hi guys, just wondering what got you hooked on this little car. if you've got a moment..please elaborate thanks, Dave

Mines simple. Was looking for a Karman Ghia and saw a 914 sitting for sale on the side of the road. Looked at it, bought it, and the rest is history.

My uncle had one back in '84 and we had some good times in that car. 22 years later I bought mine. Not sure what took me so long to buy one but glad I did. I'll pass it down to my 6yo nephew one day for him to enjoy.

Happy Motoring and Happy New Years to you guys and gals!

bought one new (72 tangerine) -loved it---kids came -had to be practical -sold it. Recent years had opportunity to rebuild one --cheap barn find--bought 2 more and sold them and have one left--still enjoy this...

Many many years ago, my dad had a 356. I thought it was the coolest car ever. I looked around for a 914 as it was the cheapest Porsche around, but couldn't find one locally (this was the early '80s) so I settled for a '73 Celica instead. (Cool car too, but it got wrecked.)

914s fell off my radar for years, until a friend bought one in the late 90s and named it Babydoll. Her husband wouldn't let her spend any money on a proper mechanic, so I stepped up to be the wrench. Now I get Babydoll from time to time when I am repairing her, although last time I had to give up my tail dragger for a couple of weeks (because we swapped cars to keep them both garaged).

A guy at a prty told me he had something I'd love. We went outside got in his car, and I experienced the rush of a lifetime. Saw him the next weekend and asked for another shot at it. Got the typical line of " hey man, I really like you but this stuff does cost me money ya know " So being the decent guy I am I ponied up a few bucks. Many years later and several $1000.00's later, I finally beat my crack addiction.

When I was was a kid I bought a 1976 Road & Track Sports and GT Cars edition. I carried that mag around for a couple of months and read it cover to cover more than once. Among others it had a 914, a 911 and a 930 in it. That coupled with the 914 that was parked on the street down the block with that 150 MPH speedo were probably the earliest provocation for me. I spend a lot of time now hunting down classic cars that I dreamed of owning in my youth and snapping them up for a little fun. The 914 is but one of a loooong list!

Not sure why this is in the sandbox. Definitely garage material. Moving...

after college, I was making (what I thought) was good money... I had a nice apartment, no GF/wife(not looking for one either) so I decided to get a project, something I could play with and still tweak. I looked at BMW z3s, a miata I almost bought, several 944s(I always wanted a 911). 911s were out of my range tho. I saw an ad in the paper for a 72 914. I called, talked to the guy. went over, drove it, the brakes needed work, but I had NO CLUE what else to look for... I worked on it for a while, but soon found I'd bought a worthless pile of rust that was falling in half. so I bought the car I have now as a roller, and 6+ years later it's finally "done" enough to be on the road.

Maybe it is my affinity for the underdog ! After selling a primo 73 S I decided this was my path to "fast". Bought a bone stock 6 except for some unspecified engine warming and found it was my path to "slow". Slowly turned it into a winner (even managing to whip my good friend Terry Z (ONCE ) at an AX. (That IS a war story) ...Went back to 911s and never got the satification compared to making that little car handle. Sold it when big tired corvettes of late 80s started killing me with there ABS and 17 inch wheels. Returned to 914-6s 2 years ago and have the "habit " bad ... Run conversion GT on the track to avoid potential of killing a real one but love em all. One that turns my crank the most is 2.7 with mechanical inj with gears .

'cause I not be too smart.

Started my love affair with Porsche in the early 60's while living in upstate NY. Bought a well used 356 Speedster (from a local dentist) while a member of the Southern New York Region of the SCCA (as a member worked as a Pit Marshall in two of the F-1 races at Watkins Glen) and really enjoyed the "oversteering--throttle steering" qualities of the 356.

Moved to Colorado in 1976 (after living in New Zealand for 6 years) and bought a '71 914 to get back into the Porsche fun. Lost it in an accident and bought a '74 2.0 that I restored (the one in the picture) and then sold it to my daughter in Amarillo where it now resides and I have visiting rights. I now have another '74 (1.8) that is the doner for the Buick/Rover V-8 conversion.

Having owned a 356 Speedster and run the course at Thompson, Conneticut, I will still take a 914 every time. Dollar for dollar they are the best.

Dave

Met a really cute blonde that moved in across the street from where I was renting around 1989 and she had a silver 2.0

Once I drove it on one of our dates and I was hooked. One the car!! Last I heard from her she ran the engine dry and seized the motor. I should have bought it then but I found one a few years later and recently found some pics of my 1st 914

70 with a 2.0 from a 74. Original color under the white and purple was Yellow and boy did it have rust issues!!!!

