New 914 Owner!, 1972 914/4 Options

[newmexico]

Hi all. I was introduced to the world of 914's by my lovely girlfriend (soon to be fiance, but sshh). Her first car was 76 914. She sold it about 10 years ago and has been kicking herself since.

I came across a Craigslist ad for a '72 and the body looked to be in pretty good condition and the price wasn't bad (seemingly), so I talked her into letting me pick it up.

It's actually on its way to being towed to me now (it lived an hour and a half away). The owner said it's been sitting for at least a year when the starter went out.

I'm new to these cars completely, having grown up an old Chevy small-block guy, so I've already been reading through a ton of old and current threads on here to try to get up to speed.

I look forward to the journey! Thanks for the resources you've all provided through your forum posts.

[newmexico]

Thanks everyone for the replies! I am beyond excited.

I actually got the car home yesterday and stuck it in the garage. It seems pretty solid as far as rust goes. We did try to turn it over after giving the battery a quick charge, but nothing happened when we turned the key...

Turns out this car might be kind of a fun challenge as far as wiring. One of the previous owners ran wires from the battery and ignition coil directly through from the engine compartment, running underneath a center console to a switch mounted in there (sorry I didn't take pics yet and I'm at work now....working...). I was able to bump the engine like that, but it didn't sound like the starter was making good contact (and what I'm about to start researching on here right now).

I'm also reading some old threads on wiring harness installs (and I found the Bowlsby website, awesome). It might be easier to install a new/used harness rather than try to un-screw what's in there now.. because it looks like a disaster. Added wiring for power windows, and what looks like extra wires running to the front of the car, to the back of the car...a bunch of wires in the engine compartment just hanging, wires running to the rear trunk just disconnected. I ordered a Haynes manual and am going to print some stuff out from Pelican to get started.