One of my favorite totally original, unrestored, and meticulously maintained. Plus PCA concours winner Color is Willow Green
Rex, the original owner, brings this beauty to the Cars and Coffee at Enderle Center in Tustin, CA

Local car. Under 60K miles. Owner has installed a 2.0 but the original 1.7 is still with the owner.
Car is for sale. Owner has turned down $45K
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Nice !

Low mileage examples will always be priced accordingly.

The rest of us, ... well you know

Mine. Original, original owner, unrestored. 120k miles.
Last Sunday won 1st place at regional PCA concours event.
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I saw that willow green one for sale in Palos Verdes about five or six years ago. It was such a good price. I knew that it would only go up in value, but I also knew that I would never drive it because of the condition. Awesome color.

Congratulations Star Bear, Very glad to hear it. Looking forward to seeing you and your beautiful 914 next weekend.
Shag

congratulations mate. thats fantastic.

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the old jaffa is not as good as @StarBear 's.
("ruined" it according to some when i converted it to right hand drive 34 years ago under the totalitarian australian road registration regime who have since been overthrown in a coup).
sneaking up on 50,000 miles. two owners. me and a lady who passed away in the USA.
apart from the "mess" i made of the dashboard its original.
factory paint with careful owner applied dents. general patina gets a bit unavoidable after 50 years, a divorce etc. there in spirit. as unmolested as i have been able to be with regular maintaining. even had the original rubber core sh#t heap clutch in it until 4 years ago. but its in a box somewhere as an industrial curiousty.


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an observation.
not that BAT is necessarily anything to go by.
but a remarkable number of 73, 74 and 75 1.7/1.8s seem to have survived in fairly striking orig condition when compared to what else has been for sale.
maybe the real good 2.0s just got locked away years ago and barely come out to change hands openly?
but an awful lot of the "lowly" base cars seem to have been hung on to by what appears to be original owners right up until now. often left sitting for decades.
secretly "treasured" or something like that?

that willow green car originally posted is a real beauty.

If you get a chance, would you mind writing a tech article on how this is properly done? I'm afraid my restored car is missing some character but want to make sure I do it right. Beautiful car BTW even with the buggered dashboard. I've always had a soft spot for the negative side stripes.

A friend's unrestored, original paint, 39.XXX mile '73 in Phoenix Red.

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its a black art mate. you either have the touch or you don't.

My 52K car for 42 years.

when I see the headlights-front hood-front fenders and front bumper line up perfect like in these fine cars....then I know the car is a winner. Not that mine is not...and maybe I am the only one who sees it.....the the lines on these cars make me very envious!! I am still working on it but when you got it you got it!!
gg

These are some beautiful cars. Congratulations to all.

One marginally related subject, it gives me pause to see some of the quoted mileage numbers on our ~50 year-old cars. Yes, they're beautiful but, remember, these have five barrel odometers. Just sayin'.

not really
mine had 35,500 on it in 89. at that point it had been laid up for 5 years after owner 1 passed away. it did 20,000m in first three years from 74-76. then was retired to a life as a summer car for the next 7 or so. service books backed the odo.
i got it back to aus and it spent 90-93 not doing much while getting converted to rhd.
from 93 to 2003 i put another 10,000 on it. was not an everyday driver.
from 2003 to 2019 it was laid up in storage.
back on the road at the start of 2020 and i've whacked on nearly another 5000.
probably the most its been driven since its first three years of life.
i'm hoping to crack 100,000 before i die. big mistake not driving it enough.
i'm enjoying it all over again. if had not had a few difficulties shall we say between 03 and 19 i reckon it would have been a 75,000 or maybe more m car by now.

i accept though most of these babies have rolled the clock.
though there have been a few pop on BAT that do look like they fit the bill.
seem to have been through the same thing mine has been through.
a pampered weekend car up until the mid 90s or so.
and then a lay up. owners got old? died. whatever. car sat.

and as for StarBear.
that guy is one of a very rare breed.
one owner car!!!!!! man.

