Like many teenagers, I got a bad taste for cars. Unlike most of the kids I grew up with in North Carolina, my dream car was not a tricked out trans am. It was a porsche. As soon as I turned 14 and was legal to work, I went to work, with the goal of an old porsche being in the driveway at my 16th birthday. I worked like a dog, severely breaking child labor laws, and even taking out music purchases, putting money aside for college, and other spending, I had about $2500 in the car fund when it came time to buy. My dream car at the time was a 928. That wasn't going to happen. I quickly realized that a 914 was about my only option.
So I kept my eye out. My old man had always wanted a VW bug, and when I was about 15, bought himself one, and fixed it up pretty nice, and I'd peek over his shoulder, and we'd go to VW drag races now and then. But mainly, I was working, and I sure didn't have the mechanical knowledge.
The old man was just about as excited as I was about picking out a 914, and this was 1987, so they still popped up in the paper with regularity. Unfortunately, they popped up at about $3500 to start. We looked at one that was around $3K. We poked around and took out for a test drive. I wanted it bad. But I didn't have the money just then. And was torn between having a car there in the driveway when I got the license and getting the car that I wanted.
About a month later, the car was back in the paper at $2650. We went and looked and I picked it up. I couldn't sleep the night before. In that month, the car fund went up to $2800.
The mistake that I made was letting the armchair mechanic, dad, talk me out of taking it to the VW and Porsche repair place for a good checkup before purchasing. Dad looked it over. And yeah, the motor was in sweet shape. it was a red 1972 1.7 with the black interior.
I took it out a few times on the learner's permit, and it was sweet. But I got a weird feel in the car on a sharp left turn once. Dad soon replicated that feel, and we took it to the mechanic that we should have taken it to in the first place. Rust. bad, horrible rust that they said would cost $2-3K to fix, if they were to want to do the work. They didn't, and suggested a porsche place across town that might be willing to do it. But the key instruction was that it wasn't safe to drive. The place across town didn't want anything to do with fixing it, and thought the rust damage was so bad that they'd have to get the rear end from a wrecked 914 to patch it up.
It sat in the driveway, and I tried to sell it. A guy offered me $1K for it, for parts, and I declined.
It eventually went to the place across town, where they said that they could sell it for $2K, and take 10%.
It sat there for a year. In the meantime, I got $800 together and bought a 1971 VW squareback. Again, my dad took the project over, and was working with them on the phone to get it sold, since I wouldn't ever have the money to fix it up, were I able to find a place that would. I went out and looked at the car after the year, and it was pathetic. It was just kind of in their yard, and it looked like they had been scavaging it for parts. The wiring was hanging out from the dash, the rust was worse, and the right rear wheel was all but falling off. the winshield was cracked.
but it was so bad off, we couldn't drive it out of there. By this point, I'd taken the heartbreak, and written it off. As I was moving to college, my folks moved from NC, and they ended up taking $200 for the car.
I got ripped off a bit. The sellers knew about the rust, and that's surely why it came down in price. I should have known better, but I didn't know the market well. Trust me, the VW was checked over by the mechanic, and not my dad. A lesson learned, but it gave me the taste for the 914.
The squareback got me through college, and the folks gave me an old Corolla for graduating. I still drive the Corolla. It carried me through a long, poverty-ridden stint in grad school. But as I'm finallly well-employed and resolving the debts from Grad School, it seems time to look at that Porsche.
I can't afford anything remotely new, and I don't really care for the boxer and the newer 911's. The 928's seem like a bargain now. They always were overlooked. But they're a few years off. It seems like next year's bonus might put me in position for a 914.
That doesn't seem like a bad option, since I remember the first one so fondly. Until I got wheel wobble and found out I was riding around in a deathtrap, it was a hell of a lot of fun to drive. I think I'll save for the 914, maybe autocross one a little, then move up to a 928 in a few years.
I was just poking around on Google for 914 info, and saw a link to this tribe.
Do the 914 owners out there autocross their cars?
So I kept my eye out. My old man had always wanted a VW bug, and when I was about 15, bought himself one, and fixed it up pretty nice, and I'd peek over his shoulder, and we'd go to VW drag races now and then. But mainly, I was working, and I sure didn't have the mechanical knowledge.
The old man was just about as excited as I was about picking out a 914, and this was 1987, so they still popped up in the paper with regularity. Unfortunately, they popped up at about $3500 to start. We looked at one that was around $3K. We poked around and took out for a test drive. I wanted it bad. But I didn't have the money just then. And was torn between having a car there in the driveway when I got the license and getting the car that I wanted.
About a month later, the car was back in the paper at $2650. We went and looked and I picked it up. I couldn't sleep the night before. In that month, the car fund went up to $2800.
The mistake that I made was letting the armchair mechanic, dad, talk me out of taking it to the VW and Porsche repair place for a good checkup before purchasing. Dad looked it over. And yeah, the motor was in sweet shape. it was a red 1972 1.7 with the black interior.
I took it out a few times on the learner's permit, and it was sweet. But I got a weird feel in the car on a sharp left turn once. Dad soon replicated that feel, and we took it to the mechanic that we should have taken it to in the first place. Rust. bad, horrible rust that they said would cost $2-3K to fix, if they were to want to do the work. They didn't, and suggested a porsche place across town that might be willing to do it. But the key instruction was that it wasn't safe to drive. The place across town didn't want anything to do with fixing it, and thought the rust damage was so bad that they'd have to get the rear end from a wrecked 914 to patch it up.
It sat in the driveway, and I tried to sell it. A guy offered me $1K for it, for parts, and I declined.
It eventually went to the place across town, where they said that they could sell it for $2K, and take 10%.
It sat there for a year. In the meantime, I got $800 together and bought a 1971 VW squareback. Again, my dad took the project over, and was working with them on the phone to get it sold, since I wouldn't ever have the money to fix it up, were I able to find a place that would. I went out and looked at the car after the year, and it was pathetic. It was just kind of in their yard, and it looked like they had been scavaging it for parts. The wiring was hanging out from the dash, the rust was worse, and the right rear wheel was all but falling off. the winshield was cracked.
but it was so bad off, we couldn't drive it out of there. By this point, I'd taken the heartbreak, and written it off. As I was moving to college, my folks moved from NC, and they ended up taking $200 for the car.
I got ripped off a bit. The sellers knew about the rust, and that's surely why it came down in price. I should have known better, but I didn't know the market well. Trust me, the VW was checked over by the mechanic, and not my dad. A lesson learned, but it gave me the taste for the 914.
The squareback got me through college, and the folks gave me an old Corolla for graduating. I still drive the Corolla. It carried me through a long, poverty-ridden stint in grad school. But as I'm finallly well-employed and resolving the debts from Grad School, it seems time to look at that Porsche.
I can't afford anything remotely new, and I don't really care for the boxer and the newer 911's. The 928's seem like a bargain now. They always were overlooked. But they're a few years off. It seems like next year's bonus might put me in position for a 914.
That doesn't seem like a bad option, since I remember the first one so fondly. Until I got wheel wobble and found out I was riding around in a deathtrap, it was a hell of a lot of fun to drive. I think I'll save for the 914, maybe autocross one a little, then move up to a 928 in a few years.
I was just poking around on Google for 914 info, and saw a link to this tribe.
Do the 914 owners out there autocross their cars?
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Seattle
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