My only insults revolve around the fact that I haven't gotten it done yet...

"Is that thing ever going to run?"

Maybe one day I'll prove em wrong.

Only one insult in 37 years. 10 year old kid said to his dad, " wow dad look, its a porsche". Dad said "no son, thats not a real Porsche". As the kid helped his dad up off the ground, He asked his dad, " was that a real punch dad?"

My son, a high school junior, was working with two other students on a physics catapult project early this week. They needed some tools out of my shop and saw the "zonk" sitting there on jackstands. The two students, both girls, knew exactly what it was and complemented my son on his dad's cool car.

Made my whole week!

It isn't just 914's. I had one of the first 944's in the SF Bay Area when they came out, and I got plenty of NARP comments. I'm sure 924 owners did, too.

I only seem to get compliments these days. And I noticed I never got any insults from the many BMW drivers at the BMWCCA DE events I drove my 914 at (I had an M3, too). Especially the ones who had to pull over and let the 95 HP "VW" pass them.

The only insults I get are from the Porsche shop. The guy likes to say rude things about my car and my love for 914's in front of other customers. They all have 911's and 356's. His real problem is the fact that I can make my car run without paying him to do the work and it's killing him. I think it's pretty funny. You ought to hear him when he sees me working on my car. He visits my shop just to insult me. My car will never run right. Am I aware that the holes in the jets are going to get bigger if I use a reamer on them? Your co levels are way too low....they're actually a bit high at idle...2.9. There's no way I could possibly do anything right....Then he heard it run. "That sounds real good". Then he left.

You guys are way too serious about "insults". Every one described is from someone who's simply clueless, so why do you care? And did you ever consider that those morons were doing you a favor by identifying themselves as idiots right off the bat? Worst thing in the world is to waste a lot of time before you discover the guy's a fool, and by then it's already hard to get rid of them.

Closest thing lately was from my buddy who's past two toy cars have been Late model Nissan Z-cars.

"Why don't you just get something you can drive?"

Of course, in the 5 years I have known him, the car has been queen of the jackstands. But thats changing this spring. Or summer. For sure. Really.

Andrew,
be careful with that statement because VW does have a 914 at the wolfsburg museum. If i remember correctly from when I was there they claim it is the first production one or maybe the prototype (can't quite remember). The book is out in my shop now so I don't recall exactly though. This is a scan from the museum book I have and they list it as a 1969.
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JIM

This reminds me of the stories thread a while back with the parking lot attendant bitching about the electric teener in the electric car only space and the mustang going off the road after trying to keep ahead. Wish I could find that thread, classic stories.

Hey Ferg! Was that the guy who you where playing with on the way to RCC 4 years ago? The guy that you would blow by on the straights, slow down to let him pass and then pass him on the next curve? I was sitting back behind you laughing my butt off. He was no happy and pulled over at the next town. I was driving out to Washington on that trip from Denver.

I joined the PCA club in West Canada for one year and didn't feel very welcome there so I never renewed but that was probably over 10 years ago or so and things may have changed.

I remember one time when I was stopped at a light and this beater old pick up truck pulled up next to me and the passenger leaned out the way and yelled down at me "How many rubbers bands does it take to move that?" I wasn't really sure what he meant but when the light turned green he tried to race me and his piece of garbage truck was smoking and I just left him back there so far that is was just so funny.

I use to also get the occassional and sarcastic "NICE VW!!" too but mostly by people driving worse cars than myself like one in a lowered Hyundai pony with tinted windows

After moving to Japan I get lots of nice comments now and sometimes even feel like a celebrity over here, people also stop to ask what is my car and take pictures and newer Porsche owners like it too. I have met many jealous Boxster owners here who loved my car and its not even close to being completed or done.

I occasionally hear crap about my 914 not being a real Porsche. My response is that I would give up my other "REAL" Porsches any day for my 914 and also- don't knock it til you drive it.

My other "REAL" real Porsche are ok for daily driving, kid transportation and getting groceries but for real fun, I take the 914. My 914 would blow my 911 out of the water on the track.

Say what you want- I love 914's

I just got mine about a week ago and have been taking it apart in the garage and my wife decided to nickname the car "rusty". My own wife!

After I expressed my displeasure she assured me that it is after a good friend of hers that she really respected.

I don't believe her

mine calls my car "the red-headed bitch" and when it was backfiring, it was "farty" but guess which one I'm spending my saturday with the is not judgemental

I found the best way to keep the "how's the VW" comments to a minimum, is by leaving the car on jackstands where it belongs. I wonder if they will correct me and say it's a Porsche, if i put a big VW bus emblem on the hood. 99% of the time always got compliments on the 914s. Never a bad remark from the guys and gals in the PCA>

Back in the day when most knew what a 914 was, I would get implied insults in the way of challenges from some even unlikely cars. Little did they know I had the 6 card to play. Summarizing their collective reactions would be something like "Oops!". Now that I don't that fast anymore I miss my 914-4 for the fun, simple, and carefree ride that it was. Still have the 6 though.

A national past time in this country is to "pull down", by any means, those who are successful and seem to be happy. Jealousy of those who seem to be doing well is manifested by those who are often insecure.

The solution to the problem, if it is a problem, is to wipe the smile off your face when driving your 914. People just don't (at least those who have to say something insulting) like other folks being happy.

"Envy is the art of counting the other fellows blessings instead of your own."
(Harold Coffin)

Dave

when ever I think about "insults" from other Porsche owners, I usually get the cross eyed look from Boxter owners.
I think Jeremy from Top Gear said it best
"If you drive a Boxter, your life didn't turn out exactly as you thought it should"

LOL

If you drive a Boxster yo mama will wonder if you like girls.

