Just got home with my new 914!! It will keep my '74 914 company.

Another Southern California Survivor car...

Saw a Craig's List ad this morning... it had no pix and described the car as a '73 1.8 (of course, it's actually a 1.7). The seller said they knew nothing about the car.

So, I drove out to see it... way down some dirt road out in the back wine country of Temecula (CA).

The seller turned out to be a very nice 87 year old lady who's son owned the car since February of 1986. Unfortunately, he passed away recently. He had been ill (cancer), so the car was garaged since 2005, other than taking it out periodically to give it some exercise. A total of 800 miles driven in the last 10 years.

This is a Southern California car. Spent its entire life in Orange County, other than the last 10 years when it was garaged in Temecula. The car has always been garaged and is extremely rust free. I poked and prodded, and poked some more. All I could find was some rust inside of the rear of the rear trunk floor that had been painted over in 1986, and appeared to have not spread since that time.

When the guy bought it in 1986, he had it repainted at that time. The paint is in great condition. Unfortunately, they really didn't mask off things very much when it was painted, so there are things like the headlight motors and other hardware that have been painted.

I drove the car home (about 60 miles), and it performed flawlessly. Feels like it could use some new shifter bushings, though.

They were asking $7,900. I paid $6,500, which I think is an extremely good deal.

Here's some pix. I'll post more when I clean the car up.
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Wow, very cool find, Mike. It looks like you have uncovered another hidden treasure. Wasn't your silver car in pretty much the same condition ... just some surface rust in the rear trunk?

Pity about the headlight motors and such ... hopefully that can be cleaned with some mild cleaner/solvent and a lot of elbow grease. BTW, I thought the 1.8-liter L-Jet engines didn't make their debut till the '74 model year (not that I'm an expert on the model year to model year changes) ...

Yep, same rust spot as in my '74... inside back edge of rear trunk. The rest of the car looks very solid.

The ad said 1.8, but it's a 1.7. The seller knew nothing about the car, so I didn't bother asking about the discrepancy when I saw the ad. I figured I'd just go see for myself.

You will also note the aftermarket side view mirrors, and aftermarket front valence. I'll probably return those to OEM at some point, but the ones on the car now aren't bad.

I'm wondering if I can clean off the paint on things like the headlight motors. After all, that paint has been there for nearly 30 years. I'm afraid of making a mess out of it. For the smaller hardware, I do plan to strip that down to bare metal.

I'll spend some more time over the next few days figuring out exactly what the issues are with this car.
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My very first fill-up, on the way home tonight, and I had three people come up to me asking me about the car.

Pretty car.
Looks like an Alaska Blue repaint

I was thinking it's Olympic Blue. Anyone know for sure?

(Dang, somehow I changed a setting for the forums to the collapsed thread view. How do I change it back to the normal view?)

Run the 4 digit paint code in the door jam.

Good idea. They painted over the code on the door jamb, but I may be able to make it out through the paint, or clean the paint off of the metal paint code plate. I believe it's stamped into that plate, not just printed onto it.

hl motors are cheap. find the best set you can and just swap them out. unless you want to spend hours cleaning them and possibly be disappointed in the result.

Looks like Olympic Blue to me ...

Nice find.......again.

I would keep the 73 over the seventy four.

I am biased.

nice score! you got the colorful one you wanted looks to be in great shape

Wow a really nice find sir! Not only that, it was registered that is why you able to drove it home and after it was seating for a while you just turned the key and able to drove it for 60 miles! that is a real deal!!! God did bless you!

Thanks for the comments, guys!

Rhody, got any HL motors for sale? You may be right that it's easier to replace them than to clean them.

914-teener: I'm definitely keeping both the '73 and the '74.

Thelesyouknow: Yeah... this is what I originally was looking for: a colorful 73 or 74 with chrome bumpers.

Had to go outside to look in the driveway first thing this morning to make sure it wasn't a dream!

