Time to Document my Survivor 1973 2.0L Options

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I've been thinking I should start sharing the history and pics of Sara and my 914 for quite a few months now. I've hesitated because I'm not great with pics and don't have unlimited time. Finally decided to start posting and hope you all will be patient and that this may take a while.

Some of you have heard of and been involved in my story which started last July in a search for a 914. I'm not one who can say I have been committed to this quirky car for 40+ years. I admire you original owners and those who know these cars (literally) inside out. I'm a lover of vintage cars and have owned many but not a mechanic. Over the past few years, Sara and I have really gotten into survivor/preservation cars. Love to see a car that remains unchanged other than the patina and wear that comes with 40+ years.

Long story short….after developing an interest in Porsche's over the past 7 years or so, I started thinking about that quirky 914 that I used to see driving around Fond du Lac WI in the 70's. Any Porsche in Fond du Lac was a rare thing and as a teenager this one got my attention. That thinking turned to an obsession and last July we got a bug up our butts (actually it was me, not Sara, but she fortunately loves old cars too so she accepted that another would likely be on its way to us) to look for an original 914. After looking at a few -6's and posting of my interest in an original 914 on 914World, I received a PM from a guy in Minneapolis who had, two months earlier, purchased a 45k mile 1973 Bahia red 2.0 from the original owner. Erik, the 2nd owner and his father are Porsche enthusiasts. They had heard about the car being for sale through the local Barber who happened to cut the hair of the original owner also. Erik told me that he of course knew a good thing when he saw it and originally had planned to keep it as a family summer car. After getting it home and really pouring over it, however, he realized that this car was much too pristine to use it in that way. Not needing another garage queen, Erik decided to sell, saw my post, and after several weeks of discussion and negotiation the car was in an enclosed trailer and on its way to Atlanta.

Here are a few pics that Erik took. He took some great pics (and many of them) so I'll likely use quite a few of those here in documenting the car.

Steve

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Maybe I should start with the story.

The car was purchased by a Neurologist in a suburb of Minneapolis in July 1973 as a gift to himself as he completed his schooling and started his practice. Jim is retired now and decided that, at 78 years old, it was time to lighten his load a bit. I've communicated quite a bit with Jim. He's a great guy. And, my interaction with him just reminded me that there are many 914 owners out there who likely know nothing of 914World but who have been and remain committed to their cars for many years.

Rather than tell you the story that he told me, I'll attach copies of a few of our communications. I was basically looking for confirmation of mileage, accident history, paint work, and comments as to his ownership of the car.

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While Jim says in his letter that he was not the best at keeping documents, I think he did a great job! I have most of the receipts since new. The car also came with the original owners manual, address change cards, radio and emissions pamphlets and maintenance log. Jim also tracked all of his oil changes and service with mileage at each. I'll share a cool story and pics about some other documents a bit later.

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As Jim mentions in his letter, the car is as close to 100% original as one might be able to expect after 42 years. Jim kept all receipts and Erik, the guy I bought the car from summarized all of the maintenance items in a word doc that I've since decided to continue. You can see the additions since my ownership.

Jim used the car more frequently in the early years and almost not at all in the past 10-15 years.

You can see that the PDI was completed on June 22 1973. In fact there is still a door jam sticker on the driver door showing this. Coincidentally, this was the date of my 16th Birthday! How cool is that?

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Thought I'd finish the comments on documentation. Cool story that some of you heard about.

When I purchased the car, it did not come with original purchase documents. In conversations with Jim, he had told me that he was disappointed that he did not have those and didn't even recall ever getting the window sticker, invoice, etc. His comment was that perhaps they just did business differently back then and did not provide them.

Then, out of the blue about 3-4 weeks ago Jim commented again in an email that he was disappointed that he did not have the original purchase docs. Apparently after sending me that email, he was bothered enough to dig through files again. After 42 years!! About 30 minutes later he emailed me again saying that he had found copies of the cancelled checks for the deposit and full cash payment upon delivery. Jim sent copies of this to me. While I was still reeling from my good fortune in having an original owner who cared enough to look for these documents so many years later, I received another email with Jim elatedly telling me that he had located copies of the original invoice, purchase order, mileage certification and window sticker. I was shocked. You can see from the pics that they look perfect. The window sticker looks so good it almost looks fake. I owe Jim something but I just haven't figured out what just yet.

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Was pleased that the car also came with the original jack and tool roll…complete with the black rubber band…as well as two sets of original keys with antenna keys, the leather holder and inventory tag.

