914 stories Options

[VaccaRabite]

Back in April of 2010.

It was time for the big Hershey PA swap meet. I don't think we had started calling it the MidEngine Invasion yet. But I also had to fly out to Kansas City on Sunday early for work so I could not party much Saturday night.

So Thursday, Friday, and Saturday I'm driving my 914 fairly hard. Sat night I drive home to pack and sleep before my flight Sunday morning.

My daily at the time was a Subaru Outback Sport. Great car, but not nearly as nimble as the 914. I'm racing down to BWI at a speed that felt similar to what I had been doing in the 914 all weekend. Then I hit the cloverleaf where 95S/195 and the Park and Ride is, and I realized I was going WAY to fast to make that turn in my Subaru. Car started sliding off the road and I'm having visions of how I'm going to explain that I missed my flight because I was driving my 914 all weekend and then tried to drive a normal car that way.

I'm not at all sure how I kept the car on the road. That exit ramp is a tight ramp and at the end of it the Subaru was well onto the shoulder with tires squealing. I finished the drive to BWI airport at a much more pedestrian pace.

Made my flight and ended up having a surprisingly great time in Kansas City even though it was a work trip.

Zach

[rgalla9146]

The day I bought my orange 6 it was parked between two other Porsches. December of 1984
On one side there was a 904 with a 911 engine...possibly one of two made.
On the other side was a very early 911 with some unusual features.
As I recall the 904 was $17,000
The 911 $6,500
My car was $2,500...with no engine.
Today, ANY 904 today is worth ????
Today, ANY PROTOTYPE 911 (the only one in private hands !) is worth ????
Both of the others were too much money.
I still have the one I could afford. And love it. They're all priceless.

[EvilOlderBrother]

Let's go back to 1973. Our Mother asks me to take my little brother (Panel Billy) out for a long weekend so she can get some quiet time. We grab some sleeping bags and hop in my '70 Adriatic Blue 914 to head to Soap Lakes in Eastern Washington. Those knowing eastern Washington recognize that there is no way we can stay at or even close to the posted speed limit. Top down and flying along, we come around a bend only to be met with a Washington State Patrol coming the other way. Looking in my mirror I see him hit his brakes but know there are only a few places for him to turn around. Look at Billy and say, we need soda and gas and passed a station a few miles back. So, with our wheelbase, jump a quick U-turn and head back.
Just get the car up to a good speed only to see the same State Patrol guy come by as he had also made a U-turn. Pulled into the gas station, sent Billy in to pick up cold sodas and he comes out to just in time to see the white Dodge pull up behind me. Billy's eyes were as big as saucers (probably thinking of jail) but the cop just looked at both of us and told me to slow it down. He tailed us for a few miles before taking off after someone else. We had a nice weekend except for both getting thoroughly sunburned.

[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.

[akp2002]

In 1977 I bought my 1970 914 from the original owner when I was 22 years old. Loved it and put it away every winter and drove some old shitbox VW bug. Put a 2.0 engine in and all kinds of other work. In 1986 after our son was born I sold the car so my wife wouldn't have to go back to work. I sold it to a guy I some what became friends with and stayed in touch with. 2006 when I turned 50 my wife tracked down the car, my friend had sold it to his dentist on the other side of the state. The dentist was in the midst of restoring it, new crate motor, all new brakes, suspension and steering. She convinced him to sell it to her, she arranged to have it shipped to our house so one day I come home and there is my 914 that I haven't seen in 20 years sitting in the driveway with a big bow on it. They are both keepers!

[RARE 6]

The day I bought my orange 6 it was parked between two other Porsches. December of 1984
On one side there was a 904 with a 911 engine...possibly one of two made.
On the other side was a very early 911 with some unusual features.
As I recall the 904 was $17,000
The 911 $6,500
My car was $2,500...with no engine.
Today, ANY 904 today is worth ????
Today, ANY PROTOTYPE 911 (the only one in private hands !) is worth ????
Both of the others were too much money.
I still have the one I could afford. And love it. They're all priceless.

Similar story when we bought our 914-6 at Johnson-Bozzanni Porsche in Phoenix in September 1971. They had a 904 on consignment. Believe the ask was $22,000. Wish we could have swung it but $6,000 for the -6 was all the money in the world for us back then. But how cool would it have been to have my wife daily drive a 904 to work instead of a 914-6?

