Well the scary day has arrived my child will be behind the wheel, but at least it will be behind the wheel of a 1972 914 1.7l!!! I told her that I would paint it any color she wanted and put any color interior. She has chosen black for the paint, but would like some purple involved on the interior.

SCARED; ANY IDEAS???

Interior ideas for a 16 yr old girl?

LOCK HER IN THE INTERIOR OF THE HOUSE TIL SHE IS 30!!!

A full cage and 5 point harness. The seat belts and roll bar pad can be purple. As you can tell, I'm the over protective type.

Will the nuns even allow her to paint her cell at the convent?

The Cap'n

Young first driver in a 914 is scary. Maybe a bigger car for her safety will be better. Might want to think about it first.

Did you show here this thread before she made her choice?
http://www.914world.com/bbs2/index.php?showtopic=43032

I bet she'd like pink better than black ...
Andy

Haha, I use the teener as my daily transportation. 2.0l 4, and I'm a young 16 years old. My car has a roll hoop and door bars though, and I'm working on the 5-point harnesses..

Best bet would be to leave the interior the way it is. It is difficult as it is to keep my interior clean from soccer gear and school books, and black hides stains nicely, which for some, is a big deal (open drinks and no cup holders) Purple wouldn't last too long I think.

Absolutely...if you love her, get her something with air bags, ABS, and traction control. Ever read the stats on accidents in the under 21 crowd. Ever think about the difference in a drunk in a Ford Excursion hitting her head on in that toy or (at least) a Civic with modern crash zones, ABS, air bags, etc.

but yea, if it was my daughter I'd tend to agree with the others, but I'd let her drive the teener around some times.

maybe even to school.. but the HS is about 5 miles from my house(or as I like to say, more than the 500 yards mandated)... not a long drive at all...

Find the recent crash video showing a behemoth '59 Impala hitting a 2009 Chevy Malibu in a head on. Guess which one won by a landslide?

Wow, does that car come with a gold chain and a shirt without top buttons?

And a place to leave your shoes.

Get her to choose a purple paisley fabric and do the door cards and seat squabs and backs - would look awesome.

Lucky Girl. I can't wait to let my son drive the 914 :8

guys he is looking for color ideas not parenting instruction....

i say look at a nice light Tan... like the MBs or Current VWs

How about Purple L.E.D.'s for the gauges, and stock black interior but purple neon under the dash will light up the carpet purple.

That way it's easily reversed

Keep the interior black, buy the wet okole (spelling) seat covers with the purple in them. Get black loyd mats with the 914 logo in purple to match. That way everything is protected but easily changed back. Maybe find a custom shift knob.

I found my 16YO daughter a mid 90's beamer with airbags and ABS. 4 Cyl automatic too, can't burn that out !

Some nice purple lighting with some accents like the floor mats purple would look nice with a black interior. You could also ask Toast who did her seat covers and get some purple and black covers that look like they are seats. If she did change her mind later on about the color, it would be easily reverseable.

http://www.superbrightleds.com/BA9S6_specs.htm

Only see blue, not purple though.

I looked at alot of crashed and wrecked 914's prior to giving my son a 914.
The passenger compartment holds up really quite well.
Ensure you have the later body doors....those are key.

If you doubt me, look up "rocket" and his restoration (and demise) of his purple car. He hit a tree very hard and walked away with nothing more than a bruised ego...car it totalled.

She will be fine.

Go for a retro interior with some of the early plaid on the seats...

Rich

I have seen the aftermarket seats with purple accents. They also come with the holes for the 4 point harness. My first car was a ford pinto (I obviously did not blow up) and everyone told my parents how stupid they were for buying me the car. It wasn't the 67 lemans I wanted, but it got me evrywhere I wanted to go safely!

With a new driver, can't you get her an old Volvo wagen till she learns how to drive? A good Porsche friend had his son go through a nice 914 and a 914-6 before he got through his early driving years.

Luckily, both cars protected well during the crashes, and his son was fine. However, the cars were toast and not repairable. They're not making any more of these anymore, so there should be a bit of preservation desire in our group. It just seems that it takes a while for new drivers to "get" it.

When my son had his first accident (in a Volve 245 Turbo wagen), I made him actually repair the fender/headlight assembly to see what was involved. He's a much better driver now!

Ask hot shoe914 how a 914 holds up in a frontal crash.....He had as bad of a crash in a 914 as I've seen....his nephew got a broke collar bone from the seat belt. Maybe he has pics to post.....

I would agree the later doors are the ticket. Also the old seat belts suck. Install a harness bar and a 4 point. You can have terry cloth padded covers made for the belts in Purple. Install them over the belts with velcro. I would avoid the cage. Too much of a chance of a unprotected head or limbs contacting the bars. Unless she is going to drive with a helmet everyday.....

You mean this one Jt? I took the broken collar bone from the seatbelt, nephew took a dash to the side of his head!

Click to view attachment
Click to view attachment

One of our family friends 19yr/old daughter was killed in a car crash, hit the shoulder and flipped into a ditch.

She was driving a full size GM SUV.

I concede...air bags, crumple zones, ABS and traction control were all useless in that situation. Now...run that SUV head on into a 914...

