I have spent a few dollars on my 914. While I might have some great engine work by Orginal Customs, tons of Tangerine Racing extras, trans by Dr. Evil, custom gauges by Tim, and pretty much every part that 914 Rubber makes on my car, but that hardly adds up to a fraction of what other people have invested in their cars.

I don't want to start a discussion about how much we have spent (our wifes may read this at some point) but rather why we spend so much money on these cars.

For me, I spent a lot of time with my dad working on 914s. 914s were a part of my college life and a big part of me meeting my wife of 22 years. I don't have children but I hope to pass on the 914 bug to my godson and his father with the hope it will result in some of the quality father son times I remember.

I also enjoy the time I spend working on this car as it reminds me of so many good times in my life. It is also a blast to drive!

I know I never will or they never will recover a fraction of the money I have spent if they sell it at some point. But if I pass on a connection to the 914 or give them a chance to have some of the experiences I have had with the 914 I will be content with the investment.

What is your reason?

because i have a huge amt of disposable income












oh, and i also like to tinker and rebuild stuff

Because of the love I have for the car.....

I just sold my yellow car, Speedy, and I am moving forward on buying some expensive stuff for my black car. I think that by the time we expire/die, these cars will be worth much more than we can imagine right now.

I got SO much action on a simple Craigslist ad from international buyers.

Incredible. We may be already selling ourselves short, as the first person who actually came to see my car bought it without even looking at ANYTHING.

Dundee, deal. He didn't even look at the interior, (he didn't open the door,) the engine, and didn't even have me start it.

It's going back to Germany, but dang…….

Because I am ..












(Close as I could get to Fuchin nuts.)

Because I need a car that needs me more than I need the car.....

It silences the Lambs.

Its all Marks fault (AKA Mikey194)

It makes your skin soft......

Nuts for sheep?

Its about my Dad.

I consider it an investment in happiness. Invest in what you know. Invest in something that gives you pleasure and you can't go wrong, regardless of the market.

Good point Steve,sometime all the funs in the build and fine tuning after that things go a little flat for some, but the 914 is a fun car so that lingers for a long time,I see that in the members car section,lots of history and long time ownership.
It kinda sets this little car above others really.

I like fun, and I want to own the means of production.

I've had a 914 as long as I've had a drivers license ~26yrs now... The money doesn't matter at all, the 914 has been a fixture in my life so long that it's not about that at all anymore.

Nothing like a sunny drive in a 914!

I bought my 914 43 years ago this month. It is definitely part of my life. Selling it is out of the question. The 914 was neglected while the twins were in college but since then I have spent considerable change on it but it is only numbers in my checkbook.

See the punch list:

http://www.terrytuck.com/914.htm

I bought my car in April 1973. I was 18.. A tangerine 914-6
My dad went to the Porsche Dealership with me the next day
and co-signed the loan for the car. A 4 year note.

By some Clerical Error, the Life Insurance Policy on the loan ended up
in my dads name. No idea how that happened ?
He passed suddenly less than 2 years later . Loan was paid off....

I consider the car a gift from him... I will never sell it.......

It has nothing to do with Money....

Wow! Great story! We are kinda kindred spirits.

Mine will be past down to my son.

A few other reasons 914s are priceless to me.

My wife first heard of me when someone said “his other car is a Porsche.” Good for me they forgot to mention it was on jack stands.

Caused me to be 24-hours late for my first date with my wife.

Spent countless hours in the shop working with my dad on this thing call a “boxer engine.”

Taught my best friend in life to drive a stick shift in my 914.

Spent countless hours cussing the lack of dependability of the 914. But it allowed me sufficient practice to hone my engine removal time down to 30 min.

Taught many a fool about the virtues of a 914 as they faded in the mirror around the last curve. Most notably a Fiero owner who failed to understand that while mid-engine is a great configuration, putting it on a frame that was essentially a Pontiac T1000 was not great leap forward in handling performance. Add that great frame to a 92 hp engine known as an Iron Duke, no 4-wheel disc brakes, a complex suspension that performed poorly, in a car that weighed 2,500 lbs was not a combination for success. Yes the tree made that clear in the end.

Now spend countless hours looking for the next part I am going to replace.

And last, the 914 lead me to this community which is a truly amazing collection of people. While because they own 914s, their intelligence is questionable. But their skills and love for the 914 are beyond doubt.

AWESOME gift. Truly humbling to read.

Because I love old stuff, old cars, and I especially love roadsters!

