2000. I took my 8 year old grandson on a two week trip. We left will no real destination except to at sometime go see my mom in Yuma,AZ. Now I've driven I-40 to Ca and Vegas several times, but it was always what you could see from the interstate. This time we did all the tourist stuff. Saw all three of billy the kids graves in New Mexico, the aliens in Roswell, shoot out at the OK coral, mom in Yuma, Sea world in San Diego, London bridge in Havasu, cruised the strip in Vegas, took the inside tour at Hoover dam, grand Canyon, petrified forest, meteor crater,and found some arrow heads at an 1840's ghost town in the mountains north of Sante Fe. The only trouble we had was a spark plug came out. Had to put in a helicoil in Yuma.It made it the rest of the trip and blew out again two days after I got home.

Full trip was 14 days, 4150 miles, 129 gallons of fuel.

[Tom_T]

Brent - email me the name & contact info for the vintage radio shop in Sacto please, in case I need it for my original AM/.FM/8-track. TIA

SBC - so stop going to Starbucks, put that money in a jar, then make your own coffee at home. After a year you'll have more than enough for a long 914 trip! (IMG:style_emoticons/default/poke.gif) (IMG:style_emoticons/default/biggrin.gif) ...just pushing your leg - short trips are good too!
I hear some of the Inland Empire folks do a Sat. morning run monthly out of Temecula up into the mountains. You should hook up with them & bring back a story or two! (IMG:style_emoticons/default/driving.gif)

Curt - those are great stories, and we had similar experiences back in the day, including the where the heck is the motor query more than once - except my gal wasn't super large breasted! (IMG:style_emoticons/default/biggrin.gif)

For those that don't know, when I got a chance to visit a bit with Curt while in Tulsa in October, I found out he started the Talimina run from Talahina OK to Mina AR, so he probably has a few good ones from them as well! (IMG:style_emoticons/default/driving.gif) (IMG:style_emoticons/default/driving-girl.gif) (IMG:style_emoticons/default/biggrin.gif)

Keep `em coming!
(IMG:style_emoticons/default/popcorn[1].gif)

[sixnotfour]

delivery vehicle Seattle WA. to Ouray, CO

[sixnotfour]

(IMG:style_emoticons/default/beer3.gif)

[sixnotfour]

Alabama to WA. family vacation, oh and picked up a 914.