When I left the active 914 community in the early 90's, I had never heard the term "hell hole." Now, no matter who I speak to or who I read, everybody but everybody talks about the hell hole. And as I continue to look for a car, it's really handy to ask "how's the hell hole" instead of "you know, that curved metal thingy under the battery tray that leads into the longitudinals where the rust and disgust accumulates." And lo and behold, everyone knows what I'm talking about!

Paul

They probably weren't rusting in the 90's as much as they are now, thusly facilitating a need for a shorter term.

Jen

Oh come on now Jen, I think they started rusting in 77!

Wrong .... they rusted on the assembly line or did it start on the boat trip across the pond?

I heard Brad say it 1st about 3yrs ago. then I read that thread of the guy in Europe "you must be brave..." he did a full rusto-rebuild of that area. others chimed in using the term

maybe Rusty knows?

Speaking of rust, I know I remember reading somewhere (?UpFixin' der Porsche?) about sheet metal sitting in storage before the cars were made and on an individual basis one car could be more rust-prone than another. Maybe some cars really are from rust hell!

biz

...I had a '72 914 back in 1982 (so 10 ten years old). The battery tray had already disintegrated, and it was working it way through the rest of the tin.

Looking for these in the 70's on Long Island NY was no better. My 71 orange car rusted out at the trunk hinge and popped up and needed welding, probably in 75. And the bottom of the doors on my buddy's similar vintage car rusted out so he did primitive bodywork covered by a PORSCHE decal strip.

They salt the roads
to melt the cars.

By the time we get to where we're going, there's nothing left,
we're in a car seat holding a steering wheel.

Paul

Ha. Kinda reminds me of Wonderwoman's invisible jet.

As an amusing aside. While I was going through the inspection for my house (which I ended up buying) in 2005, the inspector said, "Lets take a look at your cess pool..." At this point, I did not own a 914, but I had been reading about them for years.

Anyway, I said, "Sure, let pop the cover and look down the hell hole."
That inspector always referrs to cess pools as hell holes now.

Zach

Invisible? That's funny, I can still see her outfit plain as day!

Paul

I blame or credit JP Stein for the term "Hellhole" back in the day.

Well, maybe.........IIRC, I'd heard the words in another context.

http://forums.pelicanparts.com/showthread....light=hell+hole

See, I was right!