I thought I was dreaming. The phone rang Sunday morning at 8:00 (I don't get up before 9). The guy on the phone says, "Your 914-6 GT is here, where do you want me to drop it off"?

They were supposed to give me a 24 hour notice but didn't. The car wasn't due here until Thursday or Friday. I got dressed in about 30 seconds and I was waiting behind Lowes Home Center within about 5 minutes.

They had to move an Aston Martin DB9 to get my car out of the truck. My car had about a sixteenth of an inch of dust on it. I paid the guy, got in the car and drove it around for about a half hour. Unfortunately I already committed to taking my finanical advisor to a Yankee vs the Pirates pre-season baseball game and had to take the car home and get ready for the game.

Today (Monday) I've already removed the interior, the antenna on the left rear quarter panel and the rear PORSCHE reflector. It goes in the body shop on Thursday to repair the damage caused by the installation of the antenna and the reflector.

The tangerine roof is the next thing to be replaced. Anyone got a excellant condition original condition roof they would like to get rid of?

When Erich Strenger owned the car he had a PORSCHE reflector installed (see the 6 large holes) that permitted the original center button to be used. It actually stuck thru a hole in the center of the reflector. Later when Gerhard purchased the car from Erich he removed the reflector with the center hole and installed a different version of the reflector (see the 4 smaller holes). So now I have 10 holes to be welded shut.

:JEALOUS:

Thanks for living MY dream....

Can I have my dream back????

Cheers and Happy ownership..!!!

Clayton

Did your financial advisor agree with your purchase? Looks like it's orange car week! Congrats!!!

You need to post the just-removed-reflector picture in the thread where a member recently asked if anyone had a front hood emblem or reflector. Them's some set of holes!

Paul

Congratulations Steve....

I can't wait to see it in person....

-- Rob

very nice! That rear panel is an easy fix. she'll be as good as new!

I'm interested in that reflector if you don't need it, assuming it's in good condition.

Let me know what your price is?

Dan

my GT still hasn't shown up.

A nice gentleman from Spain has his name on it. If that falls thru, I'll get back to you. It is in excellant condition.

Excellent!

Very nice Steve Have fun with it and thanks for sharing...

JP

Very nice car!

Congratulations Steve!!!!

I was curious how the body shop is going to fill in the holes.

I saw an article awhile back (European Car mag?) where they used circular punch tools to clean up the holes and welded in circular steel fillers, then used machinists dye and filed it smooth...no bondo or evidence where it was repaired.

Nice!

I was having them welded shut. If that is not the correct way to do it, I hope some one will speak up. I've had this done on a previous 914 that I owned and you couldn't tell anything was done to it. I believe they put a block of wood up against the hole and then do the welding from the other side.

You COULD use a block of wood and get the same results. But the pros use a brass dolly that you use behind the hole and you weld it up from the front. The welding rod or wire doesn't "stick" to the brass.

Those sized holes should use a metal patch butt welded in. You could just fill it with weld, but the panel will be jacked after all that heat & will need a lot of work to straighten them out again.

Thanks for the suggestions guys. I certainly want this done the right way. I will discuss this with the body man. If I don't get a good feeling, I go somewhere else.

Steve, here's a pic showing what Travis has recommended.... You'll notice 2 silver circles, these are metal patches that I welded in to fill in the holes near the battery where the A/C lines routed from the engine compartment...

Click to view attachment

-- Rob

nice looking brother...thanks for the call tonight.
Joe

Steve,

What about butt welding in a donor 3/4 rear panel section vs. trying to fill in all the holes individually?

A complete panel replacement may be a bit extreme, but could be another option.

I have a 76 teener I was going to have a sawzall party with anyway....

In case you haven't seen Rob Watson's welding work, he did an outstanding job of butt welding some body panels. The repairs were damn near undetectable.

Thank's to both Rob's for your thoughts.
I just want to make sure you realize these holes are not as big as you may think. The biggest hole is about 5/8 of an inch. You can see the tip of my baby finger sticking through the hole. I talked to Rob W on the phone this evening and he now thinks that it would probably be best to use the "plug welding" method to repair the holes. This method does not use the cut metal patches. It's mainly the weld the hole shut method using the brass block.

Thanks brother.....it was good talking to you!

Steve,

What are these holes? Happy George has you fixed up on the emblem.

Bob

Yes Bob, it looks like George comes through again. I'm the happy one.

The larger holes were from an earlier installation of a rear PORSCHE reflector. That reflecter was removed and a new different version one was installed which required the drilling of new smaller holes in a different location. That is how it ended up with 10 holes. Nice HUH?

