Hello 914 World! This is my first post on the forum. I'm a long time aircooled VW enthusiast & have had several projects in the past (beetles, sand rail, baja, thing).

Our current project is a 1956 Oval Beetle:





Anyways, reason for my post is that I'm looking for a 914 project. I mean, I want one bad. These cars are so stinkin' cool and the perfect mix of VW / Porsche. Interestingly, I've noticed the appreciation in value of these things over the last 5 years - so getting hands on one cheap has become a little more difficult.

I found a gentlemen who has a 1970 914 listed on craigslist, and we've been talking back and forth for a few days. The car is in rough shape, but does run & drive. He said it has the original engine, owners manual, keys, etc. He also has all of the missing components that are off the car now, plus some extras. It also comes with a homemade trailer supposedly built for the car. Oh, and new tires.

I know that it will need rust repairs, a completely prep / paint job, interior restoration, and at least a clean/tune up. Here are some pics:



(The trunk lid is just wrapped, not painted in this pic)






Should be a 1.7? PO converted to Weber Carb






I was told the floors have several pin holes






The back 8" of the trunk floor pan have been cut out:




Battery box is gone / Hell hole doesn't look too great:






From the bottom:


VIN Plate


So... time to make two lists.

The good list:

• Running / Driving
• Body panels seem in tact / rust free
• New tires / OG Rims
• All electrics supposedly work
• (Free) Trailer Included
• PO Apparently sprayed the entire inside w/ rust primer
• Clean title!
• All missing pieces + extras included

And, the bad:

• Battery tray / Hell hole is rotten
• Rocker covers have not been off
• ^Potential hidden rust is likely in rockers / longs
• Will need floor pans
• Fuel injection parts are long gone

He's asking $2,500, and said he was firm on that as he is selling for a friend. Honestly, I'd like to pay $2,000. At that number, I could at least resell all of the good bits off to recover my investment if their is some hidden destruction.

I'd like to check out the car in person - but it is a solid 5 hours away. So, if I'm going - I want to be sure I'm going to try to make a deal.

So, what are everyone's thoughts? (Thanks in advance for your feedback!)

You can find a better one for that price. In California we would cut that up for scrap.

I'd hate to see what you would have done to my Thing in CA:

The hell holes is the hardest, and once you are done swearing and it's all painted, you will understand why.

The rest of that is simple, pieces are at Restoration Design.

Head over, look at the car, it's a VW, so listen to the motor, you will kn if it's junk.
Bring cash and a trailer, it is a powerful thing to show up ready to take the car home, no pre visit, just arrive ready to deal and start at 1700 in cash.

Rich

I have no idea why you would pay more than $1k for that car.

The worse you buy upfront, the multiple $$$ you pay to restore. BTDT.

I'm up North in the salt belt and I wouldn't buy it. Now, the oval on the other hand

You can do better.

The general rule of Porsches are to buy as much as you can upfront, and buy it right. Playing catch up with these cars will bite you later....

I'd RUN from that car.

$1000-1200 tops.

YIKES!

...... how about that picture with the piece of wood with screws in it? Get ready for some of this action

Ok - so overwhelming response is to run away. I may still go take a look / low ball.

The trailer (trying to find pics b/c his CL ad just expired) is actually in great condition. I figure that by itself is worth $750-1000 / I could definitely use with other projects. So factoring that out helps make more sense of the price.

Maybe I should just steal the Type 4 / 5 speed and mod it into the oval

Is there some hidden location to search for solid projects? Craigslist / Ebay / TheSamba shows nothing under $3-4K in a 500 mi radius of me.

To me, it's a car that 5 years from now would be a good candidate for resto. If you've got the skills, space and tools I'd say go for it. If the trailer is viable, your logic is reasonable.

The thing is, once you make the 5 hour drive, you have to be willing to walk away if you have any sense you're in too deep. Take along a cordless drill so you can take out the rivets and see under the rocker panels.

There is a wealth of knowledge on this site that can help if you take on the project. There are also build threads here that began with lots worse than this one. Good luck.

You will spend 3-4k in parts and time/labor just to make it a decent 3-4k car.

So, pardon the newbie question - but is there any good resource I can use to read up on how to remove the rocker panel covers? I've never done that before so don't even know how they're attached / where to look to start removing.

