Seriously. Everybody I've talked to that see's my car has owned one. Or ridden in one. My mailman owned one. The guy at the gas station driving a bland-SUV owned a 914 "back in the day". A co-worker owned one. Does anybody else have this amazing gift of attracting these people that all owned 914's?

Cheap and plentiful, and don't forget very very cool.

I get that a lot with the 914, many more conversations about them compared to none driving around in the 911. You just gotta face the fact that the 914 is just a cooler car

I get the opposite, "Wow I have never seen one of those before...."

I get so many people who say they had one, their brother had one, or their girlfriend had one.

Same thing with my Karmann Ghia.

Both cars are conversation starters.

no doubt remembered by "old guys" who had one back when they had a little extra cash and no family responsibilities. Same so with Z cars, RX7. vettes etc. In your 20s.. these cars (when bought used) were relatively cheap. Like 944s... You buy one.. have fun.. then life takes over for many. They get sold off, but the memories are kept. Others are lucky enough to keep them.. or find one to relive the old days.

They've always been a very rare sight in the UK. In fact in my life I've never seen another on the road here, other than near a car show. Whenever it does attract conversation it's only ever been 'What is it?' followed by either 'is it Triumph?' or 'is it a Fiat?'

In person...I.ve never seen a RH drive one.

I wonder how many were delivered to the UK?

My Dad bought my 74 2.0 42 years ago. Wow.

I mostly get old guys walking up to the 914 these days. I miss the chicks from the 80s, but they don't want to talk about what they did in them back then.

Younger people just look confused.

Still get the "you know that's part Volkswagen" sometimes. Yeah, I know.

Ever since my first Porsches & Doughnuts event back in 2009, just about every PCA event has 1 or more "used to own one" come up to talk about it - often wanting to get one again. And that is just based on a shirt or hat with a 914 pic or script, since my 914 is still not out-&-about!

Of course there are still the snooty 911 PCA types, & the "Benny Bench Racers" who only judge cars by numbers, since they obviously do not know the joy of driving a car at close to 100% - vs. some 500 HP at 30%!


Tom
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I take the same jabs when I take my 356 or 914 out, and I ask the same thing, is it better to drive a slow car fast, or a fast car slow?

[quote name='Tom_T' date='Nov 23 2018, 08:55 AM' post='2667973']
911 PCA types, & the "Benny Bench Racers" who only judge cars by numbers, since they obviously do not know the joy of driving a car at close to 100% - vs. some 500 HP at 30%!




And the 2018 post of the year award goes to Tom....

It's an extremely common occurrence when driving any classic car,I've had that happen with all the classics I've owned throughout the years.

I find my 914 gets a lot of attention these days either when rolling down the road on the trailer or at the racetrack. People come up and tell me their stories from the 70's-90's. A bunch of the longtime POC guys used to race them but have moved to watercooled. It's sad how few are seen actually driving around or racing anymore. I got my first one in 1999, hard to believe it's been so long.

The factory only ever produced them in LHD. Crayfords in the UK did the RHD conversions there. While being a relatively simple conversion the additional cost involved brought the price of a converted 914 higher than a RHD base model 911.

Weird really as I think it was something the factory intended to do. The floor pan is already set up for it and the steering rack position is as well. All they needed was a modified fuel tank, firewall and dash panel.

I converted mine in the garage at home when I got the car in 1988.

Very rare car here in Australia. Every time I stop for fuel or whatever, someone always asks 'what sort of car is that'?

914 was a popular car and they sure made a lot of them—well over 100,000 of them, in fact. Let's say 5 owners per...for 500,000, or 7 per for 700,000. Most of those were in the U.S. Now figure how many people knew those owners/drivers, and either drove the car or rode in it...or just remember it. And it was memorable in both design as well as performance.

I too get a lot of comments from people who remember their 914s, or someone else's. Until not so many years ago, 914s were a very common sight here in Northern California. Now, not so much. I can go months without seeing one…how is it in Southern California?

In my recent experience it's at the point here in SoCal where you go to many cars & coffee or track events and there's not a single (other) 914, or maybe 1.