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?

[Nogoodwithusernames]

I don't think I've ever shared the story of how I got my 914-4 on here, so here goes.

It all started about 5 years ago, I would have just turned 21 earlier in the year, and I had a MG-TD kit car and a VW Squareback that took turns as my daily drivers. Embarrassingly I was still living at home but I did buy my own house a year or so later so cut me some slack.

Anyways around the corner from my parents, this funky orange car with "PORSCHE" big and bold on the 911 reflector had been sitting out in a driveway for years, as long as I could remember.

Got up the courage to walk over there and ring the doorbell one day and an older gentleman opens the door and I proceed to awkwardly stumble my way through an introduction, but it turned out well. He figured out, despite my bungling it, that I was the kid down the street always wrenching on the old cars. Turns out he and his brother used to actually race real MG-TDs back in the day, so we hit it off pretty well and we soon transitioned to the Porsche in the driveway. Turns out he'd had it for quite a while and had gotten it re-painted and engine re-built but ended up parking it shortly after that and it got kicked out of the garage by the fastback Mustang and the boat.

He'd had quite a few people over the years try to buy it off him, likely to flip and make a quick buck he thought. However he said he was willing to sell it to me since he figured I'd work on it and drive it and enjoy it. So I ran home and grabbed a battery and can of gas and we tried starting it up, lo and behold after priming the fuel lines a few times it fired right up. Went home and did some research online, had my dad come sit in the passenger seat and closed the door, door closed just fine. Checked over the body and such and all seemed well. Interior was in great shape, still had the stock D-jet. The only real flaw came from sitting under a car cover and then under the California sun, as the trunk and hood were not in amazing shape and there was a little bit of paint damage on the tops of the fenders as well.

We came to an agreement of $3000 though, which was well under the KBB value and I raced home and put the kit car up on craigslist to try and raise some of that money. Listed it at $3000. By some miracle it sold within a couple of days for the list price, so cash in hand I walked over and bought my first Porsche. Straight across from a poorly built kit car (I still have no idea how the PO managed to build it 1/2" off from side to side??? I guess they didn't believe in measuring things.) to a stock, running and driving '74 2.0l. Drove it home that afternoon after airing up the tires.

Of course as with any car sitting for a while I quickly changed out the old fuel lines and oil, shortly followed by going through the brake system and new tires.

A few short years later that car drove me and my new bride up the California coast for our honeymoon. She even let me have some fun in the twisties. (See user photo for our stop at one of the lighthouses along the north coast.) I still try to stop by there every once in a while and say hello so he can see the old car still running around.