I visited AA a few weeks ago and started writing this in notepad on the planeride home. I meant to post it long before now, but since the new catalog is on its way, I guess my timing isn't too bad.
The usual disclaimers - I am in no way affiliated with Automobile Atlanta.
I bought my first 914 in '94, not long after I graduated from college. The internet was fairly young, and word of mouth traveled by phone and print, I had formed an opinion of Automobile Atlanta before I ever called them. People told me that they were arrogant, and George was not the nicest guy around. I still ordered a few things from them, since they were the only game in town for 914s at that point in time.
I was in Atlanta for business in '98 or '99 and I had a chance to stop by. I was really hoping to get a look at the 916, the (then thought to be) last 6, the cool concept, and the green car with 5600 miles. When I got there, I was told that I could not get in to see the cars because one had been damaged by a previous visitor. Nobody seemed to care that I had rearranged my schedule to visit. That experience solidified in my mind what I had heard 2nd, 3rd and 4th hand from others. I did very little, if any business with AA from that point on.
When the World came to be, and George started posting, I thought "This doesn't seem the be the same guy that I met 7 years ago". He seems nice, outgoing, and truly dedicated to helping us out.
Another business trip to Atlanta popped up recently, and I emailed George before I arrived. His reply was basically, "come on in, we will show you around". So I spared a couple of hours before my return flight.
I don't know if I caught them on a bad day 8 years ago, or if things have changed, but I could not believe the welcome that I received.
When I first arrived, I spent some time looking at the cars on the lot (and they have some very interesting cars for sale). One of the mechanics asked if he could help, and I told him "nope, just looking, out of town, etc." He could not have been nicer, and he spent probably 15 minutes telling me everything he knew about all of the cars around us, as well as the flared 150hp 4 cyl. car that he was detailing. They built this car from the ground up, basically out of spare parts.
When I finally went in, they paged George for me. I told him who I was. We talked for a couple of minutes, and he called his right-hand man, Garrett to give me a full tour of the facilities. Garrett knows the place from top to bottom, and he would have to. They could literally build a 914 from the ground up. The inventory is amazing - from parts you wish you had, to stuff you didn't even know you needed. They have everything, either new or used. I mentioned that my car came with a funky blue plaid interior that I would love to redo. Garrett said, "I think we have that"... That is when things got really interesting. He took me up to the "lost warehouse". Apparently, a few years ago, a dealer or distributor went out of business, and they had a huge cache of 914 parts. George found out about it and bought everything. They have brand new seats (yes, never been sat in) in almost every color and style. Seatbelts, body parts, tons of stuff that was previously thought to be NLA. They have it. Unfortunately, they did not have my particular blue plaid.
The point of my post; if you truly love the 914 and you find yourself in northern Atlanta with a couple of hours to spare, you MUST visit George. It really is like Mecca for the 914 owner.
Yes, you will find some things cheaper from other sources, but you will NOT find any other part reseller more dedicated to the 914 cause than George and his staff at Automobile Atlanta.
Ken