Move over Smoggy and make room for Foggy, Adopted jeffdon’s 72 Options

[markhoward]

I’ve been meaning to post about the latest 914 to hit my stable but it did not feel right until now. Unfortunately, we lost our friend Jeff Donnelly (jeffdon) last month at age 59. He will be missed by many. Jeff was a good friend and is the one that got me into the 914 flow. We would hang at the pub and talk about them and other things automotive. After a while, I ended up purchasing his 76 project now known as Smoggy. Unfortunate circumstances has also made me the caretaker of Jeff’s 72, a car he loved. The 72 fell in disrepair a few years back after a string of engine failures. Jeff intended to get it back on the road but life’s turns prevented that from happening. Jeff’s family and friends thought I was the natural choice to bring the car back so a deal was worked out and a new project was in my hands. Working on Smoggy and other 914’s has made me appreciate how each car can have different attributes and drawbacks. The 72, which today got named Foggy, is pretty much rust minimal as far as 914’s go. Really.. I will show some pics soon. Jeff said he did not have to deal with the hellhole, etc and wouldn’t you know it, that is what I confirmed today. There are some bumps and bruises to deal with which I will elaborate on later as I take on those tasks. My plan is to freshen the car mechanically by installing a d-jet 2056 picked up a while back for Smoggy. There will be lots of parts raiding from the Smoggy stash as well as some new purchases. So far, I have gutted the interior and have done extensive cleaning of the underside to assess condition and because I can’t help myself. It had early struts with floppy pinch bolt ball joints so I decided to rip apart the front suspension and use the front struts from smoggy. Sent all that off to the powdercoater while the calipers went to PMB for some Eric magic. A 914 rubber order was placed for all kinds of freshening bits. I plan to put new carpet and maybe do up the seats if they are not passable. Keeping the tailshift for now to control scope creep. I hope to have Foggy back on the road in the next couple months and to take to WCR and maybe Red Rocks Classic. So anyway, that’s what has been going on in San Rafael. We miss you Jeff.