I should start out by saying that Otto restored this car in his shop's free time about 5 years ago. Everything was replace with factory new parts. It is almost like a new car. Driving it was the closest I'll ever come to driving a new 914 2.0 and let me just tell you it was awesome.
Shortly after listing the car on Ebay I got a phone call from Stan. Stan immediately started tell me the story of the black and yellow 914 2.0 LE that he bought off of the show room floor in 1974 just after starting his own business in his mid twenties. I listen as he described how much fun it was for him to go on road trips in this car. I listened and imagined what this must have been like for him.
Stan and I talked for a good long time on the phone about Otto's car and about 914's in general. When someone has had a good experience with a 914 it is hard to describe the feeling he gets when driving it. It is a sense of freedom that is unmatched, in my opinion, by any other car. As we talked I soon understood that he wanted his son to have the same experience that he had 37 years ago. To go on a road trip in a brand new 914 2.0 Limited Edition.
Flash forward to meeting Ross, Stan's 26 year old son. He is, in his dad's words, a farm boy who had never been to California and never driven a 914. As I picked Ross up from the LAX international airport he and I both agreed that he wasn't in Kansas anymore.
First things first, he was excited to see what the deal was with this "special" car. So we loaded up his suitcase and head directly to Otto's. Otto greeted us in his usual stern but surprisingly friendly way and directed us to the car on the hoist. Ross and Otto proceeded to talk about the cars mechanics while Ross inspected the pristine underside of this LE.
I was thrilled to watch Otto introducing a fresh mind to the world of 914's and soon it was time for a crash coarse in driving it in LA traffic.
We took it slow at first but Ross, being the car guy that he is, soon mastered the dog leg first and the quarky shift linkage. I could see how intimidation gave way to exilleration as we got to take a couple of fast 90 degree turns and then enter the 405 on ramp. Ross says, "What's the speed limit here?"
"70"
"Well let's unleash the ponies!"
I watched the transformation take place. A smile started growing on Ross as we zipped around Southern California with the top down. He was getting it!!
We then got my 930 and cruised to the Peterson Auto Museum, The Hollywood Walk of Fame, Rodeo Drive, and Santa Monica before we headed up to Santa Clarita where he is staying for the week.
We were both exhausted after all of the sight seeing and driving in the brutal LA traffic.
I slept like a rock last night and woke up excited because today Ross, in his new 914 LE, and I, in my 1971 914-6, are going to meet a few friends after breakfast to make a drive up the 14 to Agua Dulce. After lunch we'll head back to the city to drive up to the Griffith Observatory and then to the Ronald Regan Library.
Ross leaves tomorrow back to the harsh Kansas winter where he'll wait for the LE to be delivered and then parked for the better part of three months, but today, for just a few short hours, he'll get to relive what few people his age gets to. To drive a "new" 914 2.0 LE with the top down in sunny California. I imagine this will be a time he'll remember in 37 years from now fondly. Who knows what the world will be like then. I hope he'll savor today, as I know I will, and enjoy this truly awesome but brief 914 moment.
More pictures to come soon!
That's so cool, the story the road trip...can you set up a day like that for us. 