Time to Document my Survivor 1973 2.0L Options

[914Next]

I know I'm late to this thread, but just read through it and must say - what a car! I am about to jump into my 73 2.0 and head home from work; these are great fun cars !

Thanks for the nice comments, Last. I admire those of you who are driving them regularly. I love my survivor but once in a while would love to have one just to do exactly what you're doing!

[Last930]

The trade off between maintaining a car in pristine original condition and using it as it was meant to be used is a tough one, especially when you have an original car as nice as yours. I just finished having a major mechanical restoration done on my '73 2.0; the cosmetic part will commence in the next 6-8 weeks. My goal is to drive it when it's finished; not sure how I'll actually feel about stone chips, door dings etc once it's completely finished.
Regardless, that is a incredible car you have. I hope you drive it some, at least on those nice sunny days!

[914Next]

The trade off between maintaining a car in pristine original condition and using it as it was meant to be used is a tough one, especially when you have an original car as nice as yours. I just finished having a major mechanical restoration done on my '73 2.0; the cosmetic part will commence in the next 6-8 weeks. My goal is to drive it when it's finished; not sure how I'll actually feel about stone chips, door dings etc once it's completely finished.
Regardless, that is a incredible car you have. I hope you drive it some, at least on those nice sunny days!

Yes, I do drive it....just drove it today in fact. Beautiful day here in ATL. I probably drive a bit under 1,000 miles per year. A nice balance of preserving and enjoying.

I see you live in IL. what part? I used to live in Wisconsin and the northern burbs of Chicago. Just moved here six years ago and love it. Heading to WI today...Door County to visit my wife's parents.

Steve

[Last930]

I'm in the western suburbs; born and raised. Went to school in Wisconsin up north on Lake Superior- pretty darn cold!! Door County is a really cool place. Good you're driving the 914 some - you have some other cool cars!

[914Next]

Took the front bumper off and did a bit of cleaning. Before and after pics. Was pretty clean in the before pics considering I'm sure the bumper had never been off the car.

Before:



After:

[914Next]

Couple more of cleaning behind the bumper

[22truckie]

Great car!!!!! I am like you,an originality person. I/we have 2 other unrestored cars,a 1969 Olds 442 convertible in black/gold trim and interior and the other is a 1970 Torino fastback with very rare factory NASCAR engine ( only made 400 ). Both are near perfect 99% untouched. I have the Mayan Green 1975 unrestored 914 posted here. I have done some more cleaning and will update my posting. Cheers to an amazing car!

[914Next]

Great car!!!!! I am like you,an originality person. I/we have 2 other unrestored cars,a 1969 Olds 442 convertible in black/gold trim and interior and the other is a 1970 Torino fastback with very rare factory NASCAR engine ( only made 400 ). Both are near perfect 99% untouched. I have the Mayan Green 1975 unrestored 914 posted here. I have done some more cleaning and will update my posting. Cheers to an amazing car!

Thanks truckie. I have been following your thread also and have been looking forward to updated and additional pics on your progress. Really look forward to seeing more of that car. Love the color!

Steve

[914Next]

Recently Cal (Jeff) had a question about original headlights so while I was out checking mine out I decided to do a bit of cleaning. Doubt the headlight buckets had ever been cleaned but they were really not very dirty at all. Also took a magic eraser to the white headlight surrounds also. Did a nice job of taking most of the light staining off.





Notice the black marking in the bucket on the driver side? Looks like a number "5" that was then written over and made a "6". Has anyone ever seen this before?

[914Sixer]

Somebody screwing around at Karmman? How many beers with lunch? (IMG:style_emoticons/default/beer.gif)

[914Next]

Had a couple of hours this weekend to do some cleaning/detailing on the underside of the "73. It was liberally undercoated which means that everything is fairly well covered including the belly pan, wheel wells, cable, lines, etc. I'd prefer that the undercoating was not there although the car was a Minneapolis car. The original owner never drove it in the winter though, and hardly ever in the rain so it would have probably survived fairly well even without the undercoating.

