914 stories Options

[Ace Le Count]

Does anyone have some crazy 914 stories that they'd like to share? Maybe your son/daughter was born in one? Maybe you drag raced someone that was getting cocky because they thought their riced out civic was faster? Maybe you used a 914 as a getaway car after you robbed a bank? How has your 914 saved the day?

[KSCarrera]

Mid-90s I was looking to buy a Porsche to go with my VWs. Looked at various that I could afford (944s, a 914 1.7, etc) but nothing appealed. Then one morning I get a call from an old Porsche guy over here, a real 356 guru, whose first words were 'You still looking for a Porsche?' He went on to tell me about a friend in Paris who was looking to sell his 914/6. He'd owned it for close on 20 years but hadn't used it for several years. He gave me his number, with the note that 'Valentin doesn't speak much English'. My French was passable face to face but not great over the phone, but I had no option but to call.

Eventually I managed to get the info I needed, and a price – the equivalent of about $8000 US. He told me the best thing would be to fly to Paris to check the car to make sure, which I did a week later. Turns out Valentin was the service manager at Sonauto, the French Porsche importers, and the car (an original Sonauto-supplied car) was stored in an underground garage in a residential area nearby. I checked the car, which had been buried under blankets and other household junk, and agreed to buy it.

In the meantime, I had done a deal to sell a VW of mine to a friend in France, so I trailered the Bug out to France, and then headed into Paris to collect the 914/6. Now the car didn't run (it hadn't been started for nearly 10 years) and I had no option but to park the tow car and trailer in the middle of a narrow Parisian street while we manhandled the Porsche up a sloping ramp from its underground resting place. A line of cars started to form, the owners becoming increasingly impatient, horns blaring, fists waving. I looked at Valentin and his reaction was a shrug of the shoulders and the words 'It's Paris, they wait...'.

I drove home with a huge smile on my face, and enjoyed a few years of 914/6 ownership until a divorce and property sale meant I had to say farewell to my Metallic Blue 'six' vin #9140431172. I sold it for the equivalent of $16,000, close to the price I paid for my 914/4 15 years later. Happy days.