This site makes me both happy and sad, Discussing missing my old 914s Options

[fastfingers]

I come to this web site and visit almost every single day. I love to read those restoration threads and see all the wonderful pictures. And of course I'm always browsing the classifieds to see what people are selling and what's available. It's exhilarating to see these beautiful 914s.

And I sometimes just get really bummed. You see, back when I was a whole lot younger, back when I was in my early 20's (I'm mid-50's now) I owned two 914s. The first was a '73 2.0L and it was beautiful. The car was originally black but the previous own painted it Gunmetal Grey. It had the appearance package, the chrome bumpers, console, leather steering wheel, fog lights and those fabulous Fuchs in satin finish unpainted glory. I had just gotten married, to my first wife, and she was borrowing the car so often we bought a second one. So at a time when I probably should have been fiscally wiser, I bought a '74 2.0L with the same appearance group package options, Fuchs, chrome bumpers. It was Delphi Green Metallic. I don't even remember what my monthly auto insurance premiums were but I remember they were a high.

I did a lot of work on those cars (religiously kept them engines tuned up) and learned quite a bit. It seems remarkable looking back on it but I remember even tearing the engine out of the '74 and rebuilding it. I can only imagine how much time I must have for that sort of thing in those days.

The '73 was a fabulous, consistent, performing car. The '74, not so reliable. It seemed that something was breaking down on that '74 every month. Well, as you can imagine, I started to run into financial problems. It didn't help that my wife's 914, the '74, had a tendency to vapor lock and leave her stranded. That added to it's bad reputation for us. I ran into money problems trying to keep both cars running and eventually did what for me now is unthinkable. I took good working parts off the '73 to get the '74 running so I could trade it in on a reliable VW Rabbit with air conditioning. Neither 914 had air (except for the glorious targa top -- but not so good when it rained). My wife wanted air conditioning. I understand.

We unloaded the '74 and I couldn't afford to get my '73 back to running condition with the missing parts. That marriage also didn't last very long. I'm remarried now to a delightful woman who is my real life partner and I'm always talking nowadays about my wife would have loved driving those 914's. She tells me that she would never allowed me to tear one car up like that to fix the other and sell it. She understands how much I love those 914s. The '73 was gone too eventually.

So I miss those Porsches. I've owned a 924 and even a 911C4 for a while but I still have nothing but fond memories of those 914's, especially that '73. So the pictures and stories found here are bittersweet. They bring me joy and also remind me of mistakes I made in my youth. One day I'll be able to afford one again and find a real gem to take care of.

That's it. I just wanted to share my personal story a little bit. I'm grateful to have a place like this to come visit and dream.

[flipb]

Very cool, thanks for sharing this story.

If you have any records of your VINs (and it's not too painful), you can go here and see if they're in the VIN database...

[fastfingers]

Very cool, thanks for sharing this story.

If you have any records of your VINs (and it's not too painful), you can go here and see if they're in the VIN database...

Yea I've thought about that. Sorry, I have no records of the VINs. Hell, I don' t think I even have any photographs around of those teeners.

[ThePaintedMan]

As a "younger" guy with a 914, soon to be married, your story really hits home with me and makes me even more grateful to have what I have. Its not much and nowhere near as pretty as most of the cars on here, but I enjoy every minute I'm in the car. I hope you find another one soon - there are still plenty out there! If you're ever in the Tampa Bay, Florida area, let me know and you're welcome to take mine for a spin (IMG:style_emoticons/default/smile.gif)

[GeorgeRud]

I'll share as well. My first 914 was a new 74 2.0, bought when I was in grad school. Three years later, a 914-6 turned up in southern Illinois that I had to buy. Lived on Mac and Cheese till I was able to sell the 74 2.0.

My wife's (then girlfriend's) first experience was helping me bleed the brakes on the -6. We drove that car away from our wedding, and I happily still have the same car and wife after all these years. Truly a lucky man!

[oldschool]

My wife and all the kids...back in the day (IMG:style_emoticons/default/cheer.gif)

[oldschool]

Same wife,same car....

[oldschool]

Same wife....new 914 (IMG:style_emoticons/default/av-943.gif)

[cary]

Fastfingers it sounds like its time to buy another one.
Owning and maintaining one is a lot easier with the brain truss here at 914 World.