Let's talk about "being stock" vs "having the car you want" Options

[ScoopLV]

When I was a kid I had a 914. I wanted 5-lug Fuchs, the Porsche rear reflector, the front badge. And quite frankly, if I could have done one of those ridiculous Beach Boys body kits (the kind that makes a 914 look like a Ferrari) I probably would have.

I was on a parts website, buying some side lenses, when I saw a sale on the rear reflector and put one in my cart. Then I took it out of the cart.

Why? I have a basically unmodified teener -- 99% stock. It's almost like I feel I have a responsibility to keep it stock. I'm going to upgrade the fuel lines, and the shift linkage. One's a safety issue and the other is an invisible upgrade. But I'm going to keep all the old parts so that I could "put it back to stock" if I ever wanted.

I never really liked the look of the vinyl sail. I prefer the B column to be the same color as the rest of the body. My car doesn't have sails. Obviously a previous owner agreed with me on that point. But I'm seriously thinking about putting sails back on, because, hey, that's the only thing that isn't stock on the car.

I always liked the look of having a front badge. To me, the car looks nude without a badge on the front. But that would require drilling two holes into a perfectly good hood. Sure, I could fill the holes if I ever wanted. But that's one less hood out there that's never been mucked with.

I don't really know where I'm going with this post, or even if there's a point to it. But I'd like to hear from people about the validity of "turning your car into YOUR car" vs. "there aren't many unmodified cars out there anymore, so keep it stock."

Where do you fall in that spectrum?

[ScoopLV]

Well, eventually the engine is going to quit. Then I may "upgrade" to something a little less messy. But even then I'd keep the old engine. Hell, I'd probably have the old one rebuilt, and put in a crate. And then zip around town with a Suby or similar.

But how about some numbers. Around 120K of these cars were made. How many are still on the road? Forty thousand? Less? And how many of them are basically rust-free stock? Twenty thousand? Probably more like ten. I'm just pulling numbers out of my ass. But there can't be a whole lot left. Or maybe there are. I don't know.

I like the look of the GT. When you get down to it, who doesn't? But it doesn't feel right to me to have flares welded on and drop a big engine into it just because I can. If I want a faster car, I can always just buy a 911 and go to town with that. To put things in perspective, I live in Las Vegas. It's a rare day when I DON'T see a Lamborghini zipping down Tropicana Ave. But I've only seen two 914s in five years. And one of them was because I was considering buying it. The other I saw in a parking lot, rusty as hell, with a for sale sign on it.

When I was a kid and had my first 914, there were a lot more of them out there. Hell, there were three in my neighborhood. I suppose that's why I wanted a slant-nose, badged, 3.0 liter Carrera 914. Just to separate myself from the "herd" of 914 owners. But today I'm older and wiser. And even though I could just open the checkbook and make the slant-nose 914 a reality, I don't see any good reason to do so.