Questions for the Collective Options

[bkrantz]

I would appreciate some answers and other feedback--don't be shy.

A month ago I brought home a 1973 2 liter. The car came with a COA that shows the engine and trans as original, as is the color. It has all the original performance/appearance parts, including 5 good Fuchs wheels. It was not running when I bought it, but did run earlier in the year. My initial assessment showed some minor rust and body issues, but it looked solid.

Now after a month of stripping down, I have found more rust, mostly in the floor. The areas under both seats are either very thin or with some small holes, and both front floor corners have 4 inch holes. The upper fire wall behind the passenger seat has rusted through, as has the right engine shelf. The top of the hell hole has extreme scale, but no holes (until I really dug in with my chisel). And I found a couple of small holes in the inner fender where the battery tray (replaced) attaches. On the plus side, the longs are very solid and clean, inner and outer, on both sides, as is the lower fire wall where all the cable fittings attach.

Other body issues: the front and rear right fenders were replaced at some time, as was the right side of the front panel (but the floor and inner right fender are original). The groove for the front trunk gasket is messed up in places, but not rusty. The rear trunk and engine lid hinge mounts are messed up.

The windshield was glued and sealed with at least 4 different kinds of stuff. All the bright trim, and the bumpers, were painted black--and the front bumper looks repaired under the paint. And the black carries over with undercoat sprayed in the engine compartment, both trunks, and passenger area.

Inside, the seats were recovered--not stock but look pretty good. The dash and firewall cover look good. The door cards are uncut, but somebody cut speakers into the sides of the center console.

One final observation: the more I take things apart, the more ghetto repairs I find, with non-stock, mixed hardware, home-made brackets and wiring, and cheats.

First question: should I continue with my plan to restore to a nice running but not 100% vintage state? I kept looking for a place to stop as things came apart, but in my quest to remove all the sketchy stuff I am approaching a bare shell.

Second question: is this car worth the effort to replace the floor, patch the other rust, and straighten various bends and mis-fits? I know I will end up with a complete paint job, and replacing most of the rubber and trim. And none of this even considers the drive train.

Final question: if I end up with the body shell stripped bare, what's the logical approach and order of work, considering the floor, local patching around the hell hole and fire wall, and work on the front and rear?

[Superhawk996]

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Welcome to the world of 914s and the crap previous owners did to these cars when they literally cost more to keep running than they were worth.

I'm going to go out on a limb based on your garage space and say you have the space, tools and resources to fix it. So just dig in and fix it.

There are very few cars out there that don't have skeletons in the closet.

When you are done you have a reliable, known car.

The other option is go buy a $25k California car and hope for a better starting point. But, it will have skeletons too! There have been many $50k cars that still have skeletons. Typically as you move up in price point the concern items get smaller but there are still details that need work. Your call on where to start.

In my case I started with a rust mobile because I'm in the Midwest and don't mind metal fab work but I do value having a known commodity when I'm done. There are days I question my strategy but I really value having things done right.

Many of the issues that you'll see on this site are the result of 1/2 ass fixes. Old wiring needs to be taken care of. Drive trains need complete rebuilds, etc. If you take the time to fix it right, it will last another 45 years with good reliability. If you duct tape and bailing wire it, it will be unreliable for anything more than short drives between problems.

[SirAndy]

... based on your garage space and say you have the space, tools and resources to fix it. So just dig in and fix it ...

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