* Always wanted one, cause it was a step up from my VW Bug.
* When I drive, I always get questions about it.
* People will wave or point and smile when I drive by.
* I am not getting any better at Golf! But I am getting better at working on this car.
* Best of all.... Cause Blizzard always seems to have a part I need.

My then girlfriend, now my wife.. Was with me the night I walked
into the Dealership and bought the car. She was 16 at the time.
She also sat at the kitchen table with me while I explained to
my parents that I bought the car.
Her first lessons on driving a standard were in that car...

If you want to make a small fortune on 914's, simply start with a large fortune! In my case, replacing the CV joints has turned into, "may as well drop the engine, may as well do the clutch, may as well do the brakes, may a well powder coat the tins, rebuild the alternator, do the fuel lines, the list goes on!

As for the international buyers responding to a Craigslist ad. I get those on every Craigslist ad no matter what I am selling. There must be a lot of wealthy buyers in Nigeria. :-)

I bought mine to give my son a project to keep him busy. He wsa a very good race car mech. from super vees to indeoplas racing, but he had a heart attack and was left with 20% left. We updated every thing that you could do to the car. including 78x104 modern engine, long geared trans, c 1st 908 2nd stand 3rd. high 4th. H 5th. unfortionly my son passed. and now I am unable to keep up with its maintiance. What to do?

I have always gravitated between muscle cars and Porsches. Sold my 69 RS/SS Camaro to buy my first 914, a red 1975 2.0. I have owned a 944 then a 928 before I came back to the 914 world. Purchased a 1973 2.0 and loved that car until the Hod Rod bug hit me again. I sold it and bought a 1970 Mach 1. Enjoyed many years with my Mustang, and built up a stable. Sold most of my mustangs and started looking for a 914 again. But somewhere along the way I bought a 1970 SS 454 El Camino. Figuring my 914 dream will have to wait plus finding a clean driver is getting harder I ran across my current 914 in Arizona. Long story short I now have my hot rod and my 914. Of course the best of both worlds would be to have a V8 in a 914....

I have always made money when I sold a car but I have so much in my current 914.... Thanks to Patrick Motor Sports for there current and future work I want done I would never even come close to breaking even. Guess I better keep this one and quit going to Hot Rod car shows.

Click to view attachment
I still have the 66 coupe " my son thinks it's his "and the 07 used to be my daily driver but now it rarely gets driven. It's for sale.


My 1970 El Camino if you have $ 46,000 you can drive it home.
.Click to view attachment

I had a similar thing happen when I sold my Karmann Ghia. The international interest wasn't from Nigeria ...it was from The Netherlands, Germany, and Sweden. I actually had a guy come check out the car that wanted to take it back to Germany.

I know when I bought my current 914, the seller had another offer that was higher than mine from a buyer in The Netherlands. He took my offer because he didn't want to have to transport the car all the way to the port of Oakland. My shipper came right to his house

I love 914's because they're the only car that I comfortably fit in. I'm tall with long legs. Other cars always force me to contort my feet to get to the pedals, because they have you in more of a 'sitting' position. Also, I love how they go around corners real fast!!!

Wow. There are some truly inspiring stories in this thread. Mine is less dramatic, but similar to some of the others. Waaaaay back in 1970, my neighbor across the street who I often hung out with, was planning a new sports car purchase. He was deciding between a 914, a 914-6, and a Datsun 240Z. Although I was only 12 at the time, I was deeply smitten by Porsches for reasons that only became clearer later. I was practically jumping up and down saying "Get the 914-6, get the 914-6, get the 914-6!" Something about the sleeper quality of that car appealed to me, even then. He ended up buying the 240Z. He wanted more "go" than a stock 914-4 provided and couldn't justify the cost of the -6. I can't argue with his decision.

My first car was a 1961 Karmann Ghia. I loved that car, spent a lot of time working on it, and learned a lot. A couple of years later I traded up to my first Porsche, a 1970 -6. Unfortunately, it wasn't a good car for a 19-yo who liked to drink beer. I totalled it 2 months later

I've owned a couple of early 911s since then. Loved the driving experience they provided, but the 914 still remained a special model to me. The simple lines, the practicallity, the nimbleness. What's not to love about them? So, I started my search for another 914, four years ago. Found one local to me that belonged to a fellow enthusiast. (He had 2 other 914s in his garage.) Bought it and am now roughly 20 months into a full-on restoration. I sold the 911 a year ago because I was getting paranoid about driving it. I'll never recoup the money I have into this 914 and I'm OK with that. My wife thinks the 911 was a "prettier" car and many would agree with her. I just smile knowingly. I like driving my 914 even better!

