George seems like a honest guy. Just wondering if you’ve ever bought a car from him?

Do your homework

Never a car. Lots of parts and never a hickup. He also supports the 914 community with a lot of free info.

Can you expand about do your homework

You want him to do your homework?

Are you going to do the deal in person? I think that would be best.

I wouldn't want to buy any car from a seller without eyes on it, or have a trusted member to do a PPI. Pictures can hide a lot of detail. Not saying George is out to rip you off. He has sold me stuff with no problems. It may be worth a redeye flight to go see the car after knowing what to look for.

Inspect the car yourself.

There is no doubt that George is knowledgeable, is a great resource for parts and contributes a lot to the 914 community, but I had a bad experience with a car. I did not buy the car from him, but paid him a LOT of money to inspect a car I purchased from someone else and fix what he found substandard. I was very disappointed.

As with any purchase...... always..... inspect it yourself in person with the help of an expert.....the seller....as usual is not your friend.

George is a great resource of knowledge and parts for these cars, and has been very helpful to the 914 community. My car purchase experience from his business many years ago was not positive.

IMHO the car lot side of things should be approached with a higher level of skepticism with a extensive pre purchase inspection on the part of the buyer. As is the case with all vintage car purchases.

Thanks for the feedback

I've had nothing but good experience with Auto Atlanta, but never bought a car from them. Personally I would be paranoid of any east coast car and would go over it with a a ton of a pictures, a local non biased person or see it in person. Since you are in California, you would have much better luck searching craigs list for local cars. But still be aware there are rust buckets in California, especially in Santa Cruz and other coastal areas.

Trust but verify. Even if you can't see it yourself, have someone knowledgeable look on your behalf. Mine came from Nevada. Had someone from club take a look for me. He gave it a glowing report, but also spotted some minor issues that only an experienced eye would notice.

Last year I stopped by Auto Atlanta and spent over an hour looking at the cars there with a salesman. Being from a dryer climate, California, one of the things that struck me were the subtle small rust "bubbles" on virtually all of the cars that were for sale. That seems to be a universal problem with cars from that region unless exceptional car is taken to prevent them. As others have suggested and implied, I would not consider buying a car from there without a personal inspection.

I have never bought a car from that guy, but have certainly. bought many many for him.
the problem with these old cars is that any company selling one is facing a steep climb to get them good enough to sell to someone, especially if they have a load of customer 914s waiting to be repaired.
ANYONE who thinks that they can buy an old 914 fix it up, and make a buck reselling is
DREAMING, and many old men dream about the good old days when 914s needed very little restoration and there WAY a buck to be made.

Hence like anything, you can either trust the knowledge of the guy selling the car OR inspect it yourself.

One good way to gain some knowledge is to read
how to buy a 914
the 914 restorers guide to authenticity
the tech tips 700
or watch on the autoatlanta youtube channel a few cars that dr914 George Hussey candidly inspects. Also if you see a 914 you are interested in, he encourages you to send a photo shoot and get a knowledgeable opinion of the car

Finally good or bad, if some guy has been in the business doing 914s since 1978 and is still in business MUST be going in the right direction
Click to view attachment

In rereading, "California is the place you otta be" where the "wimmin'" have bushy bushy blond hairdos and the cars are rust free!

Get a really good warranty and then if something goes wrong you're covered

George has always been generous to let me bug him with stupid questions on the phone when I order parts. He even hid my parts in his lot so that I could pick them up after hours once.

Even though George is great parts guy, and the car in question may be in excellent shape, but how the heck is he going to fix a car that ends up in California? I am not sure who would warranty a 50 yr old car...
Yet I would have no hesitation of buying a set of flares or small parts from him...

Georges are good guys. George Jetson,George of the jungle, curious George , you get the idea