I know I liked these cars back in 1986 ( i was 16 yrs. old). I wanted one bad because I always passed a house that had a few in the driveway, one in the garage and one on a trailer equipped for racing. I believe it's still there, in South San Jose by Oak Grove High School.

Anyways, I just took the next step in my illness where I saw something that wasn't there? It was funny after but I could have sworn it was there.

I was in a meeting at work with about 9 Engineers and a few Designers. I was reading a text message from my wife on my phone and thats when it happened! She was talking about a gym membership and a "diet", All I saw was "djet". I text her back asking her what "djet" had to do with the gym? She text back saying I was an idiot and she said "diet"! I started laughing out loud for what had happened, needless to say I interrupted the meeting and the Engineering Director asked me if there was something I wished to contribute to the project? "Uh, no there wasn't"!

It was then I came to the realization that I had a problem;

Hi, my name is Drew and I'm a 914 addict!

that house is on Lean avenue in BlossomValley area of South San Jose...
the entire family are very good friends of mine...
Bought my first one some time around 1991 or '92. I am now on my 5th one...so I have the disease.

these cars are just too much fun to tinker with and to

Yep, thats it! I was seeing a girl that lived on Lean at the time. Always walked past that house and it was Love At First Sight!

I wasn't entirely convinced until I spent at least 10k on parts for my first one. I bought a second one for my brother for $300. Then he didn't want it so I kept it and have spent way more than 10k building it to a track car. I found a 76 that had the heads off, and they were really nice so I bought the entire car for $500. I sold most of that car so I'm still not really convinced I have a problem. Good luck with your addiction problem, cause I certainly do not have one.

When I realized the other day I'm still clinging to my car that I haven't driven in 5 years...

I only started last summer; a friend had gotten one for a/x and said I should drive it His has a worked 2056 that is lowered and mighty stiff. I couldn't believe there was such a streetkart as this..... so I started looking around, and ended up with this one. I'd been doing a real good job of staying away from projects; I really didn't want another, so I took the advice of many and tried to buy the best one that I could afford.. And so, here I am. I like to cruise, and with the tall gearing, this car is very fun.

Joe

5 years? Is that all?

I have been hanging onto my '73 for 20+ years. Kept telling myself I would get it running "this summer". Finally realized it wasn't going to happen so bought a '75 that I sold a year later to get my current '74 LE.

What started my addiction was my dad's '75 1.8 that he had in the early '80s. Bought my first in '84 and at one time had 3 of them!

What addiction? ........ +$35K and counting .........

When I saw it, the top came off, and I needed to shift left and down for 1st. I was 19 in the Coast Guard in the bay area and could not believe there was a Porsche that I could afford and actually liked.

.......hmmmmmmm..............

You tell me what was the deciding point was?

1. Spending 9 months in 1975 to find "the perfect used 914" - going through a couple dozen candidates, after researching all the sports car competitors on the market then & deciding the 914 was the best, & convincing myself that I couldn't afford nor want the new 75 or 76 ones with the heavier bumpers & smog controls for CA, nor a 914-6 with it's higher cost of maintenance & parts/mechanic availability in the boondocks on long XC trips?

2. Or maybe it was my initial turn-around to liking the 914's styling - after being initially nonplussed when it first came out in 69/70, after I saw a neighbor's 73 2.0 in Marathon Blue parked outside my apartment building while in college back in 1973? .....geez - now I REALLY like the styling - boxy or not!!??

3. Buying my 73 914-2.0 in Dec. 75, then spending big bucks almost immediately to repaint it in Aug 76 to the 75/76 Copper Metallic, because I thought the Gold Metallic the PO/OO had repainted it with the Beige seats was too much of the same color tone?

4. Spending another $6500+ ($20k+ in today's dollars) - almost what it was worth then, just 4 years later for a complete rolling resto & overhaul in `80-83, including yet another color change to the"black-top cammy" color in my avatar to "save" my DMV point count cuz the Copper was like Orange & Red attracting cops?

4. Keeping my 914 on blocks in my garage for 25+ years while raising a family & running my business, after a sorority ditz whacked it in a UCLA parking structure a couple of years after it was resto'd
- because it had a fresh resto/overhaul of the drivetrain/suspension & nice interior, despite that gal mashing the F&R ends of that freshly restored body which would cost me yet another $6500 back then to put right?