[jat914]

On May,2003, I did an HPDE (high performance driving education) event with the Chicago Region of PCA at Road America with my 914. The morning sessions were plagued with minor problems so I was VERY anxious to get back on the track after lunch. I lined up in my run group and everything seemed to be great on the warm-up lap. As I made it around for the first lap at speed, my steering wheel came off at the apex of the turn known as the "kink". It is the fastest turn on the 4 mile course that I could usually take with my foot flat to the floor. In my hurry to get on the track, I had only put the steering wheel on the splines but forgot to lock it!!! In the split second that it happened I tried to get it back on once and then closed my eyes for the impact with the concrete barrier. They always talk about your life passing before you at this time but there really wasn't that much time!! I should also mention that I have a full welded padded roll cage (tied into the shock towers), racing seat, a six point harness, fire suit, and helmet. Also the 914 crumple zone worked perfectly and I came out of it with only bruises from the shoulder harness. My 914 is another story but to sum it up I got another solid 914 front clip from my good friend Brad Mayer and my car was back on track September,2003. If you are ever at Road America you must go to Siebkens bar (the place where all the famous racers hung out after the track) and see the plaque that was placed there by the Chicago Region to remember my crash and also to give a yearly award to the person who does the same bonehead move!!

[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.

[jaredmcginness]

Then I hit the cloverleaf where 95S/195 and the Park and Ride is, and I realized I was going WAY to fast to make that turn in my Subaru. Car started sliding off the road and

I'm not at all sure how I kept the car on the road.

Zach

That's funny Zach @vaccarabite , I live less than a half mile off that 195 cloverleaf in Catonsville-ish.

A few years ago, I made the same turn (in the rain) in my 86 Trooper II and the rear end came out on me. Up on 2 wheels for a moment, I ended up with the tail in the grass and my tail clenched fairly tight.

Thought I had it!

[VaccaRabite]

That's funny Zach @vaccarabite , I live less than a half mile off that 195 cloverleaf in Catonsville-ish.

A few years ago, I made the same turn (in the rain) in my 86 Trooper II and the rear end came out on me. Up on 2 wheels for a moment, I ended up with the tail in the grass and my tail clenched fairly tight.

Thought I had it!

Its an unexpectedly tight ramp. I've got friends that live on Gun Rd, and used to mountain bike that section of Patapsco Park on a weekly basis. I used to constantly see a different car spun off the ramp at least once a month.

Zach

[Ace Le Count]

Bump! Lets get some more!

[Ace Le Count]

Come on, I know there are more stories to share!

[Ace Le Count]

Anyone, anyone?

[Ace Le Count]

Happy 914 Day everyone!

[Shivers]

It was a really nice morning, maybe 2:00 am. Top was off and I'd been driving for about 1.5 hrs from San Diego to LA. Coming up 605 fwy N. to the 210 E to visit my parents. When in my rear view mirror I see someone coming up fast, real fast. The off ramp for the 210 E. is a long sweeping ramp, and this guy behind me is flying. Challange accepted! I poured on the coal and was doing 90 half way through the turn, the other guys head lights right in my passenger side view mirror...I gave it the last little bit as he came into view through my passenger side window. The driver is wagging his finger at me and walked away from me on a call...Must of had a call or that California Highway Patrolman would have ruined the end of a great drive.

[mbr]

I turned 16 in 1989 and had bought a 1970 VW Beetle about 2 years prior to that so I had time to work on it, fix some minor rust and do some mods to make it cool for a 16 year old to drive. 6 months after I turned 16, I found a 73 914 2.0 and sold the Bug and bought the 914. I did not realize how much rust the 914 had until after I bought it. I was driving it one day and took a hard corner and the seat broke loose from the floor. Luckily I was able to maintain control of the car and used some metal plates to reattach the seat track to a less rusty part of the floor. I drove it for a few more months until winter came and due to the rusty rockers there was no heat or defrost. As a new driver, it seemed unsafe to have to scrape the frost off the inside of my windshield while driving and I realized it wasn't the right car to drive daily in the winter and I sold it. It was so much fun to drive but unfortunately it had seen too many salty winter days. According to DMV records, it is still registered and alive so I guess I sold it to the right person!

[ClayPerrine]

How I got into 914s.....

In 1985 I had a 1969 Firebird, and a friend started telling me about SCCA and road racing. He then started talking about autocross. I was a drag racer, but this road racing stuff sounds fun. So I start looking for a car to take road racing. Looked at Datsun/Nissan Z cars, old Bugeyes, MGs, etc. I didn't think I could even remotely afford a Porsche.

In the parking lot of the apartments where my friend lived, there was a 1979 924. One day a for sale sign appeared on the windshield. So I asked, and the price was actually affordable. So I bought it.

About a month later, in late October of 1985, I decided to take it to an Autocross. Two of my friends were supposed to go with me. One was the guy who later bought my 914 out of the field, the other was the one that talked about SCCA. Well, Sunday morning, both of them were so hung over they didn't want to go. I almost didn't go either. But figured I was already up and dressed, so I went alone to Dallas' Fair Park where SCCA was having an autocross. I didn't know anybody there. I signed up, and took all the stuff out of my car, taped numbers on it, and then started walking around the pits.

This little orange car was sitting there and I was intrigued. The owner was a girl who was taping numbers on the side of the car. So I started talking to her. Turns out we were in the same class. I was, at the time, a somewhat successful NHRA licensed racer, and I was winning on a regular basis. Well, to put it bluntly, I got my clock cleaned. While she didn't finish first, the girl in the 914 beat me by about 2 seconds. I put my bruised ego aside and asked her out. To my surprise, she accepted. We exchanged phone numbers.