my other cars are similar.
2002 renault clio rs. 90,000k = 55,000 mi. and thats a car i use reasonably often.
i inherited a 2008 audi A3 sport back an old mate architect left me in his will.
drove it away from the front of his house in 2017. 32,000k (think thats about 25,000 of your miles) in 9 years. its got nearly 50 on it now as its my favoured rig for country job trips. i had a citroen xm for a while but recently disposed of it before it bankrupted me.
that had quite a few kays on it. i won't mention the ford falcon ute i "restored". 390,000k and the odo was broken. almost my favorite car but. i'm targeting a million kays with that before i die and then will ask ford for a free EV.

i remember stumbling across a beautiful black VW type 3 fastback in perth back in about 92. we were researching a 60s architect there to do an exhibition on his work.
visited one of his early houses still lived in by the widow of the couple who built it.
it was her car parked in the garage. its was an early one with short nose - circa 66 67. the thing had 30,000 m on it. she literally drove it to church and to the supermarket. it was immaculate. i think i heard one of the VW mechanics in perth picked it up after she died and stashed it and put minimal miles on it - just enough to keep it rolling. its probably still in someone's collection. anyway, it was not that hard to find still good low miles 914s in the late 80s. and if for some reason they didn't do a lot of work after that they will be more or less time capsules.

Congratulations! Your car looks great as always. Enjoy the gathering this coming weekend. Will miss seeing you all this year.

Depends on how well the car can be documented.

I bought my car in 1973 with under 24000 miles. It was never my only car, I drove turbo Corvair's in the winter and if going somewhere questionable.

Pulled the original engine and shelved it with 35,000 miles and then life got in the way and I parked it in 1988.. Last Inspection Sticker is still on the windshield.
Hasn't been driven since..

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I guess it depends on how you define unrestored? No matter how nice, any car with 100k+ miles has had many parts replaced. Is it still "original".

My 74 2.0 has less than 50k miles, it has all documentation from new. It is in great condition. Engine, Trans, interior, body and paint are all factory except for repaint od deck lid back in 1974. I've replaced clutch, i powder coated tins, stainless fuel lines, tangerine shift rod bushing , relocated fuel pump, radio from a boxter. Is it still original?

Agree - a matter of definition. IMHO, have never seen a 100% original; consider if replacements are NOS, VG used, or VG aftermarket, ok as “original” to me, plus all or virtually all original paint. I like the term by @wonkipop as “unmolested”.

The absolute best original car/original owner I’ve ever seen is with @dcheek slightly east of here. IIRC he one first place in class at recent Porsche Parade in PA. Wish I saw him and his car more!

PS to @wonkipop : “Character” is special too. Highly personalized and “yours”. Better to drive and ding than sock them away in some air filtered storage collection!

Beautiful car. I wonder how rare it is to have an appearance group car
with factory painted bumpers.

I think (?) my black Appearance Group bumpers were for 1.8L cars, rather than the chromed ones. Have never been sure about that. Maybe an early 74 thing as VW still using 73 parts when mine was built; I have 73 gas tank and 73 seat cushions (stitched, not hot sealed) seams.

Instead of “original”, maybe @wonkipop term “mostly unmolested” is most accurate. SS heat exchangers, muffler, and fuel lines; fuel pump up front; third brake light; and Ford starter solenoid. LR quarter panel replaced/painted about 40 years ago.

I am surprised how well the paint has held up on these original cars. Figured the paint if nothing else would have gone flat or checked. It was never the best quality materials back then. At least it had the good chemicals, LOL.

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Mine was a 10 year old used car when I got it. It was Saturn yellow.
I too am amazed.

Original, unrestored, one family owned 1970 914/6 here.

