Price reduced: $13,509.14 OBO
Contact: steve@914.com
Located in Oceanside, CA (35 minutes north of San Diego)
Photos here:
http://s546.photobucket.com/albums/hh421/bwana914/Bahia_914/
I've owned 914s for 19 years (still have another -6 that is not for sale) and this is one of the nicer 914-4s I've ever seen. It's not a concours car, but is a very, very nice driver. When cleaned up, it presents well at car shows and "wash and shine" divisions. There are no major problems and you could pick up this car and drive across the country tomorrow.
Please note that I just took these photos today - before, during, and after washing it (I wanted to clean the inside of the wheels and wheel wells). The car does drip a little oil (any air cooled Porsche that does not leak oil must be out of oil), but the "wetness" you see in these photos is from my washing. And I took some photos of the "dirty" (not so much) wheel wells before I started. I also pulled the bottom of the rocker panels off (left the rivets in on the top) to clean them up and take some photos of the perfect rockers for this ad.
Recently replaced parts:
Boge front struts (~1 year old)
Windshield. It cracked and replaced it with an aftermarket windshield about 6 months ago. Looks great. I never put the rear view mirror back on (I'm tall and just prefer to drive without it) but it can be easily re-attached if you want it (the part comes with the car).
Refinished wheels. I had the stock wheels refinished by the Porsche wheel master Al Reed in LA and they look near-perfect (9.9/10). Factory-like anodizing.
Things that aren't stock:
Front bumper. I replaced the pretty nice chrome front bumper with a reproduction, stainless steel Harrington group bumper. I also had this bumper custom made with no holes for the standard 73 bumper tips (just my preference not to have them) and no front license plate holes. It costs $969 + shipping from Taiwan, but it's absolutely amazing (IMO). This is the best 914 front bumper I've ever seen. Perfectly flat, great reflection, and looks very clean with the holes removed. Of course, if you want, you could add those holes back.
Rear Koni shocks with 100# aftermarket springs on 3/4" perches. The aftermarket spring are a little firmer than stock (but still pretty soft and I think the softest that are available for the 914 today) and they normally lower the car about 1". The perches raise it back up 1/2" to 3/4". I just really like how stock 914-4s ride and handle with the stock tire size and close to the stock ride height. The lightweight wheels and tires really make these cars feel great, and I think many people lose that with bigger (even 195 or 205 tires) tires when the 2.0 four cylinder doesn't need a lot of rubber. Even with 165 tires (stock size) it handles amazingly well in corners and has *a lot* of grip.
Muffler is a true NOS 2.0 muffler (even has original VW logo on it which newer reproduction mufflers do not) that I had powder coated grey (stock is painted). Looks perfect and sounds great.
Passenger side view mirror. Common addition, a driver's side mirror can be added to the passenger side.
Antenna. I replaced the stock manual antennae with an electric Hirschman (sp). Looks good and much better reception that the factory antenna.
Head unit (radio), amplifier, speakers, subwoofer. The previous owner installed a pretty nice stereo that I told myself was the first thing I was going to pull out, but after my first 300 mile drive with the car I was hooked. It's loud, and has an 8" subwoofer in the passenger foot well where the factory foam filler (still have this part) is.
Steering wheel, but the stock wheel comes with the car. The original wheel is in "ok" condition (fair), but no major tears or problems. Just some nicks and scratches on it.
I replaced the faded "Press" sticker on the seatbelt latches with a "914" sticker.
I replaced the crack OEM shift knob with a very, very good reproduction shift knob. Same great classic 901 shift pattern and look. It looks stock, but isn't.
Tuna can for a little more oil capacity and holding on lateral G-forces. I don't think it's really necessary, but the previous owner added it and it works fine.
The factory rear sway bar has been removed (just my personal preference) but I have all the parts and it comes with the car.
Problems:
Rust (non structural) above the driver side latch. This is also a common 914 problem, even for cars that have been restored. There are (a) small holes that are not sealed that the sail trim attaches to, and (b) the inside corners over the rear fenders were sprayed with some type of foam filler from the factory that traps/absorbs moisture. When cars are refinished, this foam should be removed entirely and all the metal cleaned and prepped. This car wasn't and not that moisture is making its way through. Not a tough repair, but it's also not critical to warrant re-spraying this otherwise very nice paint. This is the biggest "problem" on the car.
Front bumper pad is "bumpy". it still looks and functions great, I'd give it an 8.0/10, but it has the very typical waviness that all the OEM ones develop over time.
The other day the top vent/defroster lever knob on the dash board control popped up. I still have the knob, it just needs to be reattached (and probably have the cables adjusted or something).
Interior. The interior is nice, totally functional, and comfortable, but it is the weak spot of this car. The carpet kit is a cheap reproduction (not correct loop) and I think some of the panels were originally brown and dyed black (or something) - I'm not quite sure. They look ok, there are no major tears, it's just not up to the quality and finish of the rest of the car. But it's still a pretty nice interior.
There are no little carpet patches behind the seats as there should be.
The front trunk is very clean, but is starting to show some very, very minor bumbling in the paint on the bottom of the trunk where it's common for these cars to develop rust.
The carpet in the front trunk needs to be re-glued on.
There is some discoloration/surface rust around the pedal cluster, but the metal is very solid. The provided photo makes it look much worse than it is.
I don't think the [rare] factory rear defroster works. Why you'd ever need a rear defroster in these cars is beyond me.
There is a tear in the heat/sound pad in the rear trunk.
Things to do:
The door latches should be cleaned. They work fine but are harder to pull than they should be. This is a common 914 problem (after not being cleaned for 10+ years). It's easy to do, I've just been overly busy lately (one of the reasons I'm selling the car).
The rear window should be re-mounted. I think it's loose along the bottom probably would leak water and it a bit louder than it should be.
There are some minor areas of overspray (front trunk springs, vent tubes, etc) that should be cleaned up. These are actually really surprising because otherwise it looks like the car was considerably disassembled before painting. Maybe this is from an even older paint job or ?
The original *factory* tire is still on the spare wheel. It has never been used. It obviously couldn't be used now, I just didn't have the heart tear it off.
Re-attached the "914" and "2.0" emblems if you want to.
and second that
It's by no means structural rust or a serious problem though. Simple fix, but obviously should be done when the car is due for a paint job. The interior was also really nice, but might not of held up very well in the CA sun? I just say that because siverson said it wasn't up to par with the rest of the car. The "cheap" carpet kit came from Morph, and looked good when I installed it. I also had the seats recovered, installed the stereo, and aftermarket steering wheel. The car ran and handled great! If I can be of any help as far as questions about the car, just pm me.