Our first date was November 17, 1985. I drove 26 miles from Bedford, Texas to Plano, Texas. Considering I didn't know my way around Plano, she agreed to drive. I spent the whole date looking at a fogged over windshield because the heater box was disconnected on that side. She spent the whole time apologizing for it. That was the first 914 I ever rode in.

If you haven't figured it out by now, the girl in the car was @Betty . We have been together ever since. Later, while we were dating, I started working on her car. I found that the screen in one of the injectors was completely clogged up, and the car was only running on 3 cylinders. I cleaned it and it made way more power. And then the realization hit me. At that autocross, she beat me with only 3 cylinders. My ego is still bruised.

But going to that autocross was the best decision I ever made, and the bruised ego was a small price to pay for finding the two loves of my life. @Betty and 914s. (IMG:style_emoticons/default/wub.gif)

[Maltese Falcon]

The previous owner of #40 trailered the car to a PCA Parade event some years ago to Colorado.The car was well accepted and Mike spent lots of time speaking with members, answering questions etc. One morning a Mom pushing her baby in a stroller rolled up and looked the 914 over and said to Mike, "Well done this is the Best Sonauto tribute that I have ever seen" ! He politely thank her (IMG:style_emoticons/default/biggrin.gif)
(IMG:style_emoticons/default/number40_914.jpg)

[technicalninja]

I have many 914 stories...

One I'll share here involves my wife of 38 years.

I married my first girlfriend!
She was not my only girlfriend, just the best one I ever had.

My best friend and I were in my first 70 and I was complaining about not finding a girl like Paula. He'd never met her.
He turned to me and said "I'm tired of you bitching about girlfriends who are not like Paula. Why don't you try to find her?"

D'uh...

2 months later, after finding her (engaged none the less!) she called me.
She was having an allergic reaction and wanted to go to the emergency room.
Her, less than admirable, fiancé wouldn't take her; he was too busy...
Climbed into my 70 914 from Euless, in traffic, above 100 mph average, I picked her up in Lake Worth and took her to the emergency room.
That's when she decided I loved her far more than Gary did and broke it off with him.

So, my 914 helped me win my wife over. (IMG:style_emoticons/default/beerchug.gif)

[Fahren Cars]

How I got into 914s.....

In 1985 I had a 1969 Firebird, and a friend started telling me about SCCA and road racing. He then started talking about autocross. I was a drag racer, but this road racing stuff sounds fun. So I start looking for a car to take road racing. Looked at Datsun/Nissan Z cars, old Bugeyes, MGs, etc. I didn't think I could even remotely afford a Porsche.

In the parking lot of the apartments where my friend lived, there was a 1979 924. One day a for sale sign appeared on the windshield. So I asked, and the price was actually affordable. So I bought it.

About a month later, in late October of 1985, I decided to take it to an Autocross. Two of my friends were supposed to go with me. One was the guy who later bought my 914 out of the field, the other was the one that talked about SCCA. Well, Sunday morning, both of them were so hung over they didn't want to go. I almost didn't go either. But figured I was already up and dressed, so I went alone to Dallas' Fair Park where SCCA was having an autocross. I didn't know anybody there. I signed up, and took all the stuff out of my car, taped numbers on it, and then started walking around the pits.

This little orange car was sitting there and I was intrigued. The owner was a girl who was taping numbers on the side of the car. So I started talking to her. Turns out we were in the same class. I was, at the time, a somewhat successful NHRA licensed racer, and I was winning on a regular basis. Well, to put it bluntly, I got my clock cleaned. While she didn't finish first, the girl in the 914 beat me by about 2 seconds. I put my bruised ego aside and asked her out. To my surprise, she accepted. We exchanged phone numbers.

Our first date was November 17, 1985. I drove 26 miles from Bedford, Texas to Plano, Texas. Considering I didn't know my way around Plano, she agreed to drive. I spent the whole date looking at a fogged over windshield because the heater box was disconnected on that side. She spent the whole time apologizing for it. That was the first 914 I ever rode in.

If you haven't figured it out by now, the girl in the car was @Betty . We have been together ever since. Later, while we were dating, I started working on her car. I found that the screen in one of the injectors was completely clogged up, and the car was only running on 3 cylinders. I cleaned it and it made way more power. And then the realization hit me. At that autocross, she beat me with only 3 cylinders. My ego is still bruised.

But going to that autocross was the best decision I ever made, and the bruised ego was a small price to pay for finding the two loves of my life. @Betty and 914s. (IMG:style_emoticons/default/wub.gif)

That is spectacular. Nice meeting you both this weekend at Mayo. @Betty needs to meet my wife Michelle and convince her to autocross. Michelle loves to drive fast on the backroads north of Celina and her Mom is also Betty so they would hit it off I'm sure.