I have my 914 stripped down to metal and will be sandblasted by the time anyone replies to this. The car is on a rotisserie and all in all from what I've seen, has a lot less rust than most, especially having spent 15 years in the Midwest. I will not be painting for awhile, as I am headed back to school and unsure of where I will be working when graduation happens this winter, but I have been thinking a lot about the color that I want to paint it. I want the car to have as much value as possible, but also really love the signal orange that was offered from the factory. Originally my 914 was black, which to me, seems rather bleak compared to other colors of the day. I really wanted to make it a two tone, with orange paint, black wheels and black interior, but am wondering if it would be best, for investment purposes, to paint it black.

Signal orange is a beautiful color plus it is the original color. Help a lot with resale also.
But it will still end on what you like to do with your car.

It's your car, do what makes you happy. If it's a 73/74 2.0, I'd probably keep it original, but I like black. Make sure you don't have an LE.

Are you having the chassis epoxy primed after the blasting? If not, you should

Do as you want. Paint change can change value.
You need something on that bare metal ASAP.
Matt

What are you building? Some here have some incredible examples of a stock 914. Color matches the plate in the drivers door jam. There are also examples of what might have been produced, here. And colors are plentiful. I like when they stick with a factory Porsche color, whatever it might be. Like said, it is your car. I've had mine since 82', a lot on it has been changed, color will too.

Pick whatever color makes you happy……..

FYI…Once you start driving your 914 you won’t ever want to sell it………

Definitely epoxy prime it after blasting. Since you are doing it correctly by media blasting the complete chassis and removing all of the original color, paint it any of the original colors from your model year that you like. It's your car, enjoy it. I will say original black is hard to find but I agree that it is not as popular as the box of crayons available.

Consider the safety value of a high visibility color, so the world full of big SUV's can see ya' coming! We tiny cars in open traffic situations can be easily overlooked by the inattentive drivers of today.

This is a very valid point! Especially at night. I say change color to something a little brighter. On the other hand I do like the bumblebee LE cars, so a clone might be a good compromise as far as keeping it black and adding some interest goes (it’s not gonna be any more visible tho).


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Mine is saturn yellow right now. Quite a few times after almost getting creamed, I heard " I didn't see you". I'm seriously thinking either Acid green, or a stripe done with Acid green.

Looks like a really fancy prison. I would get more claustrophobic in that house than a tiny house above ground. It’s neat in some ways but just no attraction to me.

Pretty much sums it up.

Your best defense is driving your 914 like it is a motorcycle. That is how I drive, as if no one can see me.

I also now drive with my running lights on in the daytime now that we switched my headlights so they stay down until I actually turn them on (like the later 914s). Just have to remember to turn them off when you park. I have Spoke's LED lighting all the way around so even when I forget to turn them off they really do not draw any real current off the battery. I just try to make it a habit to turn around and look at my car as I walk away from it.

- What year is your car? If the VIN starts with 474 i would pause on that repaint and do some more digging into the cars history.

- Factory black is somewhat rare for any year, and usually sought after.

- A color change has the potential to negatively impact resale values. Even if done right (which most aren't).

Do you have the original engine and are to prepared to buy all the OEM parts to build a near perfect car? If so, will you want to be driving the car much. I'd rather have a finished product that I can take out on the road and not worry so much about every detail. Over the years of building mine, I've changed directions and am so happy that I built something that can get out on the open road.

Build the near perfect car = original color.

Anything else = the door opens to changing everything. I'd pick a hot color! Makes for a fun car.

Sand blasting a body can lead to warped panels, so I hope no damage was done.
It definitely needs to be epoxy primed after paint removal.
Black was an extra cost premium color, and fairly rare. It still demands a premium price.
Full originality always adds extra value. Add as much detail as you can to your cars profile.

My 74 1.8 is signal orange. Great color for a teener. When we are done with it, it is going to stay signal orange. My 70-6 was yellow from the factory. It is now tangerine and it looks fabulous. I only saw pictures of tangerine cars until the ECR we just had and there was a couple tangerine. I am not a fan of black either although i have seen some with chrome bumpers and they looked great! Your choice, you are going to drive it.

Like DaveP said don't sand blast it! If the guy hasn't started stop him.

Hey I know of a ratty looking black 914 that starts with ‘474’... it’s priced a little more than I thought it was worth, but I didn’t consider it might be an LE. Maybe I’ll reconsider.


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Yup, Signal OrangeClick to view attachment

Option 3:
Paint it black . . . then wrap it in Signal Orange?

¯\_(ツ)_/¯

I will be epoxy priming it later this week, luckily they used a rust inhibitor that is giving me some time during a busy week. It is a 1.7, unfortunately, but the price was too goo to pass up.

This is almost exactly what I envisioned doing with mine. It looks amazing with the two tone in my opinion.

If you are keeping the car, a 1.7, like the one I started with, is a few parts and a little machining away from being a 2.0 or bigger. The stroke and pistons/cylinders are bigger, heads are different, but same basic engine. To make a 2.0 you need a 2.0 crank, rods, pistons and cylinders. You will need to fly cut your heads to fit the larger cylinders or get 2.0 heads.

use a porsche color, if it were me i would do the stock oem black but there are several newer modern porsche colors i would consider like Carmon Red Metallic, i am looking at a Cayman this color right now,
actually very few 914's were painted black so a true black 914 not that common.
but do what makes you happy, but do it well.