Today, I drove 8 hours round-trip to pick up the nicest original 914 I've EVER seen.


914 production ended in 1976, when I was in first grade at Surfside Elementary School in Satellite Beach, FL.

My first 914 was a 1971 that I obtained in 1987. At the tender age of 16, it was a rusty piece of shit.

Since then, I've seen cars that run the range from total crap to very very nice.

This one is the best. It will be fixed to that standard.


You want a COTM? This is IT.


It's an absolute time capsule. 30k ORIGINAL miles:

Great! post lots of pics so that I can see what mine is supposed to look like.

For those of us not familiar with this beauty, what's the story & more pix please!

Also - what needs "fixed" to a standard? ...it looks pretty nice as is!

It looks to me like a 70 914/4 due to the rear bumper (sharp lic. plate cut-out corners), but with Euro Tail light lenses & maybe housing too, added pass. side mirror (I'll adding one to my 73 2L resto too) & Fuchs 2L wheels.

So is this another of those anomaly Black 70 MY 914s????
...black is a great color on these 914s!

Make sure to nominate it for the next round!

Cheers!
Tom
///////

you had me at 30k original

This is the car that Mark purchased with 19K miles, after 25 years of storage. He disassembled it, repainted it and reassembled it.

It now has 30k miles. During the holidays, an idiot hit it in the driver's rear quarter. It's now at S9 to be put back perfectly.

That's really cool. I have a customer with a black 72 that he's owned since 75 (IIRC) and it's super original as well. Something about black cars I guess.

Looks great!

It's unbelievable. I have my neighbors in the complex AND 914 guys coming by to just stand and stare at it.

I'll post more pictures as the repairs commence.

Man that sux! We'll be watching

One of my non-car-guy neighbors who knew the car was coming, looked at it and then said to me "man, that's tough".

He was referring to the standard to which that fender has to be fixed.




I had a meeting with my painter today after he saw the car. I said "It'll be as perfect as the other fender, or we will keep on doing it until it is". He said "that's going to take some time, but I understand".

So... GT flairs and a 3.2 in that puppy?

Hey, that was my line.

... I wish there was an emoticon on here with a great big tear!

That means it won't be original paint then? Sucks.

see post #5

It would be cool to do a total photo shoot with high quality equipment and lighting.

At least they brought the car to the right place to be fixed!

John

shrinking disc time

Very cool info Joe. I hope to stop by and see it. Are you definitely going to the Rolex 24?

Would shrinking disk work on those tight creases around the door handle and just under the targa pillar?

Anomaly '70 black 914?

Just special order no?

I have one...is it worth more than an orange one?

Is that the original rain tray??

Your teener really looks awesome! Great find.

I noticed that the engine size emblem and 914 emblem are not the same color. Was that standard on that model year?

It's a '73.

The raintray has that longitudinal ridge, so it's the later reinforced style, which I think they started using in 74 IIRC. So I'm guessing that they changed to the late style tray when Joe said all the work was done on it & repainted.

Your 7T would have come with the smooth/flat bottomed one without the inset longitudinal ridge you see on this one.



The original price new for black & all metallic colors in all years was a few hundred more due to the added work for painting those colors, and that cost varied by MY.

The other topic on here I think started by you about a black original in 70MY might be a special order color code 98 (#98 for picking a color available from other Porsche colors), since black apparently wasn't offered at the outset at least on 70 MY. However, I'd like to see an actual 70 MY paint book from the dealer for that color range available, and Bowlsby's site only starts with 71 MY data.

Codes 98 & 99 (match customer color) were both another higher bump each - in price - $300 & $500 +/- respectively for one of the MYs IIRC & it varied by MY too.

Today the color would be higher if it's still in the OE color as it left the factory (either original paint or a correct color repaint), then by the popularity of that color today & its rarity, and by condition - & of course what the buyer with the checkbook is willing to pay for it!

Black usually fares pretty well, but Orange is also very popular & sells well - even being one of the more common base price colors.



