Finally meeting the original owner of my 914 Options

[914Next]

I have exchanged emails with the original owner of my 914 a couple of times a year since I bought it in 2014. He had owned it for 41 years. He sold it to someone who sold it to me just 2-3 months later so Jim and I represent about 48 years of ownership.

Jim is a great guy who took amazing care of the car. He, his partner and son drove five hours from Minneapolis to our place in Ephraim WI. Had a great time chatting and going to dinner with them.

[SirAndy]

I sometimes wonder what it would be like to meet any of the previous owners for any one of my two 914s.

My first one i bought from a shop in San Rafael and my second one went through several "flippers" until it ended up in my hands.
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[ClayPerrine]

I bought mine from a friend. He bough it out of a field by the local Air force base. I still give him crap about being the DAPO.

The six came from Rusty, so I know the history as far as he knows it.

Betty is the second owner of hers. She didn't meet the original owner. A flipper bought it, put a clutch in it, and sold it to her. He never titled it in his name so he doesn't count.

Clay

[emerygt350]

Mine has had only one real owner. He passed away in 2013? I believe, I have the obituary and the comments mention my car. I ran into his widow at the grocery store (she lives a couple houses away) and she had great stories. Apparently they both got new cars in 73 (back in LA). She got a jag and he got the 914. Anyway, after he passed the car sat in a garage here in NY for almost 10 years. She told me she told her kids sentimental stuff only went so far and they should sell it. Made me feel better about it, she was happy to see it out and about. She must be at least 90.

[bkrantz]

If I ever meet any previous owners of my car, they will have some serious splanin to do.

[914Next]

Mine has had only one real owner. He passed away in 2013? I believe, I have the obituary and the comments mention my car. I ran into his widow at the grocery store (she lives a couple houses away) and she had great stories. Apparently they both got new cars in 73 (back in LA). She got a jag and he got the 914. Anyway, after he passed the car sat in a garage here in NY for almost 10 years. She told me she told her kids sentimental stuff only went so far and they should sell it. Made me feel better about it, she was happy to see it out and about. She must be at least 90.

It is great to hear about the history of our cars. I love documenting that. Jim is almost 85 and very healthy but that history disappears quickly and our cars are approaching the age where many original owners are reaching an old age.

[euro911]

That's cool that you were able to keep in contact with the original owner.

I bought my first one (a '71) in 1973 from a friend who's dad owned a wrecking yard. He and his dad rebuilt the motor, repainted the car metallic gold, including the sails and a smoothed-out top, as well as putting a set of Gurney 'bottlecap' wheels on it. They also lowered the car a couple of inches. It looked totally different than any other 914 I had seen around before (IMG:style_emoticons/default/drooley.gif) ... Sorry, no pix. Had to sell it a short time later, as I needed to buy a van to haul my dirt bikes around ...



I picked up a second one (the 'BB') 33 years later, from a body shop in Orange County in 2006.



It was a botched-up '75 that took a lot of work to get back on the road. I think it had a few, or even several DAPOs before me. After I pretty much finished it, in a dumb move, I sold it to Bill ( @billh1963 ) in mid-2018 (IMG:style_emoticons/default/screwy.gif)




The third one was a '71 ('HOWARD') that I picked up for my wife in early 2007. I purchased it from the original owner (Jack - who was not a member here) and it was as stock as it could be. One of our beloved members, Howard Drano ( @Howard ) hooked me up with Jack when he found he was thinking about selling it. Howard unexpectedly passed away a few months in July of 2007, so my wife decided to name it 'HOWARD') (IMG:style_emoticons/default/sad.gif)



I stuck the set of polished Empi 8-spokes that were originally on the 'BB' on it, replaced all the F.I. system's hoses, changed the oil, did a tune-up and drove it on the 2008 Rt-66 Run up to Winslow, AZ and back to So Cal ... and it ran great (IMG:style_emoticons/default/driving.gif)



I still have this one, although it suffered some damage in an incident on it's way to AZ in late December of 2020, so it's going to take a bit more work than originally anticipated (IMG:style_emoticons/default/dry.gif)





I bought my forth one (a '72) from Scott Kline ( @skline ). I grabbed the motor & trans, then sold the car to Thomas Spretke (@T H O M A S).




