So looking for peoples thoughts... I have a 72 and it’s in decent shape. Interior is good, engine, transmission are professionally rebuilt and perfect.
I know the hell hole is good, the body is decent (I’ve had it to bare metal front to behind the doors). Here’s what I know:
The door jambs are rusted out, I’ve found a couple crunchy spots on the floor, longs seem solid but have been patched, rear trunk corners are crunchy.
I have no idea of the condition of what’s underneath as I haven’t removed body panels.

I drive it 2-3 thousand miles each year and I have no intention of entering it in concourse competitions.
I’m still learning how to weld but I’m a decent novice. To the people that have worked on these cars a ton, is it worth taking off the road for a few years and putting it on a rotisserie or should I just patch as needed over the winters?
Any advice would be helpful,
Thanks!

If you check out my build thread, you will see my bias.

You have to decide if you have the time to spend doing a major restoration, and if you enjoy the amount and variety of work required. It will mean months (years?) of 914 fun that includes body and mechanical work instead of driving.

Its a slippery slope.
I have regrets from both choices.
Hindsight I would probably prefer to regret driving the car more.

Holy crap! You’ve done amazing work there. With my skills and young son I think it would take me 10 years to get to your level.

I think that’s where I’m leaning too. Did you work on 2 cars or same car twice?

. All in for doing the metal work yourself and learning at the same time. Super rewarding and a huge cost savings, but it comes at a big expense of life on jack stands. Be prepared for the journey.

I daily drove a 914 for nearly a decade that many on here would have taken off the road due to rust issues. Never regretted that decision. As I had time, I worked on suspension, brakes, interior and drivetrain. A year ago I took it off the road to begin the rust/bodywork over the next couple years. Of course, it helps that I have another 914 to drive

Restoration of our beloved 914 rust buckets can be very satisfying, time consuming, expensive. Usually depends on your motivation and drive. Best of luck whichever route you take

This all depends on you. What do you want? This 914world has tons of info any direction you choose. Did you say that there was rust at the back of the passengers door jam?
Drive it.....
Matt

Here's my overly simplistic view.

Structural problems: Fully restore.
Cosmetic issues: Patch.

Can't believe this hasn't been posted, but it needs to be done

Ha ha ha! So true, I tried to upload them and got errors. Will try again tonight.

Some photos attached

Obviously you should buy a second 914 to drive while you restore this one.

Plus a parts car to supply bits to the other two.

gfrewin, you have a good looking car. The door jams are worrying, and you need to peel some of the tar stuff from the floor to see about rust extent.

Ha ha ha! I told my wife that idea last night and she didn’t think it was such a good idea.

Thanks, I’ve done a fair amount to it mechanically, interior and fixing up paint etc without too much welding.

I’m worried about the jambs too but luckily I live about a 30 minute drive from Restoration Design so I can get those parts easily. Seeing what you’ve done I may be knocking on your door for advice when I get into things!

while restoring ours we drove a 73 1.7 all stock with rust in the usual places, but mechanically sound. we drive it to SFO down 1 and 101, turns out to be my wife’s favorite car.

IMHO that is the least of your worries. Longs clearly have been worked on and appear to have patches with rivets and/or fiberglass matting on them from photos.

My 1st bit of advice is to carefully understand what was done with that seat belt anchor point. It looks like it may be been done with at at least two layers of sheetmetal (one in the long) and the other replacing the lower long corner. That could be a good thing.

Bottom line, your life may someday depend on the integrity of that seat belt attachment. I'd want to know more about how it was fixed.

THIS. RIGHT. HERE.

Also: That pic of the passenger-side longitudinal is beyond suspect. Someone did a crap job at covering up god-knows-what.

Honestly, I'd lean towards what others have suggested and break it all the way down. It'll take a long time, cost a lot of money, and be a pain in the ass at times. But it's really rewarding work. And then you KNOW it was done right, and it's not a liability on the road to you or your family.

A quicker way to do it would to buy someone else's tub that's already patched up correctly and just move bits from one to the other. That'd be a faster and likely more economical way to go about it.

Canadian 914 projects are coming out of the woodwork, I have several 2.0 Djet builds, or I should say full restorations, on the books this summer.

Thanks for the pics! That helps a lot. Based on those, I'd lean toward restore because once you complete rust and possible structural issues, you will be half way there already. Whether you go through and refurbish every single part is up to you though. You can get the job done a lot quicker if it is just rust repair, paint, and bolt it back together, but it can be psychologically hard to bolt scruffy parts onto a fresh tub.

I agree that passenger long needs attention, plus jambs, rear trunk section, and possibly floor. All doable and not horribly expensive if you DIY.

Fix it the best you can or sell it to someone who wants to take it on. If you want to drive buy a better car. Just my 2cents.

boy the goop on those longs... not original
honestly looks like a piss poor previous repair

I bet you find it to be much much worse underneath
it almost looks like a fiberglass patch?...

Yes, I’m worried about the passenger long with the rivets, I’m close friends with the PO and he’s assured me the rivets were there to hold it before welding but I’d still like to look at replacing the outer longs. The inner long with the seatbelt was done by me with vigilant guidance from a professional so I’m confident it’s a good thing.

I’ve debated that as well. Any idea how I’d find a tub? Honestly, everything else on the car is in amazing shape. Apologize if that’s a dumb question but this is my first restoration car and I’m learning as I go.

What you have really looks like an excellent candidate to fix up. It isn't too bad at all, but it's going to need a paint job when you are done. To me, that's kind of the break-point between patch vs. resto. But read through 71' Irish Green Refresh by @jaredmcginness . It's an excellent recent example of patching and getting a car back on the road quickly without sacrificing quality.

Thank you for sharing that! Gave me a huge sigh of relief as his was much worse than mine to start. This was my hope: Take it off the road to fix the worst of it and then pick at it as needed. I would love this to be a long term project that I can pick at with my son too.