I agree look at the engine bay shots, battery tray look like Alaskan Blue to me

look behind your sound pad in the engine compartment

But he said "Looks like an Alaska Blue repaint" which disagree with.

The original blue looks like Alaska Blue but the repaint is most certainly Olympic Blue.

Ah, yes, I agree after looking at those engine bay pix. Alaska Blue to start, now Olympic Blue.

At least I hope it's really Olympic Blue and not "Paint your Car for $99 Blue", since there's a small scratch on the top of a fender that needs some touch up paint.

ok, fair enough. it is close to olympic, but has a bit to much blue in itClick to view attachment
this is olympic blue

Nice find cuda....I would have bought it too. Good luck.

Riviera wheels and a Monza exhaust... brings back memories of the '70's for sure!!


Boy 'cuda, you've got the disease don't you???

Alaska Blue is a lot darker. Blue always looks good on a 914. I'm hoping the next one I find is blue. Nice find and great deal! Congrats!

Thanks, all!!

So, I get the impression that people don't much care for the Riverias. Should I swap 'em out? It isn't clear to me... were Rivs a dealer option? Or did people just put them on because they have the proper offset?

I do like the looks of that quad exhaust.

Anyone know anything about the plastic front valence or the plastic side-view mirrors on this car? Were they a popular mod back in the day?

If I can find some good OEM chrome mirrors for a good price, I'll eventually swap out the ones on this car. That's assuming the screw holes line up, and that they painted the door sill so that it doesn't have Alaska Blue showing around the mounting plates.

I doubt it is because of the proper offset, I believe Riv's are a bug offset that will work on our little NARP's




does the rubber in the front trunk fit on the bottom of the valence? the Valence appears to be one of the syles that 914 rubber now recreates and sells on their site.

I had one that was pretty beat up on mine that looked like yours previous owner must have driven over a few curbs with it.

on the color issue the craigslist ad states Aqua blue as the color. your going to need to get it matched

Rivieras were available. I'm sure tastes have changed over the decades. Petal Fuchs have become a favorite as they are now iconic (weren't available on the -4) but were still fairly new back then. Personally I like the 4 lug Fucks polished/brushed and painted Mahles. But forget what everybody else likes. Dress her the way you like. the nice thing about having another 914 is that you can dress her up anyway you like. I have an LE Can Am, so I can't change anything on it. It's beautiful the way it is, but I can't make any personal changes mechanically or cosmetically.

I have never been a fan of that plastic ribbed aftermarket front spoiler. Some people like it. Some like the scoop one too. I don't think it looks good on the car. I do like the LE factory spoiler. You can get good repos made from the same mold for cheap if you like that one.

Very nice condition OEM mirrors are expensive. But you can get decent ones for a reasonable price. And if you want the passenger one, that one is very, very rare. so much so that most people I think it's the drivers mirror and use that one on the passenger side. But there is actually a different mirror for the passenger side from the factory. They look the same but the reflection is different and has a different part no. I have a second mint one but debating if I should put it passenger side on my LE. It would be correct because it was an option. I do like the uniqueness of these cars of the time could have one mirror. It dates the car and I like that, so I may just continue to drive extra careful.

You have two 914s now. If your 74 is your "main" one that is all OG, then have fun switching things up with this one however you like. I hope within period-correctness. Enjoy!.

Thanks for the additional replies.

Hmmm... I was wondering what that big rubber thing in the front trunk was for. It does have a slot along its length, so I guess it's supposed to somehow attach to that plastic valence?

In any case, I think I'll keep my eyes peeled for an OEM metal valence.

The last Porsche swap meet I was at had all sorts of 914 goodies.

There's also a 914 bra in the trunk... anyone wanna buy it? Looks to be in great shape.

Yep, gonna keep all mods "period correct." This car has a modern radio, which I'm not too keen on, But I think I'll keep it anyway.

I'm going to put on the "PORSCHE" side stickers, I really like that look. Below is my silver 914 before and after I put the stickers on. I think it looks "naked" without the stickers.