At 60mph you're still both dead. How about run the SUV into a dumptruck...back of a semi...
I've see a lot of flipped SUV's...It's almost that season here.

I concede...you're right...a 40 year old design in a 2,000 pound car is equally safe in a head one with a modern 5,000 pound SUV. When you're right you're right!

Yes, that crash Don....sorry I had my injuries wrong....It's been a long time since that happened...Maybe you can tell the story....It does show how well the passenger's compartment holds up in a frontal....

I know a guy who almost died when he got hit head on; he was driving a newer dump truck. Even the largest vehicles can still allow you to be hurt.

That said, I've had my 914 for 7 years. Its been a DD for the last 2.5 or so and I'm only 21. To be safe you just need to learn how to drive defensively. People aren't trying to kill you; they just don't pay attention. You only need to learn to stay away from careless people on the roads, but that is really true in any car. I would feel totally comfortable giving a 16 year old (provided they aren't stupid reckless) a 914. The reckless kid will hurt themselves or more likely others in any car; I feel that the marque doesn't really matter.

Sorry for continuing the hijack.


I like the above suggestion of Wet Okole seat covers. They'll both protect the seats and look cool. Carpeting with colored edging would also look pretty good IMO. The best part is all of those things protect the car and are still subtle enough touches to make a difference without going overboard.

The best color for a new teenage driver is AIRBAG!

http://www.wetokole.com/mm5/merchant.mvc?S...-914-Galery1971

This is what I was talking about seat covers. Only change the blue for purple.

It's sooooo hard arguing with this kind of logic. Of course people have gotten killed in large vehicles. That's your rationale? Do you realize that cars have safety factor ratings? Of course defensive driving helps...that's a given. My DD has two wheels. I have yet to die while riding it while folks in Volvos have died...go figure. If this is the argument, I've really gotta stop, because it's nonsensical. The marque really doesn't matter? You're serious?

For your consideration...eliminate the marque factor...a drunken driver runs into you head on (happens here in Maryland all the time...not sure where you live). Which car are you more likely to survive in, a 40 year old 914, or a new Cayman?

Please...somebody who understands engineering advances in the past 40 years, feel free to chime in.

I gave my 16yo one and he smacked it up. Boy was I stupid.

I'm sure some 20 year old will chime in and say that it could also happen to a 40 year old.

In the spirit of returning to the thread title, I think we can all accept the above post as being the key.

SO let's just say that this 16 year old is an expert in defensive driving .

I like the idea of purple seat covers and accessories. So when she gets her tickets and isn't allowed to drive anymore, you can drive it around without fear of embarrassment. All because of the fact that guys in purple cars aren't like us normal folk... Not that there's anything wrong with that.

And just to make sure I'm not misunderstood, the comment that "guys in purple cars aren't like us normal folk" refers to an obvious case of being color-blind. Because, no normal person likes a purple car

I like your logic much better, ken.....keep the lowest horse powered engine in the car,give her the keys and pray about it every now and then!!

BTW...my girl friend was born in Cumberland,in fact her mother and brother still
reside there, how close is that to you? We'll be visiting there soon,maybe we can
hook-up?

you cannot argue with it, ken, it's HIS daughter, he will do what he chooses. I only hope it's not a decision that he later regrets

I like the okole seat covers but OUCH that's $$ for seat covers, do they fit PERFECT?! and never bunch up or come loose? because you can almost get seats re-upholstered for that...

FWIW, I lost control of a civic when I was young, driving on ice too fast. smacked a guard rail HARD. and walked away, and even the car was fine. about 5k in body damage, including a bent frame. but if I had been in the truck I'd just gotten rid of, I'd have flipped over the guard rail, and not been so lucky.

accidents DO happen. you just never know which accident you'll be in so you don't know which vehicle will be better in the scenario.

It's doable:
Click to view attachment

And there are scenarios where it's better not to have on a seat belt, and scenarios where it's better to not be wearing a helmet on a motorcycle, but "not knowing which accident you'll be in", it's a lot smarter to wear both...play the odds.

oh, to me, there's never a scenario I'd rather be in the 914 vs my daily beater 98 civic... not many I'd rather be in a SUV or truck over the civic

I think that teenage driver safety is probably 99% related to the behavior/responsibility of the teenager, and 1% car safety features. You can get hurt doing really stupid things in really safe cars.

Fortunately, my daughter is 9 months old so I have some time to reconsider this.

But... I've had my 914 since I was 15 (33 now). I think it was a great first car. It was a 2.0 4 cyl (now a 3.6 six) when I was young, which is probably a good idea.

Now we agree.

hahaha! By the time you blink she's going to be 16 years old with boys knocking at the door and her wanting the car keys! Enjoy the time you have now, because in a few years you'll never know where that time went.

And the day after that, you get a phonecall with someone stuttering the word "grandfather" ...
Andy

I like the okole seat covers but OUCH that's $$ for seat covers, do they fit PERFECT?! and never bunch up or come loose? because you can almost get seats re-upholstered for that...

Wet Okole seat covers do fit that well, don't bunch or come off. Had them in a Honda Odyssey, the dogs sat on them every day, four years later they still looked like new after a wash.

And you can get seat warmers installed in them to!