5. Buying & building a new $2000 storage shed to "make room" in the garage to dig it out & start work?

6. Spending as much on parts as it's worth for the resto now, plus whatever the rest of the work requires - & "justifying" it as deferred maintenance from the past 26 years & not being so bad?

7. Wanting to save it in the first place, especially after discovering all that rust deterioration over the past 26 years sitting?

8. Putting myself through a "12 step white desensitization to white 914s" program, to convince myself to restore it back to it's OE L80E Light Ivory - which is not one of my favorite 914 colors - instead of the Marathon Blue Metallic or Alaska Blue Metallic that I would've bought new?

9. Being corrected by SoCal Andy - that I was not a "one 914 owner" - because I actually have a 2nd 74 shell sitting in the garage now for a parts car?
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.... Well I could go on, but that would only increase the chances of my committal!!!!

I wanted one since high school. After moving from so cal to nor cal, and experiencing COLD winters, I decided I needed a garage project. That was January 2010. Eight months later I had bought six cars. I knew I was an addict when I had to start hiding them from my wife. The good news is I only have two of them now. The bad news is, I may be single soon.

I knew it from Day 2!

Day 1 was spent driving a TR6, while I was on a waiting list for an orange 240Z. I absolutely loved the TR, and will have one someday, but my feet were on fire after driving it for 30 minutes! Then, one day 1, I got the call from the Datsun dealer that a blue 240Z had come in & had my name one it. I repsonded by saying that the car I ordered was orange. Was told that I had to take what was in stock, or go to the back of the list. And this was from a family friend! Told them to stuff it (maybe NOT in those exact words), and went off looking for aports cars - any sports car, I was now 25, with a pocketfull of cash (good old days), and went to a place in Cincinnati that sold really cared for sports cars (Ralle Motors).
They had a 72 Irish Green fiur banger. with about 2500 miled on it, for $3500. Drove it, loved it - cancelled the 240 buy. Was ready to but it, butfound out the warranty wasn't tranferrable.

I knew it was meant for me, so I went to the Porsche/Audi dealer & bought my 914. The second new car that I have ever owned. Wish i still had the first!
P

I was reading meters in the Bronx NY in a Porsche dealership.....Three weeks later I drove a new 73 out of the place.....had to sell it 2 years later because I was broke.....Now I have two to make up for the years I didn't have one to drive.

Knew that I had an addiction when I sold my clean 74 to work on my Trans Am and 308 and two weeks later I bought another 74 2.0. I spend more time on the World then I do on the other club sites.

The day I started to have the packages shipped to work, so my wife did not see how much I was buying for the car. Oh Ya! The company credit card helped. My wife had me figured out in the first week, she just let me think I got away with something. Now that it's done she loves the car.

Badm

When you start dreaming about them, you know you're infected. I drove mine after a year of work, and had dreams of racing it around Le Mans for about a month after

On my paper route when I was 8. Guys had a black six & a signal orange 73 2.0. I'd stop & look at them everytime they were out. Kind of forgot about them until I bought my first in 1995. Been totally screwed up since. How many 914's have I owned in that time? I'd say to many except I look everyday on CL for the next one. I am down to 4 right now

In 1984 when I wrecked my 67 Mustang Convertable on Mullhulen Dr in LA! I went out the next day saying that I need a car that can make it around that corner! I went and test drove a lot of Porsches but they all seemed to be tail heavy in sharp corners untill I got in my first 914-6!! It had steal flairs and 245 45 16's on the back and 215's on the front!

I test drove it on the same corner that I wrecked the mustang on and found myself going at least twice as fast through the corner!

HOOKED!!!!!!!!!!!

I don't think I even know how many I have owned to date!

First a '74 1.8 in 1982, "lost my way" and replaced it with a '74 tail dragger in 1986, then replaced the '74 with a 1983 SC Cabriolet in 1994, then found my way back to a '74 2.0 in 2003, then sold the Cabriolet . Fortunately none of them every lived on jackstands.

I knew on the 18hr drive home to Seattle from Laguna Beach, where I purchased the LE (my 1st 914) on a lark.

