With roughly 115,000 914s produced anyone got a guess on how many are still
on the road ??
Seems that I see more parts cars or 914s that the owners want to restore but will never happen and then all the ones that went straight to the race track reduce there numbers even more.
Without even looking at your Vin thread I would guess there are less then 15,000 street able ones still out there. He'll I put one in the grave and had two parts cars. 114,997

9560 in the member VIN database when you take out the dead cars (747). Probably not super accurate, but a start.

That question surfaces every now and then
http://www.914world.com/bbs2/index.php?showtopic=78138
http://www.914world.com/bbs2/index.php?showtopic=263481

I have 3 that are in the restoration process. So that accounts for three of them.

I have 11 of them

I only have 6 - 2 are parts cars. Our shop has 4.

I used to have 4 1/2, now i'm down to 2, 1 of which hasn't driven since the 80s ...

whore! lol

It's hard to say but I'd estimate 15-20,000 survivors in one form or another....

Unfortunately, there are less than one dozen without rust and mine is not one of them.

70%

I looked at this quite a bit last year to estimate how many are likely around. 15-20k was what I came up with.

i've maybe seen maybe 5-10 in the wild in the past 10 years.

Hello ,
here are all 914 /4 and 914/6 in Germany with a registered plate :

914/4 = 901 units

914/6 = 160 units

Click to view attachment




Gruss Ralf

I know a lot of people with good cars sitting on jackstands and no plates in garages...

They are going to get them running again someday....

In summary:

~115K originally built in total.

~83K shipped to the USA, many of which went to the southern states.

~32K shipped to the ROW, many of which stayed in Germany, and only ~900 remain registered in Germany in Jan 2014. That's a datapoint only, not definitive.

~250 of the ~1000 1974 LE cars survive (~25%) (these were only shipped to the USA) but frankly many are driver quality or worse, and some should be 'set free'. Its a datapoint only, not definitive.

I think we would be lucky if 20% of the USA cars (16K) and maybe 2K ROW cars survive today. That's 18K 914 survivors in total as of 2015, and probably less.

We currently have 8820 unique VINs in Database.

Of course not all of them are up to date, some are marked as dead and many aren't in driving condition.

What this means is that if my project continues to sit in the garage in California that it can only increase in value.

We have near 9.000 in the database; me thinks we are only counting 1/4 of what,s still out there. . So, 30,000 or so.....

That's a depressing set of stats. I was thinking there'd be 30-50K left.

In 1988 I picked up a Christophorous (sp?) that estimated about 85% of all Porsches made were still around. If you're right, the 914 has not stood up to that stat. As an aside, the picture at the top of the article was of the '73RS prototype. My guess is that particular model beats the 85% bar. More like 110% with all the fakes.

At the local Cars/Coffee, I'll see at least 10 911s and 5 356s for each 914. Maybe Chrisopherous wasn't counting 914s as Porsches for purposes of its article .....

This is nice to have because it's a hard data point. I wonder how many other countries keep similarly simple records to mine. The US is a lot harder, with 50 separate DMVs, many of which stopped sharing info a long time ago.

Interesting to consider the other speculation, much of which looks credible and intelligent to me but is by definition inconclusive. There is little doubt in my mind that 914s, especially 914-4s, sent to the US failed to meet the 85% survival rate marker, and may have actually driven Porsche's stated survival rate (if accurate) down quite a bit. People have always prized 356s and 911s; far fewer prized the mid- and front-engined Porsche sports cars. Instead, the cars moved down the price and maintenance scale—remaining on the road due more to their robust engineering and build quality than to the care they received. Even into the 1990s, 914s and 924s and 944s were a common sight on Bay Area roads, both in terms of cars you hadn't seen before and cars you saw all the time. They have just about vanished, and that's especially true with 914s. I see one maybe once every few weeks now, where I used to see several a day, or certainly several a week.

That's all anecdotal, too, however. But when I think about all of the 914s that were race cars, hot rods, derelicts, and rust/accident victims, I bet we would be lucky to see a pool of 50% of the US total (so 40,000~) left, with a far smaller percentage as runners, a small pool of "stand up" examples in any configuration, and a tiny number as truly excellent original, restored, or even "faithful" cars.

The funny thing is, my admiration for the design and the engineering of the 914 against Porsche's other cars has only grown as the years have gone by. And, after 25 years of driving the same 914 (though it has changed a bit), it's still a great drive.

pete

Another interesting data point, even if just anecdotal. Matches my take, as well.

And, because of that rarity, the 914 seems to be a big draw at events. My guess is that will only help its longterm collectibility. Not sure how I feel about that, however...

pete

Some 10+ years ago i asked Rich Bontempi if he had any records of how many 914s he had cut up over the years.

While he didn't keep any written records his response was "Well over 1000".
And that's just one dismantler.

I would put a guess at about 20-25K range but I'm optimistic. As far as a original 914 without rust, they are unicorns, the only ones I could think of are probably the factory cars that they have held onto for decades.

That is so, so grim.

If I don't get started on my car the rust will consume the whole thing and there will be one less.

I've been repeatedly viewing ebay most days for the past two years, on average the number of all 914 listings is a low of 6 and a high of 27

Those numbers aren't any leading indicator… but it could give some type of framework. I'd guess the average number of daily listing on ebay for the last 24 months is very near 15 (it's been lower in recent months).

Look at it this way. Scarcity increases value........ in everything but life.

Fewer 914's remaining in circulation only increases the value of the ones that are in circulation / Therefore, smaller numbers (survivors) will boost value and may give the incentive to shove the little beast off the jack stands, point it down hill, and go for a ride.... even if only to the bottom of the hill.

Use Triple A to have it towed back to the garage and do it again next Christmas. Eventually values will catch up with the cost of your 7-tow membership and incentivize completion of your project. the fact that I don't have a decent hill nearby made me do it sooner... Hence the drive on the Ortega today.