BUILD-OFF CHALLENGE: New 914 owner...what have I gone and done! Options

[Darren C]

Hi everyone,

I have been looking for a 914 on and off for a couple of years now and late one evening I bid on ebay for a car in Desert Hot Springs CA. A real leap of faith for me as I live in Chichester UK!
My first car was a VW Beetle and I’ve owned quite a few air cooled VWs and always wanted a 914, so now almost 25 years later I finally took the plunge and with sweat on my brow placed a last minute bid on ebay on a car I’d only seen in 4 small photo’s on line.
To my surprise I won the 914.
Problem was it lay 8000 miles away from me here in UK. I got hold of the sellers phone number and gave them a call. The car is a 1974 2.0L one owner from new sold in Palm Springs 914. The seller was the owners daughter. The gentleman passed away several years ago and she’d had it parked up on her driveway for 5 or 6 years. From the description in the listing it had a Salvage title due to sand storm damage on the paintwork. It looked reasonably solid in the few pictures I saw, but very sorry for itself with flat tires and bad paint. It was a gamble, but sometimes these things pay off.
I got the car picked up by a shipping agent and taken to Long Beach for shipping.

(IMG:http://www.914world.com/bbs2/uploads_offsite/i265.photobucket.com-18255-1419606931.1.jpg)

2 months later it arrived in Southampton UK

(IMG:http://www.914world.com/bbs2/uploads_offsite/i265.photobucket.com-18255-1419606931.2.jpg)

(IMG:http://www.914world.com/bbs2/uploads_offsite/i265.photobucket.com-18255-1419606931.3.jpg)

Last week I went down to Southampton and collected my new project just in time for Christmas.
I was recommended this site from another 914 owner and it's a great relief to find such a large active community. 914's were never sold in the UK, so all are personal imports and a rare thing to see on our roads.
I’m pleased to now join you guy’s and post my restoration progress in getting this little car back on the road.

Regards
Darren

[Darren C]

Hey Tom,

Thanks for the kind words, good paint really makes a car and I just love the Alaska Blue colour. There's a few small areas that I need to flat and polish just to clear some faint gun finish "orange peel", but apart from that I'm very, very pleased with the job.

You're correct on the bumpers and valances. It's the same satin black top finish with textured stone guard underneath on the valances and sill (rocker) panels only. All the parts were bead blasted inside and out before etch primer then main 2K primer, and flatted down before colour or texture was applied. The finish on the inside of the bumper is as good as what you see on the outside. In the close up photos, the particles you can see are dust that settled on them while at the paint shop (when the paint was dry thankfully). Looking back at my pictures, the rear/insides were painted first then allowed to cure before they were flipped over for the outside to be painted. You can see dust on the insides of the rear bumper and even the shape of the two bits of masking tape that covered the holes for the license plate fixings in the dust! I did clean them off before fitting, just forgot with all the excitement to dust them down for the photos :-)
I also did the targa roof at the same time so that all the satin black matches. I think you can see the roof stood against my sons wardrobe in the picture of the two assembled bumpers.

Regards
Darren