No the rear badges were never differing colors, and to tell you the truth I couldn't even see the black 2.0 one in the pic until mentioned above.

I've seen others polish the aluminum badges on black 914s to make them stand out more for that very reason, which is fine when you're not going for a CW car. Maybe this was a start on polishing them out?

The 73 MY still used the black aluminum badges - black anodized early in the My & painted flat black later on, then they switched to black plastic for 74 MY & current genuine Porsche replacements today.



Since Joe said it's a `73, then this is more of an exceptionally low mile (assuming the 19k & now 30k can be fully documented) and very sweet resto, with a few changes (70 MY rear bumper, rear badges, repaint & maybe a color change?, etc.), than it is a time capsule of how it was originally fitted from the factory.

This said, it takes nothing away from the quality of work done to restore Mark Z's "Black Beauty".

For those looking for purely original examples to guide their resto or purchase, look at Steve G's/smg's Sahara Beige one he got at 21k mi. & it's still all original paint/etc., which is shown in the O&H Forum's nailed thread: "The few, the rare...".

Cheers!
Tom
///////

There was a little non-specific conversation about /6 conversions as I loaded the car in Ft. Meyers.


I told Mark "It would take $10k up front just to make me look the other way on this car. If you want a /6, we'll find another candidate."

Here's she is, disassembled for paint.



She'll be in the hands of the body man starting tomorrow:

Dang Joe!

Yer makin me feel old. My daughter attended Surfside Elementary in the mid to late 70's.

I used to pick up my daughter up after class either at the school or at Siders Nursery across the street. Were you one of the rugrats there?

Wife is a Satellite High grad.

Ken

Yep.


I graduated from Satellite in 1987.

Here are pictures of the fender after the first pulls. I thought the door gap was going to take the most time, but it went right back into place.

It's coming along:

DAMN that is impressive. Looks like you have the right person doing the repair.
Do they think thy will be able to metal work it to the point where no filler is needed?

Damn, that body man is good!

I'm happy to say that I have two painters currently wearing Series 9 shirts at work. They are both awesome because they do great work and are willing to work at the level I require for my customers.

Even the factory doesn't have a true no-filler policy. But, it will be close.

Color goes on this afternoon:

Fast work! Are they seriously blocking with a painters stick??

Looks like.

Tom T- My all original 73(Dad's Mistress) has L99A Delphi Green metallic paint, and the window sticker price for the custom paint was $206.

Here is my painter, very proud of his work:

Very nice. That looks to be straight out of the gun too. I don't know how smooth the rest of the car is but after some wet sanding and polishing that will be perfect.

Thanx for the info Jaimie. Those prices rose through the 69-76 life of the 914s as well, just like the cost of the 914s.

Jeff Bowlsby's window stickers page also contains several 914s from various years with the optional paint prices & other options' etc. costs - if anyone is interested in looking at what their own 914's paint color originally cost extra.

http://bowlsby.net/914/Classic/WindowStickers.htm

When you're looking at these window stickers, keep in mind that you don't have to match your exact color - but only the paint option group, because ....

> the 914 colors of Black & Metallics were one price group (i.e.: your Dad's L99A was the same for black & any other metallic color);

> 98 for any other non-914 Porsche color still in stock at that MY was the next bump up group (i.e.: see if it was a non-914 color but a listed color for a 911/912/356 or 912E for 76);

> and #99 "match to customer sample" group was the same price for that group ($500 in one MY IIRC) - regardless if metallic or non-metallic colors on the 98 & 99 - since the upchare covered it all.

Joe, looking great. Can't wait to get it back. Thanks for all your hard work. Mark

The rest of the car is DEAD FLAT. As good as the picture looks, it's going to get wet-sanded with 1000 grit and then polished.

Looks good

Looks pretty good!

Looking good. Great find.

Good work buddy...

That's a stylin' wheel too!

Finished:

wow.

Ahhhh...... shiney Fuchs 2Ls...

...much better than that stylin' rusty steelie work wheel!

Nice work! .... never know she was pranged!