My dad loved to work on cars as i was growing up Triumph, Alfa, Spitfire ,etc. always little cars. he would rebuild them in the barn, respray them and sell them. i guess it imprinted my brain. i love little sport cars. saw a 914 decided my budget for a sport car started looking to buy one. was working in fells point baltimore one day talking to the lady making my sandwich you know (i am about to buy a porsche conversation ) when she tells me her husband has enough parts and two rollers he could assemble one complete car for me at a pre agreed apon price. I agreed and we wrote a 2 page contract and both signed it.

6-8 months later the car was almost done, the guy split town left me the keys, never heard from him again. car was running and i drove it home to finish building it. i had never paid the guy the final installment. i was happy

drove it every day.

had a kid, sold it.

had another kid

bought a nicer one

THE END

In 1973 I was just a young Private in the Air Force, had enough money for a movie and a milkshake, when I saw a brand new one at a dealership in Barrie Ontario, loved it right away. I got a 74 in 05 that was too far gone to save and then got the 73 2.0 that I am driving now, the 74 became a parts car. I am very happy to finally have one, I drive or did drive for a living and have many miles in many different vehicles under my belt, still get a thrill like no other tooling around in my teener.

Ian Stott
Moncton
Canada

Dad was a foreign car mechanic in the 1980's and had bought a '75 1.8 repo from the local bank. I got to drive it every once in a while and liked it.

Since I was a baby, we had to drive by Hanson VW/Porsche/Audi In Olympia, WA to get where we were going. A car guy seemingly at birth, I always loved looking at the VWs and Porsches as we drove by (as well as anything else with wheels and a motor). Seeing that brand new 914 on the pedestal ramp did it for me. I was hooked since I can remember probably around 1970-71 when I was 4 or 5 y/o. Took me a long time to finally get one, but it was well worth the wait!!

I didn't always have good taste though. In 1973 also fell in love with the VW Things. . . It wasn't until 30 years later that I had the chance to drive couple of Things. . . What loud tinny POSs they are. . .

Researching the best home EV conversion, and concluded it was the 914
Bought one, drove it, kept driving it, raced it, kept racin it
Still saving money for the EV kit!
In the mean time, everything but the stock 1.7 is getting restored and race prepped.
Light and tight will be great once the EV drivetrain is in, so no worries.
Just enjoying the ride one day at a time

"My mother was a french prostitute named Chloe..."

Peter Gregg sebring 1971 the 917's and sunoco ferrari were freat but the image of that little red 914 coming out of the corners and passing the calloway corvette's stayed with me for 30 years

Go here:

http://members.rennlist.com/markbs914s/


that's most of the story (only 4 years out of date now ). Someday I'll update it.

