Perfect means:

New engine, paint, rubber, interior, tires, suspension.
A complete high quality restoration.

Humm....a sound chassis to hotrod.....3K maybe. Sell off the good shit to the CWs....I like it.

8k is max... but I dont like stockers.... lol

I assume thats what you ment by perfect... straight from the showroom floor...

Problem is the cars are never as perfect as people say they are..

At least thats been my experience.

Never say never.

My teen is at least an 8, maybe a 9 out of 10.

If some bozo wrecked my ride, I would spend 10 to 15K to replace it with a 914 in the same condition. Up here in the rust belt a good rust free (well, you know …almost) 914 is damn near impossible to find.

Its hard to say. I already have the perfect 914. Mine.

In my case, and I think I might speak for others here too, it's the process that I enjoy. I don't think I'd pay any money for a perfect running 914. Now a nice roller with some promise.....THAT I'd pay 3 or 4 kilobucks for!

A wise Corvette restorer once told me, "if you are going to restore any car over 25 years old, find the best possible car you can afford and make it better. A "showroom" car doesn't exists and in the restoration you can still get satisfaction in taking a great car and making it better." "If it is done right, it will never go down in value and you will never lose money in it."

That all depends on your budget, his was about $60K per car.
Mine isn't.

I have almost $50k in mine, so yes, I would gladly pay $20k for a new or perfect 914.

Consider what you get for $20k today: Base Jetta or Golf? Come on, a $20k 914 would be a bargain!

Joe

They do exist. There are few owned by memberns of this forum.

Remember that fully-optioned 'new' 1.7L that sold last week for $17K? That represents an idea of what some are willing to pay, just not the majority. A 2.0L FI car might support $20 large at that rate. But it better be of the highest integrity and be 100% correct.

You could do a spin on it...don't even try to do a concours correct original car...but one that is still new...in the spirit of a Beck...but with updated features...bet there is a strong market for that too. It would loosen up the bondage of finding correct parts.

Build them to order even and develop a reputation for quality, timeliness and budget control. Success.

Remember that Prowler gold 914 from the WCC2004? Is was incredibly well done, and I doubt he had anything close to $20K in it. How can Los Panchos do their work on the cheap...How much is your labor worth?

Pretty even split so far in the voting. If I was shopping, and I had the money I think I would spend over $15 K for my definition of a perfect ride. Where I come from these cars are very very rare, and for the money are much cooler than any brand new car you can get for the same money up to triple the money or more. On top of that we are talking about 30+ yearl old cars that can still out handle sportscars that are brand new. There are these and a zillion other reasons why I am spending time on a car up on jacks and why I am reading what you folks have to say, and at this point in my rustoration I have to say that $15 K is not too scary a number for what I am trying to get my car to be.

Wouldn't buy one. There is a lot of pride in saying, I found this neglected low rust piece of crap that was destined for the junk heap because the previous owner wasn't interested in it, rescued it and restored it to this beauty you see now. Who ever said you can't polish a turd, never restored an old car. When I bought my teener it was an all original shit box, that had been sitting in a garage for thirteen years. Only thing left is to paint it, then it will be a gem.

Personally, I'd rather be driving the car instead of working on it.

A nice example of a perfect turn-key (9146) is that silver one in the classifieds...it's got lots of good OE bling on it--and priced fair at $22,000. If your time is not an issue, you can find deals and work them into decent cars. I heard that retirees are getting into restoring cars--keeps em busy ! My nephew recently bought an original 6 that had been parked for 10 years for about $3,500. It was rough, but he was able to drive it approx 800 miles home. The nice surprise was when he finally got the rear trunk open, there were bags of complete new factory weather stripping for the entire car , proll'y worth 4k

What's a 914 worth to me?

- A marriage
- A college degree
- A girlfriend
- A life in general

But being a racer doesn't allow for much else. Maybe I am just wierd like that.

I should qualify that statement. "Showrooms cars don't exist in the used car market" That is where 99.99% of us have bought our cars. (not just P cars)
Anything "showroom" with under 100 miles on it is still stitting in a museum or a personal collection somewhere. Anything else could still have great value if it has very low mileage.
Most of us are looking for something to drive on occasion or even as a daily driver. Many, like me, are looking for a hobby to restore one.
In anycase, I really enjoyed restoring my car and will probably do it again when I can find another one worthy of my time.
How much will I spend? If it's to do a restoration, not as much as if I was looking for a classy driver. That's because I have the resources to fix a fair one into a good one.