When was the first time you saw a 914?, When, where, etc Options

[SKL1]

Pretty much about 50 years ago- the following bit tells the story...

Gotta try and find a picture of when one of my best friends and I drove a very early euro model 914 (just before they were introduced in the USA) from Minneapolis to Cedar Rapids IA for the opening of the new Porsche+Audi dealer in my hometown. A good friend of mine was one of the P cars mechanics at the new dealership and they need "volunteers" to drive the car down to Iowa. It was in the middle of the winter but we didn't care.
The car was a 4 with appearance group and if I remember correctly a darker blue. Had the Wolfsburg crest on the steering wheel and the VW-Porsche script on the back. We were in college at the time and the trip was a great break from studying!!

Got my 914 from the same dealer about a year later... 49 years and still going strong!

[oakdalecurtis]

I started dating my now wife of 42 years while in high school. My car was a Ford Pinto, and even then we referred to it as the "blow up car”. One afternoon, my neighbor asked me if I was planning on taking my girlfriend to the upcoming high school Prom. When I said yes, he then informed me that it “just wasn't right to take her out on a big date like that in a Pinto”. My neighbor had just purchased a new silver 914, the first I had ever seen, and he offered let me use it to drive her to the big event! I couldn't believe it, and neither could my girlfriend, when I arrived to pick her up for the Prom in this little racy silver Porsche!
My generous neighbor continued to let me use his 914 whenever I had a big date night with my girl, and I will be forever grateful to him.
I'm not so sure that I would lend out my 914 today to a 16 year old kid like I was then! My neighbor will always be one of my heroes!

[ClayPerrine]

First time I saw one was when I moved back to Texas in 79. One of the guys in my high school class drove one. I ended up parking next to it in the school parking lot. There are pictures of it in my high school year book. The owner was a bit of an ass, and he and I didn't move in the same social circles, and frankly, I was really into muscle cars, so I didn't give it much thought at the time.

First 914 that I ever rode in and drove is sitting in our garage right now. I met Betty in 1985, and we have been together ever since.

[914 Ranch]

I can't remember when I first saw a 914 but in '71 I tried to trade in my Ghia with a 356 motor (a really sharp car). Took a test drive and when I returned they told me that they couldn't give me what I wanted for the Ghia. Only wanted $1.000.

[pascalou]

Hi, first time I saw a 914 was in 1979; It was a phénix red with tartan seats. The guy and me were at Liege University in Belgium. I was telling to myself this is my dreamcar, I will own one like it! And I did it in 1984, a white 1700 car but so rusted that I sold as parts...
In 2012 I bought one from Arizona but did not use it until this year. I have almost finished to refurbish it ! Before this year I used to ride my ruby red 356.
So much fun too!

[rhodyguy]

1972 Karlsruhe Germany. Parked half on a sidewalk at night with the left side lights on. I wanted a 356 at the time or a flared Capri with a turbo charged v-6. No interest in a 2 seat 'Volkswagen'.

[Aircooledfool]

For me it was 1973 when I purchased my first car, a tangerine 72 914. I was 15 and couldn't drive it legally for 6 months. However, that didn't stop me (IMG:style_emoticons/default/smile.gif). After all, it was the 70's.

[ejm]

It was late 70, early 71, dealers showroom, Fearn Motors, Huntington Station, New York. Wish I still had the brochures I picked up that day.

[Pursang]

1969 at the San Francisco Auto Show. Brooks Hall, under the Civic Center plaza. I had just gotten out of the Army. First one I've owned was in July of 1989. I still have it.

[cjdawley]

It's not the first one I've ever seen, but there was always one sitting in a bunch of trees on my way to work when I lived in Cross Plains WI. I remember thinking what a shame it was to let that car rot away. I was always going to stop and ask what he would take for it but never had any money then. I've always loved them. The first one that I drove is when I got mine.

[bandjoey]

1971 I think. Forest Lane Porsche Audi in Dallas. Stopped by there after they closed to walk the lot. Saw the 914-6 between the 911's. One only. Went back the next day and bought it. From some old slides... Traded it in for a 320i after a small fender bender.

[mgphoto]

Spring 1974, a guy I knew within the group of motorcycle riders I hung around with had one, Joe Trotta, '71 black. Back than I was a big fan of prototype sports car racing and flat track Harley racing.
A few friends and I just left a bar we used to hang out at and went to get something to eat at the Park Diner, New Dorp Lane. Joe's car was parked outside the diner. The passenger door was open, "what the fu*k" I was blown away by the integrated seat back on passenger side, never saw anything so futuristic, the car looked like a space ship.