The old laquers were quite durable and reasonably thick. Just a bit of light compounding, polishing and wax, with a winter car cover, and they hold up rather well. Got my thicknesses checked last year - still good!

mines being garaged almost all its life. 1st owner and me.
definitely faded. inners are still factory fresh but phoenix red has lost a bit of intensity externally. if it had spent any time getting significant UV exposure it would be long gone flat and powdery. esp down here. uv is off the scale.
as it is the paint is on the edge of its service life. it really can't do any hard weather at this point.

its become about preservation at this point. not my intention 34 years ago. just has turned out that way - fate.

an unmolested car isn't about coveting something that few others have,
its a useful mine of information for other guys restoring cars. which is the point of this great website. info.

factory original was pretty sloppy in a lot of places on the car. not even up to VW standards of quality, let alone porsche. karmann really knocked them out.
the restored cars are much much better quality than the originals. everyone here restoring cars is definitely improving on the originals.

every time i open the front trunk i notice what a great job the karmann painters didn't do!

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an interesting unoriginal mod i had no say in.
still remember the totalitarian regime enforcer dictating where this had to be rivetted on - like it or not. (with some unfaded phoenix red.)

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other non factory items you just got to preserve, esp when the car has been transported literally to the exact opposite side of the world. if i could look right through the planet i would staring at the foundations of chicago. a place i really liked.

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i got nothing on my mechanic.
this is a three owner car.
its been in his family since it was new.
hand me down.
has been restored once. nothing can last forever.


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@wonkipop

I’m guessing it is a cadet. Didn’t they make a 3l engine

@Shivers . i think its a 1927
might be before the cadet.
don't think it has the fancier engine that the cadet had.
i'll ask mike.


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you can see how much mine has faded in 30+ years.
definitely gone phoenix orange now rather than phoenix red.
(thats keeping it out of the harsh aus sun for most of time too - still slowly loses its pigment). has had a good claybar clean which brought it back a bit from where it was when i first pulled it out of storage and recommissioned. i think if it sat in the sun outside at this point it would powder in less than 6 months.

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My 1976 2.0
Original owner purchased December 1975
26,000 original miles
Won 1st place in my class at the 2022 Porsche Parade

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My 1975 Cali car had been stored outdoors for many years and quite a bit of the original Palma Green was faded off with light gray primer showing. I'm no expert, but from what I can tell the several 914's I have exhibit a thin application of paint.

Yep! Clearly the best of the best, Dave.

http://www.914world.com/bbs2/index.php?showtopic=101921



Sahara Beige Steve
smg914

The cleanest 914 I have seen in a posting.

No one has mentioned Steve's Sahara Beige

“A large crowd has gathered and they have been patiently waiting for the story behind the infamous Sahara Beige '73 2 liter. New photos and some history of the car to follow between now and Christmas.” This is a few years ago.


Bob B





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very nice mate.
very glad a few folks have em stashed away in that condition.
good on ya.

yep that one is pretty damn good.
i read up the thread on it.
thats when i discovered mine has the same inspection stickers that ones got on it.
but i was oblivious to them for many years.
they are kind of hidden where you don't look.
i even found a paper sticker on the trans on mine when i had to drop it 3 or 4 years ago to do the clutch.

everything is great about that car except the beige.



just kidding.
its so seventies in the way everyone forgets.
it was not all about loud colors.
its the kind of hippy taste. joni mitchell not deep purple. time capsule and real sweet.
no one would think to paint a car beige now.
and thats what is ace about it. its outside time.
eventually it happens. preserved they stay outside time and customization/updating, the ravages of the wars of taste etc and they just are there. like stars in the sky.
or ayers rock (uluru). they just are.
and because of that they can take you back.

http://www.914world.com/bbs2/index.php?sho...c=58444&hl=

There is Pat Garvey’s car. Pat is an old time member for people that do not know him. He was on a lot in my earlier years . I joined in 2007

Take a look as this is a very clean 914

Bob B

we have one here, just prepping it for heavy concours competition, except for the jc whitney wheels installed after the car was purchased new, it it TOTALLY originalClick to view attachment

so doc, what wheels will go on this car for returning to OEM?

So, ----George Hussey,---- will the green car get dinged because the antenna is on the wrong side as you pointed out?

Best Bob B

Just sold this one today. 14,000 miles.
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