Hello everyone! So i was browsing the internet yesterday for a custom car that you don't see rolling around every other corner. I stumbled on the Porsche 914. Interestingly enough its a mid engine car. I was actually looking at a Toyota mr2 but saw a customized 914 and fell in love!

So being the fast action guy that i am, I purchased a 1973 2.0 project (few hours later). Signal orange. not running. Last owner said it ran when he began repairs 5 years ago.
Clean title. Has rust and some dents but nothing extremely corrosive. Engine turns. $1100!

Im looking for a mechanic to do the following: (Pretty much a full restoration)

Body work: including but not limited to new paint, minor rust repair, fiberglass fender flares, front/rear bumper upgrades.

Reupholster interior including carpet, seats, panels and possibly headliner.

Complete engine upgrade/swap: want 180-200hp...suggestions welcomed (subaru...)

******Im located in Queens New York

Who can do this as a package? Thanks in advanced!Click to view attachment

This is what i want to look like

Click to view attachment

That car has ~$100,000 in custom metal work in it FYI.

To hand to a shop and get this result I would think it would take ~150k in parts and labor using a subaru engine from a bare shell. Add 20k for a porsche 6 cylinder power plant.

And no, these are not inflated numbers they are real. If this is doable to you then Im sure there are people on this board who can reccomend you to different people. 'scotty b' is our resident paint expert and is very skilled in fabrication. He can probably do this work.

http://www.914world.com/bbs2/index.php?sho...=118520&hl=

Since you're in Queens you'll want to talk to Racer Chris (Chris Foley) at Tangerine Racing. Besides being a really nice guy he can do anything anything you might need and is right outside of Hartford, CT so it's not too long a drive.

http://www.tangerineracing.com/

ok.

$150,000?

I'll let you know what i end up spending. Will not be anywhere near that.

Thanks though

Thank you!

i thought $150k too. You'd be much better off buying a $20,000 car to make improvements on that to start with the $1100 one

I am sure there are plenty deep pocket shops in the NYC area. For the type of look you are going for, it may not even need to be Porsche specific either. Then again, if going that hog wild, send it to a custom shoppe out in LA!

You may also want more than one place.. One for body.. One for Interior.. One for mechanical.

..........how about a picture of the subject of this thread (orange 914)?

Let me break it down for you if you pay a shop at a minimum.

Teardown to shell 1k
Rust/chassis repair 5-20k
Flares 2-5k
Full paint job 10k
Raked/chopped roof 10k
Bumper finishing 5k (You notice how the lines are perfect that is hundreds of hours of work)
Flushed doors, rockers, hood, gas tank, bla, bla, bla 40k
Suspension/brakes 5k
Wheels/tires 5k
Interior 2-10k
Engine with rebuild,exhaust,electrical,fuel 5-10k
Subaru conversion parts and radiator setup 4k

Again that particular car took 4 years (You can read the thread)

Now if you want to just do a nice flared car and not do the raked roof, flushed doors/hood/bumpers/rockers/bla bla bla... you can take off all that crap from the list, your at about 40-60k for a good solid full blown restoration/conversion if you just plan on handing the shop a check and the car. Note its very possible that you'll find that the chassis has to much rust and you should start with one from California or similar.

Dont see me as just discouraging, I want you to do this as much as you! I love conversion cars and 914's and supporting 914 fabricators is about as good as it gets.

I agree. In fact you might want to consider sending it down to Mexico for the body/interior if your going to go all custom with it or even if you just want a GT body done. They have some excellent talent and you can almost get an entire interior done for the cost of getting a couple of seats done here in the states.

I don't know what it eventually fetched, but the 'ass' was lost on the black car. Fixed steel roof too. Never quite got the point of the non-targa aspect. Take the rocker covers off your car and do a thorough rust inspection. Figure out what you getting yourself into with your car. Expensive lessons have been learned with first time 914 purchases.

Hey welcome to the club. I don't know how serious you are, but I shipped my Six all the way from California to Virginia to put it in the hands of Scott Burnett at Kahiko Customs & Restoration. Take a look at my build thread in my signature and you can see that Scott possesses all of the requisite skills and talent to give you exactly what you want. Nothing is free, but if you want what you want, this is a solid path. Cheers my friend.

By the way, I should have said welcome to the team. Now don't interpret these comments as insulting. It,s just that many of us have traveled down a long road building cars that don't touch the black beauty you reference. Not knowing your experience level in construction a finished car from forty year old steel might lead some of us to challenge your understanding of what it takes. If you have the means and desire, pleas do it and share your adventure with all of us!

A shop that has people on staff that can do the whole car is going to want to put their name on it and it's going to be big bucks.
Smaller places more than likely will have shops that they go to for interior and/or mechanical and/or body and they will take a commission.
On the other hand, there are several talented craftsman that specialize in just one area that will be cheaper as they are just working for themselves.

My list...
1. do rust repair
2. do the engine swap, as it will involve some cutting and fitting. Get the car running and sorted. Have them strip the car.
3. do body mods.
4. do interior then have them pull it
5. do paint
6. back to mechanic for reassembly
7. interior installed.
8. go have fun with your $70k car.

You forgot suspention renew. From r&r old components to alignment/corner balance. For a running car that's #2, right behind brakes.

Good luck with your project......it will take a lot of money and time.....but should be a fun experience.

FYI......the black 914 is currently for sale in CA at Bruce Canepa's for BIG bucks. Bruce has one of the best Porsche restoration shops in the country as well as one of best car collections. He has extremely good taste in the cars he sells.

A friend of mine just had his Porsche 962 race car prepped at Bruce's shop prior to the Rennsport reunion this past September.

Here's the listing for the black 914.....

http://canepa.com/photo-gallery/1974-porsche-914325152/

I personally hate the chopped roof on this car. I think that is why no one has bought it.

Although I respect the time and effort put into it, I wouldn't waste the time and effort put into into doing that to one of these cars.

IMHO

Call Chris at Tangerine.

He is a no bullshit kind of guy he will set you on the right path.

What is the current asking price on the chopped car?

I look forward to seeing pictures or your build and I hope that you are one of the very, very few folks to find a good 914 on the east coast.

I really do appreciate your exuberance and vision, but I anticipate that reality is about to deliver you a swift kick to your junk when you have this car looked at by someone who knows 914s. These cars were not galvanized. They have rust where you would never imagine. Even "rust free" cars from the west coast are discovered to have rust when dismantled.

My first 914 was a turd. It was a rusty, bondo-filled, wrecked POS. I paid $3800 for it and all that was really worth anything was the 2.0 motor and some misc. parts here and there. I pissed away a couple grand because I didn't know what I was getting into.

Again, good luck - I hope that you bought a good one. Porsches, especially now, are a slippery slope. Values are really high, and buying the wrong car could be very, very costly if the bubble bursts. Just sayin'.

and...

Original Customs does completes all the time. Now getting him to take on your project? That might be tough. He is carefully controlling his car count these days...

There is a super nice green subie swap in the classified right now. $40k

I like the look of the chopped roof, but I'm 6 ft = hitting my head so not something for me. I like fun drivers.

For that money you could have a GT4 or a Spyder.

Yes, I agree.

Nice cars on his site, but no prices?
What is he asking for that black car now?
Anyone?