I'm still fairly new to this forum having only purchased my black 73 914 a few months ago. It's my first 914 and I signed up for the Targa California thinking it would be a great way to really learn the car and see how it could handle a long trip covering all sorts of roads in a very "spirited" manner along with several of my early 911 friends.

Prior to leaving my car spent 10 days with my mechanic making sure it was as well sorted and mechanically sound as it could be. I replaced the clutch and flywheel, changed all the vacuum lines, gave it a tune up and dealt with a few other minor items. I also swapped the 15mm front sway bar (that thing is a coat hanger!) for an 18mm bar that I had in my garage off a 76 turbo. The PO (Levon) had installed new rear shocks and 140lb springs (no rear sway).

I am so delighted to report that my little 914 2 liter car was a hoot to drive and performed flawlessly for the entire 1224 miles from San Diego to Carmel and back zig zagging across the state on mostly windey back roads carrying two full sized men. This little car rips; tit loved the tighter and twistier roads and I learned that momentum is the key to keeping up with torque and horsepower.

Enough from me, as the saying goes "a picture (or several) tells a thousand words." I would encourage all of you to do this event in the future, it was a fantastic three days of great driving, cameraderie, and scenery.

Nick

Awesome!

I was following this on BringATrailer.com.

Looks like a great event.

Awesome! Looks like there was another teener in the pack as well?

Looks like a great event!!

One of my Datsun friends says he took out a mailbox and his core support for his radiator along with the radiator itself... I guess you guys were gettin' frisky out there!

It's a great event. I did it a few years ago, and it was fun keeping up with some of those 911's in a little 914-4.

Is this your buddy? Taken from the PP 911 technical thread...

Yup. Looks worse than described though. Explains why he was looking for a '73 rolling chassis...

Must have been one STOUT mail box?

Not much to the front of a Z. But, I hear it was a pole in concrete and he was on the wrong side of the road after getting the rear end loose in a turn.

This guy rear ended a truck...

that's great to see! congratulations!

Awesome trip!

Click to view attachmentThe two mishaps were very unfortunate. The 911 driver looked down at the wrong moment assuming the car in front of him was going to merge in to traffic, not stop.
Oops.

I came upon the 240Z just a few minutes after he rearranged the mailboxes, but I'm not sure of the details. It looked from the lay of the land that he overcooked a corner. He made it back to the hotel in Paso Robles much to the surprise of many; pretty sure I remember he got a standing "O" when he pulled in to the parking lot.

Fortunately those were the only two incidents on the trip, and there was only one speeding ticket handed out which was chicken . The CHP picked a car out of the herd and gave him a ticket for 75 ( I think) on Hwy 1. I never once exceeded the local speed limits while on the drive

I did snap the attached photo of the 240Z raidiator with a perfect 3 inch hole in it from the mailbox stand. Check out the wood chips in that thing!! Amazing that he was able to drive the car several miles back to the hotel.

Nick

Just have to love these big group drives

Nick; it was good to see you out enjoying your car. That's what we have them for. I was in the black Ferrari, the really dirty one. Hope to see you on another run someday.