Hey, even import car fans can still love America. (For that matter, I suppose even Francophiles can love German cars, too—whatever floats your boat, friend.) And there’s certainly nothing more American than the blind optimism it takes to see three needy cars bundled together for one low price and think, “Yeah, I could make something out of that and come out ahead in the deal!” So if a you’re a penny-pinching Porsche fan and feeling patriotic, why not scoop up this star-spangled trio of 914s and see what you can do with them? They can be found here on craigslist out of Tulsa, Oklahoma for just $2,750 for the lot; thanks to reader Dean for the tip!

Now, the 914 is just now emerging from poor-person’s-Porsche purgatory, and only certain variants have truly matured into desirability, so it’s frustrating that the seller of this trio is so vague about them. We’ll have to call upon even more of that blind optimism and assume they’re all diamonds in the rough. The title of the ad would have us believe all three are ’71s—which means there’s a chance one of them is the rare and valuable six-cylinder version, offered only from 1970-72!—but the bumpers tell a different story. If the various configurations of bumper guards on the cars can be believed, the guardless white car may indeed be a ’71; the red car, with guards on only the front bumper, is likely a ’73; and the blue car, with chromed bumpers protected by guards all around, is probably a ’74, the last year before big, rubberized bumpers took over.

That confusion likely came about because only the white car is said to come with a title. Between the three cars, I count seven wheels and tires, and both blue and white cars are said to have engines and transmissions. Oh, and the four lugs on the hubs of the white car tell us it’s got a 1.7-liter VW four, not a Porsche six, between the rear wheelwells. Sorry. It’s still possible that the blue car carries the new-for-1973 fuel-injected 2-liter VW four, though—who knows!

Speculation is all we’ve got, because no information is given about any of the engines, nor are any of the engine compartments pictured. We’ll call on yet more of that blind optimism that at least one of these three has a rust-free battery tray and engine bay, one of the 914’s most notorious weak points. We do get to see the interiors of all three cars (well, sort of, in the case of the white car) and none of them is exactly great, although the red car’s is at least full of extra parts.

Let’s assume all three of these 914s are basic, 1.7-liter models; is there a way to come out ahead by turning these three ruffians into one presentable, running car? NADA says the average retail value of a ’71 914 1.7 is $17,400, so if you’re very handy and can do more or less everything yourself, that’s a hard maybe. But, hey, to the naked eye at least none of the three look too far gone—the blue car is probably the worst of the lot, although the white car’s floors don’t look great—and what could be more American than taking a gamble in the hopes of striking it rich?