Decided to take off the air deflectors and removed the undercoating on them. They cleaned up very well and the bolts even had most of the original cad plating on them.

[Cal]

Had a couple of hours this weekend to do some cleaning/detailing on the underside of the "73. It was liberally undercoated which means that everything is fairly well covered including the belly pan, wheel wells, cable, lines, etc. I'd prefer that the undercoating was not there although the car was a Minneapolis car. The original owner never drove it in the winter though, and hardly ever in the rain so it would have probably survived fairly well even without the undercoating.

Decided to take off the air deflectors and removed the undercoating on them. They cleaned up very well and the bolts even had most of the original cad plating on them.

That looks great. The underside of my car is also covered in undercoating. What did you use to clean the deflectors?

[914Next]

Had a couple of hours this weekend to do some cleaning/detailing on the underside of the "73. It was liberally undercoated which means that everything is fairly well covered including the belly pan, wheel wells, cable, lines, etc. I'd prefer that the undercoating was not there although the car was a Minneapolis car. The original owner never drove it in the winter though, and hardly ever in the rain so it would have probably survived fairly well even without the undercoating.

Decided to take off the air deflectors and removed the undercoating on them. They cleaned up very well and the bolts even had most of the original cad plating on them.

That looks great. The underside of my car is also covered in undercoating. What did you use to clean the deflectors?

I used a plastic tool that is used to pry door panel cards off of doors. You can buy these tools in several shapes and sizes and they actually come in very handy when you want to use a lever or scraper that is not metal but still has some "bite". These tools work well for scraping the heavy stuff off and then the mineral spirits or paint thinner do the clean-up. I'm going to tackle cables and misc other lines next. Not sure I'll ever tackle the huge job of removing all of the undercoating like Steve did on his Sahara Beige car.

[914Next]

Duplicate

[914Next]

Haven't added to this post in many years now. Hard to believe the I've owned the car over 10 years!! I'll never surpass Jim's ownership of this original car....over 40 years....but it's been fun trying to be a deserving caretaker of this amazing car for the past 10 years.

Bought this 1973 2.0 after posting that I was looking for a really nice survivor. Paid an outrageous sum at the time and was more than happy to do so in order to have the opportunity to own it, It had just under 45,000 miles at the time and, as of last fall, I think I am just under 49,000 now. Before you criticize me for not driving it enough just know that I thoroughly enjoy its preservation and also I live in Mexico most of the year and the car is in Wisconsin. I'm lucky if I have the chance to put 500 miles or so per year on it.

It's the cleanest 914 I've ever seen. I know there are lower mileage and even a few that are likely better condition but this thing is still stunning!

Jim, the original owner in Minnesota, kept meticulous records and I have every original purchase, ownership document and receipt since new....save for one repair receipt which somehow went missing. I keep in touch with Jim, the original owner on a regular basis. He has visited us once in Wisconsin and we share at least a Christmas message each year. I think Jim is about 89 now.

Have only shown the car twice....once at Octeenerfest in around 2016 (?) and once at the Chicago Region PCA Concours in the Fall of 2023. The car won best in show and best stock at Octeener Fest and Best of Show at the PCA Concours.

Over the years I've done some regular maintenance but really the major things have been, new rear springs shortly after I bought it, new nos injectors and seals in 2023 and also the odometer went out on the return trip from the PCA Concours. Sent that out and had it back in a week without losing any miles....ok I think I lost maybe 17 miles.







Considering my living in Mexico, I constantly wonder if it's crazy to keep the 914. To make matters worse I also have a 1967 Scout and a '93 968 Clubsport as well as a sweet 15,000 mile 2010 Mercedes C350 Sport. It makes no sense at all and one of these days I will start thinning. The right buyer who will treasure this thing for the next 10-20 years will come at the right time.


The 914 this past summer:

[mepstein]

I saw it in person at octeenerfest. Beautiful car.