I'm not a big fan of the "Porsche" reflector on the rear trunk, but I think I will leave that alone. Took me forever to find where he had hidden the solenoid switch for the rear trunk latch. It's a tiny button mounted under the dash near the fuse box. The seller had no idea how to open the trunk.

Question: The way the switch is currently mounted, the car has to have the key in the "on" position to open the trunk. Is there any reason why I shouldn't rewire it to always be hot? Also, is there an easy way to relocate it somewhere at the back of the car?

A good Paint shop can scan the paint and match it if it is not stock and make up small amounts for touch up.

I remember a couple of the 914's that I had in the 1980s had that front spoiler with the rubber chin spoiler attached to it that is in the front trunk. Lots of racers were using those in the day on their race cars, also the quad exhaust was a popular "upgrade" then. Not that many aftermarket parts were available back then and they were both available and pretty cheap.

Ah, OK. I have a very good paint shop near here that just resprayed the bumpers on my 996, so I'll go over there. I didn't realize they could mix up just a tiny batch.

Anyone got any photos of how that rubber piece attaches to the front valence, and what it looks like with the rubber attached? I doubt I will like it, but worth at least seeing, as long as I have the parts. The rubber piece in the trunk looks brand new.

Not that many paint shops mix their own paint. I was referring to an automotive paint supply shop that mixes and supplies the paint, tools, and supplies to most, if not all local Paint and Body shops.
My rubber on my front valence was attached with the rubber slot pushed up on the upper valence with screws and rivets going right through all three layers to hold it together. It was a pretty crude and industrial look which went with the "racer" look.

I like the positive stripes on the car too. I hope my next car is blue. I'd put white stripes on it. Yellow on blue also looks good. But I'd place it so "PORSCHE" is centered between wheel wells. I do like the negative stripe too. But since that was first made for the LE, I prefer to keep that just for the LE.

Pretty much everyone mixes their own paint now, but I don't know that a typical body shop would be willing to mix up a tiny amount. I'll look around for paint shop suppliers.

I think I'll stay with the black side stripes for this car. White would be fantastic on Alaska Blue, but I think this car's color is too light for white.

Oh yeah black is perfect for silver. I meant the white over blue. Orange also looks good over silver.

Do you sidestripes in Tangerine Orange!

In order to keep my car "period correct": Do you guys know if tangerine orange and other colors for the side stripes were available in the 1970s? I thought only black back then, other than for the LE versions.

I'll also order a set of nice custom coco mats for this car... the ones from cocomats.com look fantastic in my '74.

My '70 project had two bad resprays, everything but the glass was painted over. But little by little I used a slightly dull pocket knife and removed all but traces of paint here and there without too much trouble. With the right amount of blade angle and pressure I didn't scratch any metal. I did use paint remover in a spray can on the wiper motors and the plastic headlight lever covers. If you wash off the paint remover from plastic soon enough it won't attack the plastic. But on the lever covers I left it on too long and the surface took on a bumpy texture....and it looks great! So they went right back on.

It was a bit of a chore and buying new motors....and headlight lever covers...and wiring harness...and cowl blower box...and WW squirters and reservoir and rubber lines...and more wiring harness...and wiper motors...will be easier...but any way, every night I went out and scraped the next part till I got tired and then did the next thing the next night. After a couple of weeks I was really pleased.

It may depend on the quality of the repaint too, but give it a try. You will have to do at least SOME scraping and this looks like a car that will be worth it. Good luck. The rest of us are jealous and want to see photos of the progress.

They came in black and white for sure. They were in some of the ads (the positive stripes).

The negative stripes were made fir the LE but afterward you could get them as an option

Just got a set of Coco Mats for the '73- they look great but man they are HEAVY!! With the rubber backing they have, they'll never wear out!!

