914 Info shows that there were about 119,000 914s built. Is this an all-market total or US only?

How many road-worthy 914s do you think are remaining? Not counting parts cars, junkers, or rollers, but including running street-legal and track cars and ones that are being repaired or worked on.

Still plenty to keep the cost down and not enough to get a perfect one cheap.

Thus the 914 Club mechanic is invented.

119,00 was world wide. How many are road worthy?

If you look at Jeff's web site for the 914 LEs, best estimate is 1000 were made. 165 have been identified, some too far gone to be restored. So if they are typical, that is 15% or so. I think I remember hearing that about 85000 made it to the US. 15% of that is 12,150. I would think half that number of cars are road worthy, or could be made road worthy: 6,000. I imagine about half that number are licensed and street legal: 3,000

It would be interesting to know how many thre are out on the roads. They can't be all that rare. I be there are more then 6000 out there that are repairable. But how the heck would I know.

How many members do we have on this board? Do most of them have 914s?

Zach

&?

The USA Porsche-Audi HO Recall campaign, which was issued after all 914s were made, indicates that it applied to 'approximately 83,000' 914s. On that, I think its reasonable to believe that ~83,000 914s made it to the USA, including all 4s and 6s.

Using those numbers and considering that 165/1000 (USA-only) LE cars are documented to exist (0.165%) then the math says approximately 13,700 914s might still exist. The LE cars were 1974, so a higher loss rate might apply to the earlier cars.

So maybe 12-15,000 existing 914 cars might be a good guess. I know of no way to absolutely verify it.

I know of 6 in my town, inluding mine. Mine is the only one on the road, excluding today's little problem.

Would be great if we could get some finite numbers, but don't think I'll see them in my lifetime. Even if if you could get info from the various state DMV's i wouldn't included non-registered cars - & they're out there.

This subject comes up every once in awhile.

Historically 75% of Porsches sales go to North America (75% of 119,000 = 89,250 close enough to the 83,000 cars recalled) and 75% of those are sold on the West coast (CA accounts for the highest percentage of those sales).

If you use population density percentages as a base, Canada has 10% of the population of the USA, so there should have been 10% of the 914's sold here (except that they didn't start selling them here till 1972) which means there should be between 8,300 and 8,900 914's in Canada (you could factor this closer if you take out the percentage of 1970 and 1971 cars manufactured against the total cars manufactured) total production for those years is 40,874 or roughly 33% of the total production. So reduce the number of cars sold here to 5533. Where I live there is 10% of Canada's population so that means there should have been 550 914's sold here. Using the 16.5% factor shown above there should be 90 cars left. I can account for 25 of that number (known cars/opperational/rollers and parts cars). I wonder where the other 525 cars are?

We have 6,300 members registered on this site, is that 40% of all the cars left?

While using percentages to guestimate remaining cars can give you a ballpark figure as shown above, the best way to determine the survivors is to contact your DMV and ask.

I did this the last time the subject was brought up. There were 20 914's registered here in the last 2 yrs. Two were mine and four others have been accounted for. I've met the other 3 owners (one guy had two cars). That leaves 14 other cars/owners that I've never met. This dosen't factor in the non op cars out there.

If you really want to know how many cars are left, pick up the phone and call your local DMV. You will have to ask who the right person is to call, so you might have to make two phone calls. Tell that person your doing research for a club member (student doing a college paper). You might have to write a letter to the DVM person asking for the info. That will take another 5 min and cost you a stamp to mail it (or Fax it to them). Tell them you just want the numbers, no personal information on the cars or their owners.

I think somewhere around 10,000 cars are left, running and non-running. Numbers are reducing pretty fast as the rust buckets are being recycled.
I used to see lots of 914's stashed around Seattle parked by peoples homes. Now there is only one place I know of in West Seattle with 3 cars sitting in tall grass. He is going to restore them. Hahaha. restore what a pile of rust?? Its right by the salt water of Elliott Bay.

All to common of a story.

Calif and AZ are where the good cars are cuz they don't rust as fast there.

I do know that my running 914 took at least three cars to make one one, and the parts of the other two have been spread throughout North America. My car is a salvage with two serial numbers and I bought a parts car and sold it off piece by piece - I suspect that for every running 914, there is at least one donor car?