- MR

Back in the late 70's the poster I had on my wall was of a 914. There was something about them that I always found appealing. I was not crazy about the 911 which I thought was more of a disco show-off car.

Came across a few over the years but most were driven hard and put away wet. Wound up buying Alfas, a Fiero, even a mint MR2 SC but still wished for a 914.

Found mine about 5-6 years ago via one of the forums. 74 2.0, signal orange, fully equipped including AC, service records back to day 1, original paint, low miles, etc. it was far out of state so I had a buddy from the Amphucar club who knows 911's check it out. He said it was one of the cleanest old Porsches he had ever seen. A few weeks later it was delivered and did not disappoint.

Though I do not drive it much it has proven to be a keeper unlike the 100+ other car flings I have had. I've owned many "better" and more expensive vehicles but none match the same basic joy of driving experience that I get from the 914.

It's been pretty much trouble free though not to the level of the MR2 which never needed more than an oil change. A couple of months ago I finally decided to drop the engine to give it a 40 year clean up and refresh of various aged components like clutch and fuel lines. I suspect it will eventually go to one of the kids when I am gone.

Great Thread!

Same here but for different reasons. My dad is a huge Muscle car guy and my uncle is a big Porsche enthusiast. My uncle actually found my 914 for me when I was 15, I was so excited. The reason we were looking at 914's was because my mom was going to give me her old one that was in storage for 10 years. We ended up finding one that was in great autocross shape for less than what we thought it would cost to rebuild my moms. Looking at it now I think it would have been more cool to have my mom's old car...

I've always had a 71 chevelle and my 914. Well after playing with my Chevelle for 10 years and many of tickets, I sold it! I always gravitated towards the 914 anyways, get bored of drag racing. 914 is always a lot of fun and you can have a lot of it without breaking the law. I also love how much more advanced it was over the chevelle, it's like a street legal race car. I can drive it to the race track, race around the track and drive it home! Unbelievable.

Ya now there are newer cars they can do this also, but they are more complicated and expensive to fix. Plus they're not a 914.

In general I love to tinker and the 914 is like my adult tinker toy... Luckily since the value of my 914 has been going up over the years I think I'd be close to breaking even with the amount I've spent on it. However the recent rebuild of my 3.2L set the numbers back quite a bit.

I do hope to have another muscle car some day, something I can take the family around it.

Because I've spent less on the four 914's I've had than I spent on the one 911S I had. And the 914's are a lot more fun!

It's weird, all of my cars seem to be spiking in value. My slight overpayment for the 914 a year and a half ago is now a fair deal, and buying my 1970 VW bus for $1800 in 2012 was a steal. Now if I can grab up my early 60s Continental now before they skyrocket in price I'll be set... nope, I'll never be satisfied with my car collection.

For me it started with going to see the movie LeMans on the big screen when it was first released - 7 years old then. Then came the commemorative T shirt with a 917, 911, and 914 on it. A young Porsche fanatic was created.

Fast forward about 17 years, had a 911 SC or Carrera in my dreams since high-school and college years, landed a job on the shores of the Chesapeake Bay and became hooked on racing - sailboats that is. Cars sat on the back burner until my sons became teens and car enthusiasts and re-kindled my interest for a 911, but the boat was still draining the fun funds.

Then came an accident in which our youngest son, 13 at the time, was struck by a car resulting in a serious leg injury. Through a year and half of orthopedic visits we got to know his surgeon who had an outstanding rapport with our son, always figured him for a Porsche guy, but we never talked cars for some reason. Even saw a 914 in the parking lot one day at his clinic, I commented to my son it was in nice shape but not one of Porsche's nicer looking cars... Then as my son was coming up on 16, we bumped into his surgeon at a C&C. To make a long story short he had a Six coming out of restoration, needed to sell his '73 (the one we saw in his clinic's parking lot), and offered it to our son for his 16th. Since it wasn't a practical DD, but since it was an affordable intro to the Porsche world, we bought it with the intention of passing to our son once on his own- to be his first Porsche and first classic.

Fast forward five years, I have my Carrera now, enjoy it as much as I thought I would, and now have two 914's in the garage, the surgeon's former car which our son will take next year, and I recently purchased another '73 for me - enjoy them more than I thought I would. Don't ask which I prefer - 914 or 911? I enjoy them both for different reasons.

As for our first 914, been a great experience, and with that came an increasing bond with our son's surgeon and his family - close family friends now. That first 914 will never be sold do to sentimental reasons, and the fun factor.