I was hooked. I had been driving beetles at the time, It took 5 years for me to put together enough to buy my first '70, after 3 years of repairs and updating, it got rear ended and I sold it off. Took 3 years to find the '72 that I currently own, still looks like a space ship.

[gandalf_025]

First close look was a 1970 at a used car dealer near my home.
A stripped 1.7 that was a plane Jane around 1971.
2nd look and drive was at the Local Porsche Dealership in late 1972.
A 914-6 that had been traded in for a new 911.
A tangerine 6 with less than 24,000 miles...
Sitting in my garage, waiting for reassembly...

[Steve]

Mid 70’s my neighbor had a 914-4. My dad had a hopped up bug with dual Weber’s, 3/4 cam, etc. people in the neighborhood would ask my dad if he had a Porsche motor in his bug, because it sounded like the neighbors Porsche 914. In 79, I bought my first 914 which was a 71 914-4. That same neighbor traded his four for a real six. He gave me a ride in it and I had to have one. In 1986 I built my six out of a 75 and put in a 2.7. I still have the car.

[ConeDodger]

1980. I was at an autocross with my 240Z which I still have, and the son of the owners of Karousel Racing came to the autocross latish, registered and spanked me by 2 seconds then left at lunch time. I was chasing his time for the rest of the day.
I decided tight then that I would own one some day. His was a -6. It had every go fast part his parents sold. I’d like a rematch! He is an engineer at Onan now.

On a side note, his dad divorced his mom and married a much younger woman who then divorced him. I then dated her. She showed up at my work one day with parts for my Z she wanted me to try. I took the hint... (IMG:style_emoticons/default/evilgrin.gif)

[rhodyguy]

So you fucked her in exchange for car parts?

[Larmo63]

When I was 15 and taking Driver's Ed at Newport Harbor High School, I had John Wayne's daughter Aissa in my ceramics class. She was deemed somewhat "untouchable" because of who her dad was and all that, but at the same time, she was quite nice, friendly, and VERY pretty. She was such a babe!

On her 16th birthday, her dad bought her a brand new 1971 Signal Orange 914 1.7. That car caused quite a stir at school to say the least. Even though it had steel wheels and hub caps, it was a sensation.

We were all freaked out by it, I thought it was a very handsome car at the time and I still do. We were into VW bugs and busses, Karmann Ghias and BMW 2002s. Her 914 was just so radically different at the time.

John Wayne was a silent partner (I think?) with Chick Iverson at his Porsche/VW dealership in Newport Beach. They had just built the brand new showroom/lot on Pacific Coast Highway in a perfect location with tons of monied people surrounding the place. Mr. Wayne drove a big customized Pontiac station wagon that had a raised roof in the front area because he was a tall man. He had the money to have anything, but I remember seeing him all over Newport driving that thing.

[Beeliner]

In 1970 one of my fellow students at the University of Arizona had just purchased one in a dark blue. It was really an amazing design with a mid-engine, and was sure to be more reliable than my 1956 XK-140.
Back in New York, my mom thought I should get a car for graduation... No problem, Mom!
My 1971 was white with the "Appearance Group"... No radio though.

I am on #4 & #5 914s... Never had one with a radio.

[charlesmac]

In the early 80's when I was 11 or 12, my dad and I were doing our usual Sunday afternoon r/c plane flying when a yellow 914 pulled in to watch us fly. I told my dad I want one of those. He just said yeah.... I fell in love that day and bought a '73 in college that I flipped, literally. Got anther '73 almost finished now.

[craig downs]

I remember seeing the commercials on tv when they were just about to be released I was 12 years old at the time. I remember thinking how cool they looked with a small rear window and 4 disk brakes when most cars just had disks in the front and drums in the rear. A short time later I saw one flying by on the freeway and said oh there's goes one and I was in love. 7 years later I got mine a 75 1.8 and I was so excited. I had it about a month and I let the girlfriend at the time use it while I was at work and she got drunk and rear ended someone and folded the left front in and the rear transmission case broke dropping the rear end to the ground. I was crushed and the girlfriend never paid for it, the estimate came out to 4500. My dad helped me get the parts and I fixed it myself 2 years later and I still have it today and I'm glad I hung on to it.