3 lugbolts underneath the rocker panel, two small lugnut inside front fender and rear fender and several plastic rivets on top that you can cut the head assuming still original installation. Usually the 3 bolts underneath is hars to loosen. What I did on two cars is to just cut them with electric cutter.

Click to view attachment

Rivets along the top, nuts and bolts on both ends, and two pan head screws underneath.

A '56 oval is worth the most restored original.

http://www.914world.com/bbs2/index.php?sho...p;#entry1973613

Thanks, everyone for the help. I really appreciate it.



You're 100% correct - but stock restoration is not in the cards on this car. It's a '56 body on a '63 chassis with parts from various year models - so wasn't a good starting point anyways. It's going to be somewhat of a resto-mod & will likely be getting a IRS mod to the rear end, larger engine, and 5 speed transmission.

It's also not perfect cosmetically. At some point in it's life it was whacked pretty good on the passenger side. Halfway through replacing a roof section form a '59 donor car:

Howdy from Austin!

Cool Oval project...

I hope that the '70 914 gets restored, but it wouldn't be an inexpensive car to build compared to one with higher purchase price but with better bones.

Good luck to you finding a 914, they are great fun all the way around.

Get the VIN number and post it here in the VIN section.

And I would guess maybe 10K in parts/paint alone. You will need all new rubber from 914Rubber for example, and with a dash pad and doors and carpet that will come to 3K.

I like to see them saved.

And nice oval. I had 59 convertible in college. 1200 cc if I remember correctly, had to shift down going up a hill on the interstate. Would like to have it back.

I just emailed the owner & asked if he would send a photo w/o the battery installed and also with the rocker cover removed.

Time to find out how bad it really is... I'll post an update as soon as I hear back.

If those are "pinholes" in the floor looks like they were made with a bowling pin.

Good to see someone else from central Texas, even if it is College Station.

I would certainly think you could do better locally than that. You might want to just keep an eye out on Craigslist. They do pop up from time to time.

There's no doubt with your skills you could bring the 914 back to life, but I'd spend my time on the oval until a better starter 914 came along.

Gary

You might be on to something. This one just popped up on the Dallas CL a few days ago, I must have missed it: http://dallas.craigslist.org/ftw/cto/5397820899.html

I'm going to try to check that one out too. 1974 2.0, OG Fuel injection, supposedly clean except surface of panels which were sanded down and not top-coated.

Keep us posted on the Dallas car, I was considering that one myself.

Find another tub...

Go get the Dallas car.
Judging by your Beetle metal work the 914 will be a breeze.
For around 1/3 more money you'll get twice as much car and a lot less work.
And a better car to sell if that ever happens.
But PLEASE.....the first job is to remove the unsightly door protector eyesores.

Just got off the phone with the Dallas owner. Super nice guy - apparently used to be pretty active on this forum. He has owned nine 914's before - very knowledgable.

The good: He claims this is the cleanest 914 he has owned as far as rust goes. It was a daily driver before and was driven from CA to TX in 2012. It has the original 2.0, fuel injected, rebuilt sometime in the 90's with paperwork.

The bad: Likely original suspension parts underneath, 3 mahle rims / 1 other, needs new interior, needs paint (was sanded down 2 years ago in prep for repaint then left to rust), there is a ding on the rear drivers fender (see bondo in pics).

He said that he has every new piece needed to put it back together - original german carpets, seat covers, etc.... however, he will not be including with the car unless we arranged a separate deal. (Bummer)

I'm going to check in with him later this weekend as another party is coming to look at the car tomorrow PM. He is pretty firm on his price.

----------------------------

All of that being said, I'm not sure 100% where my head is. There is no doubt this is a cleaner car, but it is missing A LOT and I really was disappointed to hear him list all of the replacement pieces that would NOT be included with the sale.

I'll keep you guys updated as I learn more.

There are much better cars out there. I wouldn't touch either of those. This one runs and drives for $3500.

https://portland.craigslist.org/clk/cto/5376936310.html

Gotta wonder why he doesn't spend the 15 minutes to vacuum out the car and then maybe another $50 to replace the missing switches and window crank.

My black car looked WAY worse than that inside when I bought it,…………………... two weeks later:

Click to view attachment

Sure, but how much did you spend in getting there? (looks great, BTW)