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The Spare tire and wheel are original…Continental Schlauchlos. As jim mentions it was on the ground once when he flatted near his cottage and used the spare to get home.

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Will send a few pics of the vin, chassis and other body tags.

The car is in amazing condition. I fairly constantly have people ask me about the restoration. They can't believe when I tell them it is original. The car definitely has scratches and blemishes but overall is just pristine in my view. It's not concours…and I'm not sure I ever want to try to make it concours. I like it just like it is…maybe a bit cleaner on the underside.

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Will add some pics of the glass and then maybe call it a day. You can see a bit of delimitation in the corners of the windshield.

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A few more pics of the exterior before I take it inside and underneath.

The paint is really good. There are a few areas that have been touched up due to stone chips and one very minor bubble that I touched up in the corner of the drivers door jamb. The area that was repaired at the passenger front turn signal in 1990 is a small area about 12-16 inches in diaper around the side indicator. Its a very good repair considering they only resprayed a small portion of the the quarter panel. I took a paint gauge to the whole car and the repainted area seems to be just the area around the turn signal. I'll include a pics of that spot.

Chrome and bumpers look real good.

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The Wheels….

The car made it out of the dealer with all five Fuchs intact. I guess the good midwest boys may have been a bit more honest back in the day and didn't make off with the original Fuch spare. All of the wheels are original and dated 4/73. They have not been polished or refinished. No curb rash but they do have some light marring and stains from years of use. The center caps are original and in great shape. Not sure why weights were used on the outside on a couple of wheels. Need to change that.

Of course you can't miss the green paint on the lugs. You saw in Jim's letter that I asked him about that and he said that he guessed it never really bothered him so he left it. I have seen green on other owners lugs but the factory or service guy went a little wild with the paint! There is green paint on every lug. I've chosen to leave it on since it is part of this cars history.

I've heard two stories on the green paint. One is that this was put on at the factory to show the wheels were torqued appropriately. The other is that as part of the BO recall on the fuchs related to a flaw with some wheels related to positive centering of the rims, the lugs were supposed to daubed with green paint after being checked for a problem. I've attached a pic of part of that recall that mentions the green paint.

I guess I believe the BO recall story over factory torquing.

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And now for the Frunk. Again, credit goes to Erik for almost all of these pics. He took them in order to convince a guy like me to buy the car and now I get the benefit of using them and not needing to take more. You will see a bit of dirt in places and marking from the tire in the Frunk. I've since done quite a bit of detailing and it looks even better.

What amazed me was the condition of the wiring harness, the plastic plugs and trim that looks new, and the amazing condition of all the cad plated items. Lock mechanisms, nuts and bolts were in great condition.

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More Frunk pics. Notice the white paint and bent over washer on the shock mount verifying the shocks have never been removed. Gas tank, expansion tank, charcoal canister, break reservoir all in really good condition. The strap that holds the brake fluid reservoir is a bit rusty but that is the only thing I can see.

Happy to take pics if anyone wants to see specific areas.

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Decided to clean the rain tray and took a few pics of the engine lid. You can see a factory inspection sticker on the underside of the lid.

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Gratuitous gas station pic

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Looks just like mine......NOT (IMG:style_emoticons/default/happy11.gif)

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Looks just like mine......NOT (IMG:style_emoticons/default/happy11.gif)

Yeah, I'm thrilled with my dumb luck at finding this car. It's a bit sad though when I think that Jim, the original owner, realized it was time to let it go. My wife has a '68 mustang california special that was a one owner car prior to us and is all original. We named it Walter after the original owner (There is a bizarre story on Walter that some of you may have read about. Glad to mention that if anyone is interested). The history on these cars is so much of the appeal to me.

Perhaps the '73 needs to be called "James". Seems a fitting tribute.

A pic of Walter.

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Back to "James"

The Trunk area is as clean as the Frunk. The rubber mat is curling and cracking. I've tried to use Wurth's rubber preservative on it but not sure that this will help much. I've done some basic cleaning and touched up scratches and there were a few spots where the paint was cracking…seems like there are spots in the truck where there were very small bubbles in the paint which, over time, cracked and the paint fell off.

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More detail of the trunk. Was surprised that the white plastic pieces and plugs had not yellowed over the years. You can also see inspection stickers in a couple pics. And again, the hardware was in really nice shape.

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[Johny Blackstain]

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