The highly respected Frank Hood called me this evening and he put me on to one of the best "metal guy" in Tampa Bay. I feel like he will do whatever is the best way to repair the holes. So I'll have one guy do the metal work and another guy do the paint. "I feel good....da da da da da da da....like I know that I should"

Hey Steve,

I'm done with your car ....

Dam you do nice work Paul. I see you got some overspray on my bumper though.

Is this better? Congrats on the car Steve, we're all droolin'!

Click to view attachment

and he mounted the wrong emblem

Steve would you make a template of the hole locations for me ?

if so,
thick paper or cardboard , located along bottom body line and tail light to right, ink pen point emblem holes.

may never get the factory holes exposed agian , would be appreciated.

No problem Jeff. PM me, with your address.
The only issue is that I believe one of the medium sized holes that was drilled for the reflector was drilled right on top of one of the small holes for the emblem. If I'm correct, it is the second hole to the right of the center locking button. Go back to the picture I posted of all the holes to verify what I'm talking about. However, once I get my NOS emblem I will be able to determine exactly where that small hole should be and I will then drill a hole through the weld at the correct location.

How about a few more pics, make this a resto thread of sorts. What year car is it? I'm lovin' every minute, I've got the orange car thing going, too.

Thanks,

Paul

Hey Paul.....I just can't get over how fabulous your newly purchased phoenix red 914 is. You certainly did the right thing buying that car. A great find for a deserving owner.

My new car is a 1971. Really all I'm initially going to do to the car is: Put the correct interior in the car (which I already have), repair the rear panel where the reflector was, install the correct chrome bumpers and get a new black roof. Not really a restoration.

My only other immediate decisions will be the installation of the graffics like it had on it back in the early 70's. Side positive PORSCHE stripe and the front and possibly rear stripes as seen in the first and second Brian Long book and Das Grosse VW Porsche Buch.

Thanks for the compliment, my car may be going on the trailer today!

Nice garage, but isn't packing 'em in sideways some kinda cheating? I see a double decker in your future...

Paul

I took the car for a ride today and I took a few pictures.

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Beautiful car...let's see more photos.

Back when I built mine I too had the large rear reflector holes. I butt welded plugs and hammer finished the panel - no one could tell afterwards. After all that work, drilling seven or so small holes in the panel for the euro emblem was not an option. I carefully cut 3-M double sided emblem tape to mount the emblem.

DH

very cool detail that you already have the correct licence plate (even if it's the new Euro-look => blue section with white D on the left side)

Gustl

Steve,

Please save the template as far as position from the trunk latch to the first hole. Question I have on the steering wheel that was correct on your car and what you are doing for that? Is the crest correct on hood? I see some people with then and some without. Also the word PORSCHE on the engine lid. Some with and some without. I guess I should know this but do not.

How does it feel next to your other 6? Very nice looking car. Enjoy, enjoy, enjoy

Regards,

Bob Burton

Nice Europa!! any more pics of it?

Will do Bob. I will carefully document the location of all but one of the emblem holes. The car has a Prototipo steering wheel which is period correct but is not the correct wheel for this car. I love the Prototipo but I have the correct original 914-6 wheel that I more than likely will install. On the crest, it shouldn't be there. In fact I don't think Erich Strenger installed it, I believe Gerhard put it on. The Euro 914's didn't have the word PORSCHE on the engine lid. I believe it was an American thing. Oh and by the way my old 6 absolutely loves his new brother.

Ahhh yes the Europa. I love my Europa and would be happy to show you a picture or two.
Thanks

How about one more?

Forgive my P-car ignorance, but what's the difference between a regular six, and a GT? How many GTs were produced? (I know they're rare) Also, what's that 'Europa' thing? Is that a factory car or is it a kit build majigor? I hope I don't get my house burned down for suggesting that it's a kit car.
Mark D.

The Europa is a real, live Lotus but it makes the 914 look like a Suburban. Check out the pic in Steve's garage to see how low it is...

Paul

We are a club so we would never burn down your house. When I was 19. This was 35 years ago One of my best friends had a 73 2.0 914 then he sold that and got a yellow Lotus Europa. It is not than much smaller than a 914 but it is a super inserting car. It is like a Lotus racecar where the driver is in the center with the open wheels and the engine is in the back of him. My friend wrecked his. It is glass and he said he just stood up and pushed all the glass off of him to get out. Steve’s looks very special. I have never seen one painted like that, and as clean as all of his cars.

Bob