I just looked over a 1974 914 with 93k miles. It has been owned by a family friend since 1981. He is the second owner and the original owner bought in Cali. I looked over all the places for rust in all of the places everyone says to look, and the R/H jack plate?? is rusty but not really as much as I expected. Right behind the antenna there is a rust spot on the fender. The battery box has been replaced but I see no rust below it, and the R/H rear suspension mount looks great. He repainted it black back in the early 80's and it is cracking, and needs a paint job. At that time they blasted the bottom side and painted and undercoated it. In 81 it had the engine rebuilt with a 78mm stroker and stock bore Mahle pistons, with a street cam, new valves, guides, springs and rocker arms and Mallory distributor, along with a new flywheel and clutch. It also had a pair of 44 Webers installed, new at the time of rebuild. He showed me the ticket and it was over $2k in 1981. It has 5 Mahle wheels, Bilstein shocks, new SS heat exchangers and a soon to be coated extractor and muffler. The interior is about 8-10, with only a small 3" tear in the drivers seat. It has a factory console also. The car was in a barn under a cover when he bought it in 1981 and it only was drive 1 winter. Since he has owned it other than 1981 he has not taken the car cover off in the garage to drive it if it looks like rain. Now for the big question, was the price of $3800 a good price, knowing that it needs paint and all the rubber gaskets/ weatherstrip replaced? I am not looking for a show car, just a fun car to take to the Friday nite drive in shows and possibly a tiny bit of auto/x.

Post up a bunch of pix. Hard to evaluate without them. Probably 3,800 was a reasonable price based on the description.

and

Right now it is buried deep in a building. he had the back up on stands when I looked it over so I could see the bottom of the car, and took the carpet out to see the metal, I guess I should have took photos then. I have over 30 years mechanical experience, mig, tig, and acetylene torch, mill, lathe, press and tons of tools in my garage, so I will be doing most of the work myself. I have a very good friend with a body shop to guide me on what body work needs done before he paints it. I am hoping to keep it under $12k including the purchase price, over a couple of years. I will get photos when I can. I have wanted a Yellow 914 since I say one in a Road& Track mag back in the mid 70's, now all I need is about 1000 hrs. and a stack of cash! I do love the 5 bolt Fuchs wheels, but they may blow my budget.

Awesome! Welcome to the Madness!

Sounds like a good deal and it also sounds as if you have the skills and ability to make it a perfect car.

Yellow? Really? Nobody likes yellow.
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Tangerine is the fastest....

Sounds like a great deal on a solid car. Post some photo's when you can and

Sounds like a good deal to me!

If it is in half decent shape, a very fair price.

Ian Stott
Moncton
Canada

Yellow is like a fungus, it grows on you!

Well stated...

If everything you say is even 80% true, then it is worth it.

I would question why the battery tray was replaced.
It was most likely done because there was already rust damage and it was repaired.
As long as the repair was not a hack job and any welding was treated with rust preventative, you should be ok.

You wont know for sure until you get it out and probe the hell hole area with a screwdriver, and dont be timid.
Some hell holes "look great" until you pry away the layers of bondo to expose the rust beneath.
Hopefully this one is good to go.

If so, then most of us are envious.
A true "barn find".

I won't be surprised if I find more rust, but I really won't know until I start digging. We have been friends with this family for over 20 years, so I know he would not knowingly hide things from me. He painted the car black and gold, because he did not like off white, so it had no body work before he painted it. He told me he put the poly battery box in around the same time of the engine work and paint. He never kept a battery in it while it was parked for storage. With both of us setting in it the doors open and close with the windows up, and neither of us are "slim". I am crossing my fingers I don't find anything big once I get it stripped down, but I am also a realist. I have no intention of a Concourse restoration, just "restified" for a fun driver. I will get photos when I have a little spare time and a little sunshine, which has been slim the last few weeks, 9.5" of rain in the last couple weeks.

I have a little update. I will try to get a bunch of photos next weekend. I was wrong about the $$ spent on the engine. The full receipt shows $5225 in 1983. The build looks a little old school, 86A cam, 009 distributor, 8.5-1 cr. , lots of head work, with stock 914 valves, lightened rods with good rod bolts. It has a 911 aluminum pressure plate and lightened flywheel, twin 44's, balanced ect... It has factory sway bars front and rear, full console,and a fiberglass front spoiler, aftermarket I assume. There is a ticket that show the marine plastic battery box was installed in 1982. The tray was rusty so he put it in. I am poking the hell hole area with a screw driver, and I am not finding any soft spots. The car had not been started in 2 years, but fired up withing about 10 seconds. I drove it about 40-50 miles, "with my cell phone", and the oil temp never quite got to 180f. Even thought the 86A cam and 009 distributor seem to be frowned upon, I was really stunned how well this car runs. There are way more than the original 90hp. in the back. I had a smile on my face that needed scraped off! If there is anyone in the Lincoln, or Omaha area that wanted to show me what to look for, as far as rust I would gladly show them the car. Question, will these engines live when revved higher than 5800 if the valvetrain is stable, with dual or behive springs? It acts like it's just getting to the party when the rev limiter/ rotor kicks in.

I know you can't take all the parts off the body, but look at my build thread for areas you can see.

http://www.914world.com/bbs2/index.php?showtopic=257306

Easy stuff to look at are the floor boards, hell hole, both trunks and you *must* get a look at the rocker panels.

Thanks. I Will pull them off. I looked under the carpet on both ends. The right jack box or whatever it's called is rusting and needs replaced. I am sure to find more before I am done.