Not one, but about one and a half Porsche 914s are for sale here on craigslist in Atlanta, Georgia. I’m not sure I agree with the direction the seller suggests the project should be taken, but I’ll let you decide what you’d do. The price for both right now is $2,100, although you might be able to negotiate that down a little. The seller is a self-professed “Porsche nut” and if you were going to make a good home for the 914s they might give you a little sympathy.
The yellow 1973 914 appears to be largely complete, but the seller says it’s rusty. It even has the rare dealer installed air conditioning. The seller actually calls is 99% complete. They suggest using this as a parts car and working with the white 1970 car to provide the structure to build on. The seller states that they are a Porsche “nut” and have been a member of the national club since the 1980’s. They also have raced Porsches for years.
As they describe the 1970, it’s pretty solid except for some rust holes, specifically in the rear, floorboard and one jacking point. They are suggesting that you media blast the whole tub and then use the parts off the other tub to complete it after painting.
I guess I just see more rust than they do. Given this level of surface rust on the floor, I’d be amazed if something this brown with rust is actually solid enough to make a restoation work. More importantly, what do you think? I’d look for a more solid single car, but am I being short-sighted? Is it that inexpensive that it actually makes sense? I think I’d rather find one that was running and work on repairing any cosmetic defects. Ok, P-car experts, let us know if this is the path to follow?
In the early 1990’s, I bought a 1976 914 with the wonderful 2.0 from the back lot of a local dealer for the princely sum of $150. It actually ran and drove, and the engine had been rebuilt by the previous owner. The body, however, was another matter. Caked with at least 4 layers of paint, large chunks of which had fallen off to reveal the crunchy skin of the little beast. The infamous “Hell Hole” in the engine compartment was aptly named. Lacking the funds and skill to do much else, I sanded it flat and sprayed it in primer. A funny thing about that car- it was deceptively fast! So much so that tooling around at an indicated 90 MPH felt like 65-70. I just assumed the speedo was optimistic. I was wrong. We found out when we volunteered as lead vehicle on the way to a dance for some lady friends. They kept falling waaaay back on the highway, so we would slow down to what felt like a crawl, and when they caught up we’d resume normal cruising speed. They finally hopped out at the toll booth to berate us for “driving 100 MPH!”.
Advice to would-be 914 buyers: buy the best body you can find. And if you can source a fuel injected 2.0, do it.
I agree with the seller.
You could build one fine 914 out of these two.
Save the Porsche!
Very informative and well argued opinion. What a fantastic and valuable contribution!
But, whats this mean ? “No title but I ainal paint.” that has me stymied. Makes me wish I still had my Iron Moth eaten silverado to swap.
I read this quote in an older magazine article……
“You can park a Porsche in the garage,turn out the lights,
and hear it rust”.