BUILD-OFF CHALLENGE: Creamsicle, Extreme Budget Makeover of Daily Driver LE Options

[poorsche914]

HISTORY: purchased in spring 2010

Advertised on the Asheville area Craigslist, the pictures of this '74 914 were extremely low res and blurry. I emailed the seller asking for more info and clearer photos. He never responded with anything useful except for the VIN which fell in the range of Can Am production. Hard to tell any details but I could see it was a white car (more on that later) with no sail vinyl. Hmmm... could it be?



I had a '75 2.0 with an interested buyer. Better than that, he procurred both a tow vehicle AND a trailer and volunteered to drive me the 3+ hours to view the '74. The deal was... if I bought the '74, he would buy my '75.

We headed to the northwest section of North Carolina and met the seller. At this point the 914 was stored in a metal outbuilding. After removing boxes and other stuff, we rolled the dusty, dirty car out into the lawn. I did a quick check and my suspicions were correct... a possible LE! I spied bits of orange hiding behind the white on the wheels and the bumpers. A quick check under the front end showed the air dam mounting tabs. OK, time to deal!



The 914 had definitely seen better days. The engine had a mismatch of FI parts, the longs (and elsewhere) were rusty, the entire car had been painted white (bumpers, wheels, trim, etc). To top it off, a custom wing fabricated from a Trans Am unit had been mounted to the rear deck lid. All this had been done nearly 20 years earlier when the owner was 17 years old. He parked it when he and his friends realized it just wasn't big enough for everyone to cruise around in.



My offer was his absolute minimum so the deal was made. The 914 was loaded up and we headed back to Tennessee. Once home, the '74 was unloaded and the '75 loaded onto the trailer. I actually made a little money on this deal but went from a running 914 to a non-runner in need of a lot of work. But... I now owned a Creamsicle!



To be cont'd...

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PS: found THIS THREAD from when I first bought it

[bigkensteele]

Is this Cinnamon? If so, I have a complete, very close to perfect interior for you, only two states away. The seats were pretty disgusting when I got it, but as you can see from the one on the left, they cleaned up pretty nicely.

[Johny Blackstain]

Is this Cinnamon? If so, I have a complete, very close to perfect interior for you, only two states away. The seats were pretty disgusting when I got it, but as you can see from the one on the left, they cleaned up pretty nicely.

I agree- sure as sh*t looks like 74 cinnamon to me too. Go for it Steve
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[poorsche914]

So... I'm not so good at "blogging" the work I do on my 914. (IMG:style_emoticons/default/dry.gif)

Since I last posted, I have replaced the rear pads and swapped out one of the rear calipers that was locked up - couldn't get the cylinder to move. Luckily, a neighbor had a set of new, rebuilt calipers that he wasn't using (IMG:style_emoticons/default/smile.gif)
Got the system bled and brakes working again. I purchased new disks and rear soft lines that I plan to install sometime in July if I can find the time. (IMG:style_emoticons/default/rolleyes.gif)

At the beginning of June we were hit with a torrential downpour. On the way home, my car died about a block from the house. Coasted in to the garage and began the diagnosis. I thought for sure it was the unilite module gone bad due to wiring getting wet and causing a short. I ordered a new module and waited the two days for it to arrive. Ended up being a bad coil (IMG:style_emoticons/default/headbang.gif) So I swapped it out and it's been running great ever since!

Did the first oil/filter change on my 2056 in preparation for a trip to the north Georgia mountains over the 4th of July weekend.


Driving every day (IMG:style_emoticons/default/driving.gif)