Thomas transformed it into the awesome 'Dark Knight'.

(IMG:http://www.914world.com/bbs2/uploads/post-3095-1302019620_thumb.jpg)



Bought my fifth one, a 5-lugged '73, from Eddie Brown up in Bakersfield in 2009.

(IMG:http://www.914world.com/bbs2/uploads/post-7300-1355037211.jpg)

I started de-rusting the surface rust on the body, and planned to stick my 2.7L/6 in it, but that's as far as I got by the time I was ready to close up the shop my brother & I had.

(IMG:http://www.914world.com/bbs2/uploads/post-7300-1358129193.jpg)


Sold it to Steve ( @pneuhyde ) in mid-2013.

(IMG:http://www.914world.com/bbs2/uploads/post-7300-1372635825.jpg)

[wonkipop]

@914Next
thats great mate.
not too many of those orig old blokes left.
its amazing he owned it for 41 years, must have loved it hey. (IMG:style_emoticons/default/beerchug.gif)

i never got to meet the first owner of mine, only the widower.
it was her car.
i should have taken a photo of him but you didn't carry cameras around like you do phones these days. their names are still in the owners manual.
she was delores. both names are in the manual but he said it was her car.
he sold it back then to me because he was moving on with a new chick.
it had been sitting in his garage for a couple of years.
i think he shed a tear when i had it flat bedded away.
(yep it had to be flat bedded in 89, was leaking fuel everywhere, i didn't even test drive it).

[mlindner]

Yea Steve, another 914 in Wisconsin. Owned mine for 44 years. Would love it if the Ephraim Hill Climb would come back. I'm ready. Mark

[euro911]

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[914Next]

Yea Steve, another 914 in Wisconsin. Owned mine for 44 years. Would love it if the Ephraim Hill Climb would come back. I'm ready. Mark

@mlindner . nice car! I have heard of the Enphraim Hill climb. Was it German road? Agree.....would be fun to have something like that here. Do you know what years it was held?

Steve

[Boothy]

Great thread!

Mine originally came from a woman in VT who used it as a summer car. She had some vision issues which explained a LARGE mirror and possibly all the passenger side dents. I still have her parking pass on the dash.

I can't throw stones with two pairs of glasses and several mark on the passenger side of my F150.

[gandalf_025]

I met the original owner of my car in May 1973.
We were both in for service at the Dealership he
bought my car from new, traded it when the Warranty
was about to expire and bought a new 911.

He was well known at the dealership because he
didn't know which end of a screwdriver to hold and
he constantly lost his car keys ,,,,
They had a bunch of spare keys for the car at the Service Desk.

They gave them to me when I was in there one day..

Nice enough guy..... I tried finding him again, but no luck..

[Root_Werks]

Some very cool stories! Wish my 914 had something similar. It was owned by a family for 34-ish years, but I have no papers for anything before I bought it.

[KELTY360]

The original owner of my '74 2.0 lived in Massachusetts where she sold it to the second owner, Alan, who took it to New Mexico where it lived from '77-'05 when Oscar ( @ValcoOscar ) bought it for his wife, who later decided she wanted a Boxster. Oscar put it on ebay where I found it in Dec. '05 and drove it from SoCal to Seattle in Jan. '06.

I contacted Alan who filled in details about the engine and transmission rebuild he performed in '92. Periodically, he emails me to check up on the car. Just last week I was able to tell him that the car is running great and now only gets used on dry days.

[ValcoOscar]

The original owner of my '74 2.0 lived in Massachusetts where she sold it to the second owner, Alan, who took it to New Mexico where it lived from '77-'05 when Oscar ( @ValcoOscar ) bought it for his wife, who later decided she wanted a Boxster. Oscar put it on ebay where I found it in Dec. '05 and drove it from SoCal to Seattle in Jan. '06.

I contacted Alan who filled in details about the engine and transmission rebuild he performed in '92. Periodically, he emails me to check up on the car. Just last week I was able to tell him that the car is running great and now only gets used on dry days.

Very cool Marc....keeping them on the road is what its all about.

Great to hear the update

(IMG:style_emoticons/default/beerchug.gif)
Oscar