A local GT3 owner who I beat on regular occation calls my car a glorified Miata

I think he's just jealous

You know, I've heard the same thing.

As to insults, offensive ones are more fun!

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bye bye girls

Never have gotten an insult about any of my 914's, only thumbs up, pictures, and lots of 'nice car' comments. But then again, none of mine look stock, so they are not exactly subtle....

No wait, I take that back. I used to get 'comments' from my race buddies that I always seemed to be working on my car at the track while they just sat around waiting for the next run group. I always fixed any issue, and they kept saying 'why not step up to a newer car, like my ______________ ' (fill in the blank 911 variant). But, all my work was either free or cheap and pretty quickly fixed.

Each of them, however have spent MANY THOUSANDS of $$$$$ fixing big broken things, and sit out for months getting them done.

Oh, and I like to remind them that all of my parts cost soooo much less then theirs: I go through a set of brake pads every 18 months, them every other weekend...stuff like that...

Oh, and all those 911 drivers love to go for rides with me on the track.... I wonder why???

I did have another one recently. Pulled up to my girlfriends office to take her to lunch. A young male, probably about 16, said I like that car yo, dat a corvette? I gotta gets me one o dem.
A Corvette

Anyways, had to explain what it was.

90% of folks in my age group have no clue what it is.

One time i brought it to a meet while it was running and an autox nerd I know blew his led DUDE YOU HAVE A 914 OMG TAKE ME FOR A RIDE!

He hopped out of his built turbo MR2 for this

Never had an insult, you'd have to be listening or care to be insulted.

90% of people in our age group (20s) don't know jack about cars aside from HID headlights and Best Buy installs sound systems with subwoofers that go boom boom.

Stick shift? Whaaaaat is that?

hahahahaha...

It's funny, I have a few friends (early 20s) who don't have any cars newer than 1970. Even funner, my car has no badging, but I have met a number of girls who have correctly identified it.

I've never been insulted or even heard a negative comment. The car is so distinctive (and bright yellow and relatively loud too) so at school I do get a lot of "you're that guy" when people first meet me.

Must have been some good drugs.

Just one that has stuck with me. From the former owner of my 914-6 - "You ruined it"

Some of these stories, make me think if my PCA membership is going to go in the mail. I made out the check, but have over a month. I've been a member for over 20 years, but I don't seem to get much out of it lately. Most PCA folks don't even know what a 914 is.

T.C.

T.C.
Here's the funny thing about your comments, which you are not alone about, but....

Many of the old timer Porsche owners feel the same about the direction of PCA - only new cars, people who are not passionate about the brand, can't even find where their battery is/how to put oil in it, etc.

However, if you ask most of the Porsche dealers, many don't do much with their local PCA Region because " The Porsche Club is a bunch of shade tree mechanics with older Porsches that we don't service or know much about. We really wouldn't get much business out of those guys anyway, so why do things with them??"

Interesting Irony, huh??

Here's the other problem: by long time Porsche owners like you considering dropping your membership, it just perpetuates the problem. If you drop, and others like you drop, then yes, PCA is made up ONLY of new car buyers.

PCA statistics show that about 50% of PCA have been members for more than 6 years. Yes, that also means 50% are relatively new, but there is a fairly large number of us "old timers" (I've been a member for only 16 years now which I consider fairly low).

I guess my point is that if those of us that have older cars abandon PCA, it's only going to make it worse.

If you look at our EC, Kurt is the only one that has ONLY a newer Porsche with his GT3 (though he is a true gearhead having raced IMSA, SCCA, motorcycles, etc back in the day). Manny our VP has a 914, an early 911 and a 964 race car. Caren Cooper does drive a Boxster daily, but they have a 944 race car. Prescott Kelly is the collector of all things early with a really nice early race car collection. And Vu our Exec Director has a 914 and late 80 something 911 cab.

PCA is not always what you get out of it, it's sometimes what you put into it. My wife and I joined with a very young (and stock) Papa Smurf - prior to being called Papa Smurf. We joined in Northern NJ, one of the toughest, most 'clickish' regions in PCA. We jumped right in and participated, and really got to enjoy everything - especially since we started racking up autocross trophies!! We moved to NC, where I eventually became Region President (the old 'if you don't like something, jump in and make a change' scenario) and now I am Zone 3 Rep. Most of our good friends are PCA people and this club has allowed us to do so much in the world of Porsches and cars that we would never have been able to do without it.

Most people know us as only 914 owners, most have never seen our DD 993 cab or especially the '69 911 we have. Like I mentioned above, we've never been insulted by anyone regarding our 914's....chidded for being light and annoyingly fast from all the newer Porsche owners, but never insulted.

Look, in every club with so many people and 'A' type personalities, you're going to find a few a*&holes. Heck, I've found a few 914 owners that are a bit full of themselves too (I was shocked, honestly). But as I said in another post once, nobody is imune to criticism: the 911 guys think they get no respect from the 356 guys, the 928 and 924 guys think they get no respect from anyone, etc....it doesn't end, so why bother being concerned about it?

Anyway, off my soapbox...gotta get some work done.

Then you are hanging with the wrong PCA group. We have a STRONG 914 contingent in our region, and the surrounding regions also have a bunch of them.

Come to the MUSR in October.. it will be close enough to you. You will get a really good 914 fix, sponsored by PCA.

In support of our PCA region I have to say that no one from ORPCA has ever disparaged my 914. Granted, it only sees track days and autocrosses as it is a track only car, but even then, the other porsche owners always are very cordial, even complementary.

I am lucky that our local PCA group has a number of very involved 914 owners.

Had a kid, about 18-20 ask me "What's that run on?"
I said "What?"
He said "Is it a diesel?
I said " No, regular gas."
He said "Sounds like a diesel."