A flaw in attempting to get the info from the DMV is that in some cases, mine included, they did not record the model of the car, just that it was a Porsche. "Are you sure it's not a 924? We see that in here." Wonder if they could pull the report by VIN though...

Another population density comparison, as far as I'm aware, there are a total of five 914s in Wichita Falls, excluding surrounding rural areas. One is my old rusty thing, two more are a couple of miles down, one complete, the other is just a tub, and another older gentleman who had a '71 he bought new that could have been started and run, but hadn't been in a year or two. Mine is the only one being drivin as far as I can tell. I've run into a couple of other people who still had parts from theirs, but no car.

So, five "cars" per 104k people. Being generous with that, we can estimate 14,250 "vehicles" left in the US. ((296,410,404 / 104,000)*5), which is a little higher than other estiamtes here. With the more accurate local estimate of 2 per 104k, we get 5700, which is 114 cars per state, which sounds a little high to me.

(Edited due to bad math)


This is all just off local personal observation.

Can any of the Admins tell us how many cars we have entered under "member's VIN numbers"?

That would interesting to know

Not to answer as/for and Admin:
914-4 /-6

213 1976
425 1975
808 1974
820 1973
422 / 3 1972
189 / 22 1971
191 / 262 1970
3068 / 287 Totals

3355 Grand Total from lists.

(Found under 914 Info and Member's VINs)

{Another Edit today}
There looks to be some duplication in the list. My '75 is still listed uder who I assume to be a PO (gman; joined in '05) or maybe a typo. )

I am making my estimate in a subjective way by comparing 914 sightings to another car of known quantity.

The new Ford Thunderbird (2003 - 2006) seems to have similar national distribution to the 914 (mostly west coast, east coast, and south), and they are probably driven similarly as either daily drives or weekend drivers. There were about 70,000 Thunderbirds made, and since they are all so new, they can all be considered as in existence and on the road. I am guessing that I see one 914 for every 10 Thunderbirds. That translates to an existence of about 7,000 914s.

I think that compares well with the 914 members list of 3,500. Some of the members no longer have their 914s and ther are duplicate vins due to change of ownership, so there are proabably around 3,000 914s in the 914 Club. I am also guessing that there are an equal number of 914s out there whose owners are not members of the Club. That makes this estimate at about 6,000 914s.

My guess is that there are 6,000 to 8,000 remaining drivable 914s in North America - pretty much in line with other people's estimates.

And possibly an equal number of junkers and rollers...

I don't think you can use population density to determine Porsche sales. There is also the sun factor. It's a fact that more Porsches are sold in California than anywhere else. I imagine that California would get an even larger percentage of roadster and convertible sales.

In germany they have very precise data because all cars are controlled...
So they exactelly know how many 914 are registred and allowed to go on the road.

see quantities here:

http://www.914-club.de/aktuell.htm

I have four with two as fixable

Does that mean that as of 2005, they had a total of 1,308 914s "tagged"? That seems like a wretchedly low number... Especially as a national count.

i'm voting for 7...

7 total, that's it.

BJH

If you use the figures known (119,000 produced) less the number of cars shipped to North America (83,000 from the factory recall) that leaves 36,000 shipped to all the other markets (23 countries) that's 1,565 cars per country (260 cars per manufacture sales year). Granted certain countries wouldn't hit those numbers (more sold in other places than others), but if there are 1,308 cars out of the original 1,565 sold there, that means there are a lot more than previously estimated around here

Best way to find out is to call your DVM and ask

Yes, 1,308 is the exact amount of 914 registered in Germany. To be registered the car must be controlled by the "TÜV" and approved. If your car is not approved by the TÜV, you are not allowed to put it on the road. There may be a few hundred of rusted 914 in the junkyards ...

In France we cannot acceed to the registry so we estimate from number of cars registered by the 914 club. We think there are less than 500 cars remaining.

If you scan ebay.com you have an average 10 cars for sale in USA.
an average of 2 cars on ebay.de
and you see a 914 from time to time on ebay.fr

There were big differences in selling per country ...
I would say that most of the 36,000 were sold in Germany.