Problem, I have no problem. I only have 3 of them. You don't have a problem until you own 5.

Agreed.3 is fine.I can quit whenever I want.Seriously.

I knew very early on when I got my first 914 Matchbox (or cheap knockoff) of the car. I just loved the look! Wanted a 914 in high school, but parts were so easy to find for the air cooled VW's, I had to stick with them.

Would see one from time to time when I was in the Air Force and think about how cool it would be to have one.

Then, I found my old pinewood derby car while clearing out my parents house and knew it was time to buy (now in my late 30's).

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I got my first 914 when I was 18, so that was in 1989. I am on my 5th one. I wrecked the first one, a girlfriend wrecked the next two (one accident could have killed us coming down hwy 84 after a shift at Alice’s Restaurant), the 4th one I sold about a year ago when I got my current car.
So I have had a 914 in my possession for more than 1/2 of my life. Yep, I've got the disease.

Back in the 70's

I knew it on my first date with Betty. Her 914 is the first one I ever rode in, and the first one I ever drove.

High school, late 80's. My 66' Bug developed a bad main bearing. I sold it as-is and took the cash, borrowed some from the folks and picked up my first totally stock 74' 914-2.0. I remember it was black and nice.

It got muched and totalled about a year later.

I knew back in the mid 80's I had a problem. I kept 5 around the house for parts and 1 to build. Then I found 3 914-6's over the next 10 yrs. Now I am only holding on to two cars.

Went to go test drive a 88 944 back in 94 and the seller had this ugly looking square thing also. Never drove the 944, took the 914 for test drive and never looked back it was a 73 2.0. I've had a few more since then and keep looking at more

The one that started it all.

In 1983 my brothers best friend saved his money and bought a 74 1.8 black 914. I still remember going to his house and seeing it parked there looking beautiful. He would let me borrow it if i dropped him off at work and picked him up. I had such a blast with that car. We drove it Palm Springs for spring break and slept in it. Then got married and my wife's co-worker was selling his 74 racing english green 2.0 and i happened to buy it and i have had a 914 working and even as a piece art in my front yard since. Can't seem to live without one.

I was hooked as soon as I laid eyes on the first 914 I had ever seen in my life.

I was out looking for a used Datsun Z car. I pulled up to this guys place (I had all the Z cars circled in the Auto Trader I'd bought) and saw this UGLY, boxy looking orange car from the rear. "What kind of car is that?". Guy said it was a Volkswagen/Porsche and it was for sale too. I immediately took it for a test drive and after just one right-hand turn pulling out of the driveway I was already rationalizing it. "Well, you can't really see the orange color when you're driving, and I don't know what a 914 is, but it suurrreee drives nice, and he said it was a Volkswagen so surely it can't be too hard to work on or find parts for".

Never did test drive that Z car.

So; I was hooked at first sight and already rationalizing it within about 5 minutes. I bought that car in May of 1985 and met Clay in November of that year. We drove to our wedding in it. He (the car, not Clay) is sitting in the garage just waiting for the weather to clear so we can go driving together.

Are you sure about that?

Yes, she is sure. I am sitting right next to her inside the house.

But I did spend the weekend in the garage....replacing a BMW automatic transmission.

I always admired 914s from the seats of my Scirroco and GTI that I was driving in the mid 80s, but I quietly put my car thing on hold as the wife and family took priority. Then about 5 years ago I hurt my back and had to be inactive for about 4 weeks, found this site one day and looked at all the pics of your cars in one sitting,wow! I was hooked. Started looking for one to buy right then. Found one bought it site unseen, never even had driven one before, but I knew it was the right thing to do! And it was!

I agree I love it when I dream 914. My first encounter with a 914 was in a dream I had when I was 17 (I'm now 44). I still remember driving it and all the vivid details. I didn't even know what kind of car it was in the dream until a couple of years later when I got a chance to drive one. Now, 27 years later I finally get to own one. Recently I had a dream about driving my suby conversion after 2 years of jack stand syndrome. It really inspired me to finish it. Actually drove it for the first time last night and it was just like I imagined. It's funny because that first dream has really influenced the way I'm building my car now.