Here is the story....I owned a 1982 911SC Targa and have a love for Porsche cars. I am a surfer. I went over to Santa Cruz from San Jose one morning for a dawn patrol surf session. I was skunked by flat surf and drove home wave less. While reading the morning paper, I saw a ad for a Porsche. The ad read "1974 Porsche. Runs good, Straight body. $1000." I was intrigued. What kind of Porsche was it? Did I fall on a super deal? Was it a 911 or a 914? I called and went over to the shop that was selling the car right away. I did know what to look for on a 911 since I spent a year looking for the right 911 to buy. For the 911 I spent time asking questions, reading magazines and books, and scouring the web for the what to look for when buying a used 911. This was different. This was a 914 and I did not have a clue. I was unaware or the rust issues that these cars could encounter in the engine compartment, trunk areas, or behind the drivers seat. I did not know that the 4 cylinder cars came with different size engines (1.7, 1.8, and 2.0). At the point that I went to look at the car, I had never even driven a 914 but knew that I always wanted to check one out. I drove the car that the repair shop had just completed tuning and thought it was rough. I was willing to give it a shot since the car was so reasonable. I purchased the car for $800.00. I drove the car home 15 miles on the freeway at 70MPH on dry rotted Maypop (may pop at any time) tires.
Once home I started searching about 914's. I wanted to find out more about the cars and check out more about the color scheme. I came across Jeff Bowlsby web-site and emailed him. Oddly enough the authority on 914LE's in the US lived about 5 minutes from my hose in San Jose. Jeff came over and shared a lot of info about 914's and the LE cars. He even let me drive his restored white 914 2.0 so I could compare the power and handling. He had passion for 914's and it was infectious.
The LE I bought was in decent shape but needed work. Cracked windshield, dry rotted tires, poor spongy brakes that needed to be pumped just to start to get any pressure to get it to stop. The body was rough with a cracked valance, door dings galore, dent on rear quarter panel, and cracked turn signal lenses. I did luck out though for not knowing what to look for when buying a 914. I got a complete unmolested car with a 2.0 engine that was complete and running including the original fuel injection. The hell hole was in good shape and the longs were terrific. The parts were all there just not cared for well over the years.
What I did like about the car was how well it handled. I was used to my '82SC but liked how light the steering felt on the 914. It was go-cart like and a lot of fun. I could not have two "fun" cars, but my wife liked the car and let me restore it for her. She liked the colors and thought it was fun to drive too. I started with fixing the brakes . New 205/60/15 Yokohamas were installed. I changed the front shocks to Koni adjustable sport shocks and the rear to progressive 165lb springs. With the stock front and rear sway bars the car now handled and braked like a dream. I tracked down a parts car to get some of the hard to find parts such as the front Targa top to windshield seal and expensive lenses and other bits and pieces. Rather than completely destroying the parts car I did parts swapping and took the better of the two cars parts to make the LE the best I could afford. I did have to buy a lot of factory rubber from Porsche to make the car nice again. One of the hardest pieces to find was a original front LE valance. I wanted the car to be as original as I could afford and this was one of the parts that can easily be distinguished from the aftermarket LE valances.
Most body shops do only insurance work or will charge an arm and leg for classic cars. I had quotes go in to the $10K + range and was starting to think about doing the body and paint myself. I knew that the black would be very difficult since it would show any imperfections. I took the car to Bodylines Body Shop in San Jose for a paint job. Rich and Kelly, owners of Bodylines, took the job reasonability as long as I would not rush them in the process. They were going to work on the car as time permitted. They warned me up front that they would take on the job but insurance work was the priority. They said it could take as long as 3 months to complete. They usually have do insurance work only but will do classic cars although it is not their primary business. I did the stripping of the car at home which included the removal of almost every body trim piece including all whether stripping and all glass. Bodylines did a fantastic job and made the black and yellow car glow. I reassembled the car at home in my garage over the following several months (Feb 2006- June 2006). I have two kids, 2 years and 4years old, and was trying to balance being a good dad and completing the car for German Autofest in Ventura 2006. It was the Mid-engine mania year and I wanted to show the car. The car was completed in late June 2006.
On July 3rd, less than 2 weeks after completing the reassembly, my neighbor was spraying a new coat of Cabot clear wood finish on his newly installed fence. The wood finish was a urethane. He was on the inside of his fence and when he had moved to the out side I thought to my self - Oh Crap!!! The car was parked across the street while I was working in my garage. I did not know he was spraying and he did not check the area since usually no cars are parked near. He had oversprayed the fence and a fine coat of urethane was now sitting on all of the horizontal pieces of the newly completed car. The urethane would not polish off. I took he car to a detailer and no luck. The fresh paint was ruined. I had to strip the car again for a new paint job. Bodylines stripped the paint down to metal and did a terrific job again. They turned the car out with in weeks this time and I was able to get it reassembled in time for GAF.
I have since sold my SC for an original 914/6. My 914/6 is powered by a MFI 2.4S engine from a 1973 911S. The light weight, high revving power and superb balance makes it one fun car to drive. Yes, it is an addiction!

When I was a kid (maybe still are?) my parrents owened several gas stations. People would give us VW's. Started wrenching on them when I was 9. I think 914's are a natural progression. Here's a partial list.
60 Bug 1500cc
66 Bug radical unstreetable 1776 drag car, dual 48 IDA
63 Baja Bug 1600
69 Bug wide body (fiberglass), 4 spoke Cragen's, 2bbl webber (lame)
71 Super Convertible, got stolen and stripped (major POS)
66 Fastback typ 3, passenger door would fly open at random intervals
67 Fastback typ 3
63 Bus, double door, chop top, panel bus with RX7 engine (This thing was wicked fast, would not stop!)
71 914, Ford 5.0L v8 EFI
69 911 Targa, converted to a C2 wide body cabriolet, 3.2L
and present car
73 914 street legal track car, Chevy V8 EFI

That's only a few of the variants I have owned. I just can't leave well enough alone... My dad would always FAIL my smog checks back in the day. Asshole!...love you man...