There's a nice looking '70 914 on CL right now, and the guy is asking $6200 based on the NADA pricing information ($3500/$5775/$7500, low/med/high condition for a '70 /4), and his own (alas, rather inflated) idea of the condition of the car.

I feel for the guy, as I just (finally!) sold a very nice '67 912 that NADA lists at $7500/$8500/$11400 for low/med/high. The car was on the market for nearly a year, and I got zero interest at $8500, and the car finally sold for quite a bit less than the "low" price. People on this board have seen this car, and I'm sure they'd tell you it was at least a "medium" car in terms of condition. These numbers aren't too far off Bruce Anderson's published numbers in Excellence, either.

I've sold about 20 cars over the past 15 years, so I have some idea of how to handle the process, but I've never had to wait 10 months to sell one. I've also never had cases where people actually made offers, then backed out before they actually coughed up money, yet that happened three times with this car.

I'm thinking one reason the NADA data seems high for both the 912 and the 914 is that it's too high for California, which has so many cars to choose from. You can't give away a rust-free tub here, and I see runners for sale all the time for less than half of NADA's "low" price.

Maybe MY expectations are unrealistic, but I expect a $6K 1.7 to be absolutely perfect, with good wheels, chrome bumpers, and a real "needs nothing" car (which doesn't describe the advertised car).

And no arguments about how much it costs to restore a car. I KNOW how much it costs to restore a 914. I also know you never ever recover restoration costs when selling the end product.

If I could buy perfect or darn near perfect 914's of any year or engine size for 6k, I would quit my job, and start selling them full time. I have high standards, and the cars I see sell for 6k are nowhere near my idea of perfect or close to perfect, I think it takes closer to 10k and beyond for a super nice 914 nowadays.

Ferg.

Times have changed a bit. Today, a nice presentable driver is $5000, be it 1.7,1.8, or other. That means from 10 feet it looks nice, Interior is decent, and has no major mechanical issues. You start adding to that price for special features, like extra nice paint, a fresh motor, extra clean, etc.

on edit: About a year ago I paid $5500 for my mustard mobile simply because I was tired of not having a 914 to drive, and having half a dozen projects around. It had a few undisclosed issues, and I got a bit of a rebate, but the bottom line was that it was worth the price to have something that wasn't a total project. Today, I think it's a solid $6000 car +/- but having something to drive is priceless.