I am new to the forum and recently found a 1974 2.0 available for sale in Los Angeles that is not currently on the market. I will only be in a position to get up close and personal to the car next week and get the history, mileage, vin & engine #etc....

My plan is to get the mechanics checked and take it to a local restoration shop to make sure she's all straight and not rusty in the usual places. For sure it needs a full paint job and interior. There are also many parts to be replaced i.e. lenses, targa top, windshield, dash pad, rubber all around etc...

Paint is completely burnt, but the car looks straight. Any idea on what to offer and the right price to pay? Not looking to do a rotisserie restoration, but would like to build it into a really nice car that I can enjoy driving for a long time.

My guesstimate is $10k for paint and $5k for interior and misc. Mechanical not included.

Hoping its a matching numbers car and will know more next week.

Any ideas? All feedback and opinions welcome. Thanks.

$5K for bodywork minimum and probably more in the $10-15K range based upon your description. Highly unlikely the chassis is in rust free shape given the description. These cars had rust installed at the factory.

Best of luck though. I truly hope it works out and you get a great car!!

Its like valuing a diamond based on cut and size only, IMPOSSIBLE. Pics are required. Browse the 914's for sale section and then compare what you see to what has been advertised and at what prices. OR, post many pictures here, OR get someone more knowledgeable in your area to go inspect it with you...
Chris

Check 914rubber.com for parts prices. A nice restored 74 could get 15K, so that should be your max ballpark total budget.

A nicely restored 74 is bringing more than $15K.

Well sorted 2.0s are topping 20K now...

I think in this case the old advice to "buy the best car you can afford" holds true. Unless you're looking for a project, probably best to spend the 15K on a solid driver that you can enjoy right away and improve as you go along. For that money you should have some decent options if you spend a month or two looking (check the classifieds here). Better than spending a year or three sorting things out. Unless, again, you specifically want a project.

Welcome to the addiction and good luck!

Value is definitely somewhere between $600 and $24,000, depending on condition.

There is absolutely no way to provide any kind of reasonable valuation with so little information, sorry.

Appreciate everyone's input so far. I will post pics next week and take it for a full PPI here locally. Based on actual condition, I am thinking about a target range of $2K-$5k to acquire the car.

I paid $2500.00 for my original 1974 2.0 (all original except for the radio, heat exchangers and muffler). I had the exact same plan as you, just to build a solid resto-driver. Check it out here and let me know if you have cost questions. Being an Indiana daily driver, mine required much rust repair.

http://www.914world.com/bbs2/index.php?showtopic=279979

Sounds like a car that could use a full resto, so why not spend a little extra and do the full resto, then you can sell it for full resto price instead of half?

I know of one that just sold for $24,000 restored beautifully.

Paint it yourself. Save a bunch of $$ and learn a skill.

Here's my '74S. First car I ever painted. Paid about $1,300 in supplies. Stripped to bare metal, primed, and painted silver metallic. All in my garage. Was it perfect? No, but it was much better than when I bought it. My motto, from the movie The Edge, "What one man can do, another can do". I now have a sweet paint gun and the skills. Next up, my '71 Euro Mercedes 350SL.

Might very well end up doing just that if it is an original #s matching car and I can get a COA . Don't want to overspend, but if Im keeping it 20 plus years not going to worry about losing money as it appreciates. Still have my 72 Super Beetle Convertible coming up on 30 years that I bought in '87.

Regardless, I've got to get past the PPI to see what it is and get it bought first.

Great looking 911! Not a bad thought, but I do not have the patience nor the bandwidth.

Just remember it is faster and cheaper to buy someone else's work. That it is to say if you have that much cash to throw at it, consider shopping around for one already restored unless you really want the project.

As for current value, agree, too many variables and not enough info, sorry.

Hagerty is your friend, scroll down to the value chart.

https://www.hagerty.com/apps/valuationtools...Porsche-914-2.0

However, from your description, this isn't even a #4 Fair condition one, but a project needing a lot of work.

If you're looking for a project, then price per realistic resto costs after the buy in - but you can easily get upside down from a #1 or Concours 914 2L value on these projects, as others have said above.

And you're smart not to assume that SoCal never had any rust inducing rain in it's history!

Use this Assessment form by Jeff Bowlsby:

http://bowlsby.net/914/Classic/zTN_Gen_914CAF.pdf

914 References:

914 Info at top of page on here

p914.com ( & .net & .org)

http://bowlsby.net/914/Classic/

... & in case it's an LE -

http://bowlsby.net/914/CanAm/

Good Luck!
Tom
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Great Stuff and Thanks.

What he said. Get a car that's already restored...it's cheaper in the long run and you can enjoy the car now.

I agree it's cheaper in the long run, but I have huge pride that I saved a one owner 2.0 car, with original transmission and motor, from the parts/scrap yard. I figure eventually the value will catch up with the price I paid for saving it.

The below listing goes a long way towards gauging the market along with other recent sales of nicer examples in the 17k-24k range.


http://www.914world.com/bbs2/index.php?showtopic=307885

You're guessing 17-20k. Now. Dependent upon how things go and your skill set you could double either number. If you can go shopping with 17k, cash, you can find a pretty nice car. Be ready to book a flight for the right car.

Went to get a PPI at TRE Motorsports here in LA yesterday on my '74 Street find. More good News Bad news.

Good News is that it turned out to be a numbers matching Marathon Blue Metallic with FI, Fuchs & appearance package. Dave at TRE was amazing. They are a great shop and I would recommend them to anyone here in LA.

Bad News is it just needed too much work, pretty much everything inside & out.

Had to walk away from this one too. I'm 0 for 2.

I'm sorry, Jeffrey. Disappointing, yes, as I know from recent experience. But you are approaching this properly. Waiting for the right car will pay off in the end. I turned away from the first '73 2.0 I considered, for much the same reason. It needed everything. No doubt I could have made a fine car from it, but it didn't seem to make much sense given the cost/reward ratio.

The car I ended up with (another '73 2.0) cost me almost twice as much up front, but there is so much more to work with, I'm way ahead.