The Beast for sale here in Classifieds.
TWO 914 track cars for sale on Ebay, including Chuck Forge's very fast FP car.

All 3 are in California, and all 3 look to be well prepped cars, Two with very strong records, the other with a trailer.

If ever there was a time to pick up a nice 914 track car, this is it.

Is there a common reason all three are for sale now?

...and Elliot's Screaming Yellow Zonker

I think there are 3 main reasons.

1. the economy
2. old irrelevant guys (like me) bailing out

3. shit happens regular like

I would tend to agree with the old one ...

its also Spring and the beginning of the track season..best time to sell "toys" I have found.

Blame it on Bush.

....The thrill is gone?

Maybe there's just a lot of them out there and it's just normal turnover.

People are anticipating moving up to the 918 GT.

They just want to beat the rush, you know.

John

Not trying to be a dick but have you watched the news in the last 5 years ??? These are toys. People like me that deal in toys know exactly why they are up for sale Hell ask your local collision shop or mechanical shop how business is. People aren't fixing broken cars, and are selling off the toys right now Definitely a buyers market

Classic fail.

Times are tough ....& regardless of the BS coming out WDC, are probably gonna get worse. The "improved" economy is not producing jobs. More young folks into the workforce have no where to work. The BS unemployment rate via the Fed is pure fiction. 20% would be closer than their crap.

Folks are retrenching. They go for "money, guns, & (no) lawyers" getting set for what they think is coming. Toys are no longer us.

I agree with Scott, this business sucks right now. Discretionary spending is way down all across the country.

Bite me Ben

Yep, Scotty nailed it, and $4+ a gallon doesn't help, figuring that my tow vehicle gets about 12pmg towing, cost over $160 to fill up, then add the cost of the fuel used for a 2 day event, hotel, food & registration (cost for all have gone up) at a time when job security is in question for many, health care cost have gone up & many higher end retail businesses (and this hurts) are suffering too. Add all that together and Track Cars & Boats (cost the most to store & maintain) are not as important anymore, money can be used in other areas of ones life.. Another reason, might just be a time for a change, build a new car..
I'll see how many people are at the track this weekend, and what it is loking like.

At the track weekend before last, IIRC the same guy was selling a GT3 track car, highly-modified 930 track car, and a pristine tow rig. There are so many screaming deals out there now it's ridiculous.

There may be SOME deals out there, but there is more rust than I want to see.

Like Steve Gaglione said yesterday, Rustfree means the rust is no charge.

I know. I am looking hard at cars all over.

John

My modest 914 racecar with a 2056 cost me about $1000.00 every time I took it to the track. Entry fees, $250.00-$450.00. Gas, $200.00-$400.00. Food for 3-4 $150.00-$300.00. That doesn't count tires, brakes, or anything broken. My kid wanted to go to Disneyland once for 3-4 days and I couldn't afford both so the mouse got the money. I got out of the habit of working on cars all day to pay the bills, working on cars all night to pay for the racing, and working on my racecar 3 out of 4 weekends so it would be ready. If I had a lot more money it wouldn't have been like that but i got tired.
I sold the fast cars and bought a boat. Yeah, like that's going to be any cheaper.
But at least it's a change from cars. Now instead of driving really far from home to the desert to fix cars on the hot asphalt, I'll be sailing really far to fix my boat in exotic anchorages around the world.
That's why my shop is for sale so cheap. I really want to go!

When we were running a 934 clone with a big Turbo motor, it was over $2K "if" nothing broke, and that was a big "IF".... I envy you, I keep saying that if I sell all my "extra" Cars & Parts, I'll lock what I'm keeping in the work shop, take a few months off & rent a boat in Bimini, I sleep best when sleeping on a boat...

I guess you guys are right. I hoped things were turning around enough that these guys were selling to upgrade. But a few calls later and the worst is confirmed. Selling to stop the bleeding.

I too, sold my boat, and my Boxster Spec car. Miss them both a LOT. I am hoping to get back into a track car now, for less than $10k. But Steve's boat sure makes me re-think track time versus float time!

No doubt, if you are driving any sort of race-prepped car on the track, the cost is well into the dollars-per-minute realm now. Fuel alone is $20-30 per run session with my car i.e. ~$1/minute, and tires another ~$2/minute based on a DOT-R tire around $1K/set (for my skinny sizes) with a 20 heat-cycle useful life. Yikes.

A stock-class streetable car's running costs will be less but still not chump change.

This stuff makes most other sports/hobbies look dirt cheap by comparison. At least for most of the venues I visit here in SoCal I typically drive home and sleep in my own bed at night so there's no hotel bill on top of everything else, but there's even more gas burned.

Autocross is the 'cheap' way to go, and even that can get crazy expensive if you want to get serious about it. Just ask Britain. I had a guy I codrove with tell me that his tire cost was $35 a run. That's one 60 second autocross run! (S2000 on A6s) It's tough out there.
On the other hand, I've been toying with the idea of selling the 914 simply because it isn't competitive. It's been down for a year and I've been codriving other stuff, and I guess the grass is just greener on the other side. I know that the car could be competitive if I continue pouring time, money and effort into it, but it's been five years and I don't seem to be making much ground. Maybe others are thinking the same thing.
Mark D.

If you sell your 914, you will regret it, 914s have dominated AXs for years..
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I have a friend that is trying to make a deal on the white car with the Sheridan front end. Should know later today if he is the new owner or not. I hope he buys it because if he does I get to tack a few laps in it since I let him co-drive mine one night.

That looks to be a well prepped car. the build list was pretty amazing. No doubt its fast car.

For my money, I am trying "arrive and drive." Even if its only for hot laps, and not in competition, its cheaper over a season. And as a Skip Barber instructor once told me
"the best car to race? Someone else's"

Sad economic times indeed, but I will say this--If you're not in a position where you "need" to sell toys to keep your life afloat, then don't! They'll only be worth more money when people have money to spend on them again.

I sold my 914/6 GT Clone during the recession in the 90's and have regretted that move ever since...

If you are in a 'cash up' situation, it's a great time to be you! There are some smokin' good deals on some pretty cool sh!t out there...like the 3 race cars, I mean seriously 'the beast' for $16.5k, hot damn someone is getting a deal of a lifetime.

I really feel sorry for some of the vendors, especially the ones catering to our neurotic 914 needs, they're a special breed and I know the times are tough for them as well...

Speaking of toys, it is a buyers market for ATVs, campers, toy haulers, etc, as well. Lots of the guys not only need the money, but can't afford to store the toys either.

Unfortunately, 993 prices are still outrageous.

Ya'll just ruined my Big weekend @ the track with Ravenna the unmild mannered beast ! The if nothing breaks must mean you are not running a 914.
Have absolutely gorgeous conversion 2.2E street car and hate to bother posting it cause the bottom feeders are unmericfull......If you ask 10K for a 20K car you will get offers of 5K........ nauseating. Great fraternity we have boys ! Going to blow some money .......

I passed on a 993 a few years back and now they're 10k more than they were then!!

Note how many of the Porsche's are getting loaded into crates and sent off to Europe, this is our new reality and its a bummer!

There was recently a highly-modified 993tt for sale in SoCal. It was originally listed at $80-85K and ultimately sold around $60K...the seller had just dumped about $50K into new mods and cosmetics.

If you have cash and patience to wait-out the unrealistic sellers, you could score some sweet toys and potentially sell them at a profit in a few years to boot.

My birthday coming up later this year could be an expensive one...I have an itch for a street hotrod of some sort.

You coming to the Dark Side DE at RRR this weekend???