For as long as I can remember, I've wanted a Porsche 914 of my own. Now before you carry on about how it's not a real Porsche with its Volkswagen design origins and VW Type 4 engine, I can tell you that it has plenty of Porsche DNA. Of course I also happen to be a person who is not offended by the 914's VW DNA anyway. I love Volkswagens, and if you want to call the 914 one, well then it's the coolest car they ever made!
A few years ago, my brother and I were on the lookout for cars, especially classic Euro sports cars, that we could fix up and flip for a few bucks. He was in a rural area of central New Mexico looking at a wrecked BWM parts car for his E36 M3 project. On the property was a sun-baked 914 sitting there looking pretty forlorn. When asked if the 914 was for sale, the owner promptly replied no. A little persuasive conversation ensued, with the owner admitting he'd take $2000 for it. After my brother bought the BMW parts car, he and I came back a few weeks later and bought the 914. It may not have looked great in the photos I saw, but in person it was a bit better, and pretty solid. I loved it!
Among the many cars my brother owns, there is his beloved 1969 911T coupe with 73 RS bodywork and a glorious, if well-used, 2.4 flat six on dual triple-throat Webers with sport exhaust. I have increasingly suffered vintage Porsche envy because of that car! But if you follow the aircooled 911 market at all, you know that they're pretty much all out of reach on a modest budget. The 914 is the last aircooled Porsche of any kind that is still accessible, at least for now. So, from the moment I saw this little bugger, I couldn't get it out of my mind. And that was just experiencing it in its ratty, non-running condition.
With the 914 back at our shop, we started working to get it running. Flushed fuel tank, some new fuel lines, and a good battery actually did the trick. The single Weber conversion wasn't doing it any favors though, so it would barely get down the road. But that was enough for me. That engine was so full of raucous character, the dog-leg 5 speed was a study in finessed imprecision, and the steering felt empathically light through that thin-rimmed "bowtie" steering wheel.
The previous owner had warned that the front main seal was leaking so bad that it rendered it undrivable. With fingers crossed, we drove it a bit to see if it would indeed leak, eternal optimism on our side. But alas, warmed oil cascaded from some undetermined source at the bottom of the motor. So, in typical fashion, we went straight to the most extreme solution: dropping the engine.
Determining that maybe the oil pump seal was to blame, we replaced that and some other gaskets and seals that were accessible. Since we felt so proud of our work, we forked over some hard-won cash for a dual Weber setup. These carbs turned out to be a little worse off than we had hoped for, so off they went to a carb specialist for a proper rebuild.
For the first time, the 914 was starting and running pretty well. Well enough that we could drive it enough to determined that our oil leak repairs...did absolutely nothing! So, a bit deflated, we left the car to sit for some time. Time that I put to use figuring out how to buy out my brother so I could finally have the car as my own. It turned out that a bit of cash and a $400 Porsche 928 I had bought would do the trick. With a weasily and totally transparent text to my wife telling her that we'd be "trading" these cars, I acquired what was now my third Porsche. Ugh!
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