Lots of choices on colour with the "new" Coco Mats too. And Jay Leno endorses them

About the Riviera wheels- I remember they were popular because they have a 5 spoke pattern on a 4 lug hub to kind of look like the Fuch's without having the 5 lug hubs etc.

Lots of the aftermarket wheels back then had the wrong offset. I had a set of American Mags for a while in the early and mid '70's before I put on OEM 6 suspension. Looked good (or I thought so at the time) but offset didn't allow wider tires without fender mods.

Yep, I just now ordered a custom Coverking car cover (crazy expensive for a cover), and ordered my cocomats from cocomats.com. As you say, they are super heavy weight and they look fantastic in my '74... really spruce up that dark interior. I'm going with the Blue/natural for my '73.

Got the car registered today. Almost ran into a problem there... I bought it from the previous owner's mother, since the previous owner passed away 4 months ago. But the title was still in her son's name.

At first, the registration lady told me I would need the death certificate and a letter from the estate executor, and that would take several months to process. Then, after a few minutes, she said... hmmm... let's just put this through.

They made the Rivieras with the correct offset. I am not sure what year they made them. I used to have two.....

They had a different lip on the rim as well.

Bought mine in 79 and its Olympic Blue, Put on the Monza Quad exhaust. and the Fiberglass / rubber front air dam. defiantly period.

So I really like your car...

I will still run the air dam when I put it back together, I have a NOS Monza quad exhaust that has never been install and been in storage for about 20+ years. I will probably sell that though.

With mine being an eastern car yours is probably in better shape than was it when I bought it in 79.

Congrats on your find..

Took the "new" '73 to Cars and Coffee in Carlsbad today for it's first public introduction. Then stopped by TC's Garage in Vista and picked up some parts. Then spent the rest of the day removing paint overspray. The car was painted in 1986 by the previous owner, and nothing was masked off. I have quite to project to clean this car up. Today, cleaned the paint off the latch cups, the front hood latch, the rear trunk latch, and lots of little other misc items. Also, replaced the plastic and rubber targa top holders with brand new ones.

The pix with blue paint on the parts are "before," the cleaned up ones are "after."

For the metal parts I could take off of the car, I used Klean Strip Premium Stripper (from Home Depot). It's amazing how fast it works! I used an approx. 1/4-inch wide paint brush dipped in it, and painted it on. Then used a small plastic scrub brush, and it took off all the paint. Small parts like washers and bolts I also cleaned with acid, them polished on a buffer wheel mounted to my bench grinder, using red buffer compound.

For parts I couldn't remove from the car, I used acetone. But, there's overspray on some plastic and rubber items, and I had to be extremely careful, as the acetone was too strong a solvent on some types of plastic. I'm going at this slowly, because I don't want to do more harm than good cleaning off the overspray.

Hard to believe someone can just paint everything without masking at all!! If they do like that, why even bother??

That is incredible! Are you sure it was not an Earl Sheib paint job? They paint over everything!

Yeah, when I said the PO painted it, I meant the PO had it painted. I'm sure that's what he did... took it to Earl Scheib or similar. Amazing to me that they couldn't even spend 5 minutes masking stuff.

So, overall, it's a pretty good paint job. The exterior still looks good 30 years later.

But, there is overspray on all the hardware inside the front and rear trunks, and also overspray on some of the rubber seals and other places. Over time, I think I can get it cleaned up pretty good.

Cuda- is that you in the picture with the college kid and his blue 914 in the latest Pano??? The silver 914 looks familiar...

Ha! I haven't gotten my issue of Pano yet, but yep, that's me!

I'm the newbie here, but figured I'd bring some National coverage for us 914 bunch.

Figured that was you as the location seemed right too. Pete is doing a great job with Pano, and there is now a lot more 914 content.
When I get the '73 done and down to Arizona, may have to drive it over to SoCal get togethers. Went to the Festival of Speed last year at Fontana and it was definitely worth the drive over from Scottsdale, even though we did it in my son's Jeep at the time..