Last week several of the main UK delaerships held receptions to officially launch the 2005 Boxster there. They had a collection of nice cars - C-GT, 356, 908 and this stunning 914/6. Funny thing was that many of the Porsche mechanics had never seen a 914 up close and they put it up on the lift to take a closer look.

This car, which has just been finished, was the original UK press demonstration vehivle back in 1970, so it started its life at these very same dealerships.

Cocktails and cars...

dfdfd

in West London

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So Dave can start to drive it again after all these years.

He drove it 160 miles, but is still waiting for a last document before he can take it across the borders into Holland. Should be able to take it home in about 3 weeks. He was pretty nervous pulling out onto the A4 traffic with a cold engine in Chiswick after not driving it for 13 years!

It now has Mike Mueller bearings and is very nice to drive apparently.

R

WOW, what a beautiful car....I'm very honored and am currently flush with excitment knowing some of my parts are on that car

Great looking /6. Funny place to put the steering wheel on a UK demo vehicle though!

Porsche never made a RHD 914 so it makes perfect sense to have a LHD press vehicle;) (I just happened to be reading "Excellence was expected" last night) There was a company that converted some at a pretty healthy premium (I seem to remember ~40/yr @ $1500ea - but dont quote me, check the book). The steering column was easy due to porsches use of a collapsable linkage, but they had to fabricate the dash and seats from scratch (were using the early non-sliding passenger seat).

SMD

Nice tile floor, too.

KT

Hey all,
If you cannot stop watching this car, there are lots of pictures (also of the restoration) and articles of this beautiful 6 on his own site:
check it out
also some very nice shots of the red 914/8 on there

have a look it's worth it

greets

Jacco de Haan
Delft, NL

Crawford did the RHD conversions....

Wow!!! Dave's car really turned out absolutely stunning (serious understatement)

I have about 50 more detail shots, but I'm sure Dave will post them on his website.

The paint is absolutely perfect - there is a shot of a 356 reflected in the paint and its stunning. Barry Curtis did a great job (I don't recall who painted it though).

and there were some 'other' cars there as well...

908

fgfg

I just mailed Dave to congratulate him with the results.
He invited me to come over and check out the car as soon as he's got it in Holland
Can't wait!

Wow, that's exactely what I consider as my personal DERAMCAR

But, did anybody recognize that the car has got a wrong rear bumper?
It's a model year 1970, so the rear bumper should have the sharp edges around the licence plate area, as shown at the old pic:


Here's the newly restored one with the 1971+ bumper:


Anyway, highly desirable ...

Gustl

9140430059 is a very interesting car. A non-original bumper is the least of its worries. Some Brit, member of the UK Porsche Club, totalled the car very early on. So it got a replacement body.

Have you got more interesting details about this car?

Gustl,

PM sent

Richard

I believe the totalling was actually done by a journalist doing a road test for 'Car' magazine. All the damage was at the front (hit a telegraph pole).

I just spoke to Dave and he says that even if the bumper is different from other '70s, thats the one it originally came with. If you look at the picture in the road test below, you can see the 'PC' and 'GB' badges either side of the number plate (which doesn't have a gap between the DGU and the 914 in order to accomodate those badges). Although the car now has the new style license plate which is wider, that bumper still has the holes that were drilled to mount the PCGB badges. If you look at a variety of other pictures, especially the hidef versions, you can see the bumper is the same. Often its confusing becuase of the reflections (look at the pictures from CCC magazine for instance above a black top).

On another note, Dave is trying to get a good valuation for insurance purposes. Its easy to figure a replacement value (cost of a nice 914/6 plus all the work that went into it), but he also needs a 'commercial' value - what could he sell this car for. He figures its at least $25K, but probably not $50K - since there are very few cars that are in this good condition, along with an interesting history, where would you think that value would fall - $30K? $40K etc.

No expense/effort saved resto's like Dave's are very very very rare.

€20K to €25K will buy you a six. A decent driver, prolly repainted, but nothing near as nice as Dave's
Add the history of the car and I think €50K would be the least value to insure it for.
I wonder if that would even cover the expenses he made for it.

I know of a 914 club member here in the Netherlands that did a very good thorough resto on a /4
He had €30K into the car and did pretty much ALL the work himself. And that was more than 5 years ago

The easy price is how to recreate it - buy a nice /6 and spend mucho bucks to get it really really nice - he has that cost figured out.

He also needs a value for what that particular car would sell for. There are very few comparable vehicles with that nice a finish and an interesting history, old magazine pictures, the fact it was driven by Jo Siffert and Graham Hill etc.

The way it works - if the car is damaged, they use the 'recreation' price to decide whether to repair or total etc. If its stolen you get the commercial sale price - so you want it high but not unrealistic, so the insurance company doesn't start bickering about the amount.

By the Way, Gustl, that was a nice analysis you sent us - it seems fairly convincing. It will be interesting to see if the Porsche guys can add anything.

Richard

Thanks Richard

I've just found more pics from this car in a well known book:

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The car is also shown in Brett Johnson's "The 914 & 914/6 Porsche"

I've found his name, but not the car ...

Just FYI, the car on the cover is not Dave's

R

According to some archived info on hand, RHD conversions were available thru:
Crayford Auto Development Ltd.
High Street, Westerham, Kent, England
Tel# Westerham 3087
Cost of the RHD conversion in 1970 was 630 (Sterling)
I wonder if the place is still there...or if it turned into a Starbucks

Small world...

When I was a kid in the early 70s (yes, I can remember that far back) we had family friends who lived in Westerham and we would go there fairly often. Very nice as I recall - I never noticed a car place though.

Interestingly, the family friend went to school with John Cooper (aka Cooper F1, as in Mini Cooper etc.) He had some good stories.

Richard