I got this information for the french market ... please don't laught ... this is sad

1974 : Sold 18
1975 : Sold 3
1976 : car was only sold in USA

Good information here. However, the 'only sold in USA' is not correct. Yes, the USA market was very large however Canada was a market similar to the USA. It would be more correct to say that the 1976 models were only for North America (NA). I'm not sure of the Mexican market. Anyway, Canada did do things a little differently than the USA. Very few 914's were imported officially until late 1971. We got a lot of 1972 models and very few 1971 models. I do know of at least one, very early, 914/6 that VW Canada sold. Yes it was to an employee of VW Canada, so it may have been due to a special request. How many others were imported, I don't know. I did see a list some 25 years ago that showed importation figures for Porsche in Canada. The list started in 1959, and the sales figures for 914 started in 1972, so I'd have to assume these were model years. We got a ton of Conv. D's but very few speedsters. Since the speedster ended in 1958, I'm confident the Carerra speedsters were special request imports like the 914/6.

Canada got its own literature, advertizing, owners guides and apparently its own equipment list. I'm guessing the heated rear window was a major part of that list. I don't recall seeing many cars here without that option. Since the USA uses an odd size gallon (they are short a fifth) the Canadian MPG are much better than what one sees in USA ads. There are also references to Canadian cities instead of USA cities in some ads. So while Canada went its own way on many things, the Canadian market was a part of the much larger NA market.

other than the USA market, I have to say the rest of the 914's went to Germany, Canada and the Netherlands, in that order.

still sticking with my estimate.

On this page you have all the production with information about EUR - USA ...
I suppose Canadian cars are counted in USA ...
What kind of engines do you have in Canada ?

http://914evolutech.free.fr/SITE/page%20ga.../production.htm

You can see

1975 Only 165 cars sold / produced ? on Euro specs ...

In France they only sold 914/6 and 914/4 1.7 until 1973
From 1973 they only sold the 914 2.0 ... No 1.8 was sold in France ... (that makes my 1.8 kind of unique ;o)

In Canada we got the W series in 1971 (very few cars), EA in 1972 and 1973, GA in 1973 and 1974, EC in 1974 and 1975, GC in 1975 and 1976.
Canadian cars were essentially the same as the USA market cars. Decals were the same as USA. We did not get the California equipment.

Interesting. I'm assuming the years are model years since over 1000 914/4 were built in 1969 calendar year. That begs the question, what were those 2 914/4 USA market cars listed under 1969 model year. Had to be prototypes if listed with the 914/4. Then 914114 and 914120, both 914/6 should also be included.
1976 production was 4100 not 4075. Several over the 4075 are listed as owned by club members.
The 47 in front of the engine type must designate the use in the 914 (as VW type 47). The engines were different than the 411, 412 and so on. The differences are minor and would be made after the core engine was built. Pilot bearing, flyweel and alternator come to mind. Then the engine tin to finish off the engine.

Can you fix the production numbers on that chart??

for 76 there were 4075 2.0L produced
and 25 1.8L produced
for a total of 4100 cars in 76.

We have one club member posting the 4099 VIN.

I am afraid I can't fix this. It's not my website ... I'll contact the owner anyway.

I'd guess (and I stress GUESS) the number is closer to 25,000 (on the low end) and 55,000 (on the super high end) 914s left when you count in all the fixable non-ops and race cars out there.

The *right* number is probably 30,000-ish. Of course, I am wild-ass guessing here, but then nothing so far other than the German figures are accurate or representative. And the bulk of the cars were sold in the U.S. and the bulk of the cars that survived did so here. The bulk that were destroyed probably, too.

While a lot of 914s have surely been crashed, trashed, cut up, and rusted away, these are still "special" cars, the kind that people kept in their garages or alongside the house or barn when it stopped working, etc.

914s are certainly getting rarer by the week, but I have a hard time believing that 85 percent or more of them are gone or are never coming back.

I think applying the percentage of Porsches that survive and then reconsidering it against the survival rate of other "914-similar" cars is a better approach...

pete

How many are running?

How many are sitting on Jack Stands in some garage not running?

How many are dead forever...

All I know is I know....

mine still isn't running....

Mines on a rotisserie. I guess that counts as Jackstands. but it sure as hell ain't on the road.

Zach