After 14 years of restoration - my 1972 is inspected and back running the roads of upstate NY, just in time for it to celebrate it's 40th birthday.
My father owned a 1972 914 from new back in the early 70's, and had to sell it when my brother was born in '77. He's had his eye out for one of these since.
I bought this 914 for $200 back in 1998, my soph year of High School. It was your typical salt country rust bucket. Spent the better part of 2 years upside down in my parents yard getting clamshells welded, new floor pan, thresholds, rebuild the battery box/hell hole, front and rear trunk repairs etc. etc. etc.
At that point, I went away to college and the car went back in the Barn. I figured the project was dead after completing undergrad, getting married, buying a house, and working on grad school. Enter 2007, when my father purchased a 1973 914 (that ran and everything!) and the wife decided it was time.
She knew I had this thing, as well as boxes and boxes of parts, and back in late 2007 gave me an ultimatum - fix it, or get rid of it. Her only condition was that she get to pick the color. I agreed as long as it was a factory color for that year. She went with L50E - Adriatic Blue.
The picture below is the condition she knew it in at that time (keep in mind - this is after years of an on again-off again restoration):
And her helping prep for paint (it had been sitting in an old hay barn untouched for about 5-6 years at this point):
Stripped and almost ready for paint:
Some more (surprise!) metal work:
Got it back from paint in the summer of 2008. Slowly began the process of re-assembly and getting the engine put back together. Just about every screw, nut and rivet on this car has been monkeyed with. I have a barn full of parts, as well as 2 parts cars, and between that and the fine resources on this site (Engman, Jeff Bowlsby and Mikey914 in particular - top quality products all around!), we've gotten it put back together.
I live about 2 hours away from my parents, and between continued graduate school, the arrival of children and life in general getting in the way, the reassembly has taken much longer than expected. The wife has been amazingly patient through this process, and by 2010 I figured we had it ready to go. The fuel injection had other ideas however. Enter another child, and lots of work travel as well as starting a second masters, and back into delay.
Finally - last fall - we get the fuel injection sorted - just in time to drive the car to storage for the winter. At this point - I had now put 6 miles on this car in 13 years of ownership - but it was the greatest 6 miles I've ever driven.
Get it out this spring, and set to work finishing the final details. It took until just a few days ago, but she passed NYS inspection and is all set to hit the road.
Post inspection - My two year old, Charlotte, is more excited about "daddy's '14" than I am I think:
July 4th saw my father and I making a run into town - me in my '72 and him in his '73. Gorgeous day for a drive and made all that much sweeter by the years of work leading to this point.
Leaving the garage (that's my father's 1982 928 on the left):
Two happy 914s:
Here's to many years of driving ahead and introducing the next generation to the joys (and headaches) that come with owning a 40 year old car. My father and I took my 2 year old to Hershey this spring, and she brings the road trip up at least once a week.
Thanks to all on this forum for the resources you have provided - without the collective knowledge of those here, there is no chance that this ever would have gotten to where it is.
I also owe my parents a debt of gratitude, my father for his years of work on the car, and my mother as she's been evicted from her spot in the garage since the car got back from paint in 2008. Thanks to my wife as well, who has been very understanding of the madness.....
