Feel Better About Your Speedster Money-Pit, 2.0

That is an obscene price for that car. Makes me wish I had bought the one I had the chance to buy when I was in high school oh so long ago.  My investment would have grown exponentially. 

Beautiful car, but I've seen ones that nice sell for less than the owner's opening bid.

I passed on one that was $12k in 1999. I only had 22k on the clock, but was a little rusted. The car appears to have a catalytic converter. That does not make any sense. Perhaps I just don't remember the exhaust system correctly. 

There was a time when you couldn't give those cars away.   Nicely restored car and very nicely done eBay ad.   

Local P-Car collector told me that the 914-6 will exceed 100k in a just few years.  

Not if I buy one it won't.  I didn't notice it was a 6 I guess that makes a bit of difference?  

I always thought the 914-6 came with flared fenders like the one in the picture below.  Guess that must have been an option.  I'm also surprised that the 6 cylinder motor was only a 2 liter since at least one year the 4 cylinder 914 engine was a 2 liter.

Excellent point re: motor size. I recall that was a 2.2 liter motor. That was the size in the 911 that year. 

Troy.  Don't think 914 came from factory with flares.  I had a 73 2.0L Type IV 4 cyl sport edition with center gauge cluster and fuchs.  Wish I still had it.  Beautiful car.  Targa in rear trunk...brilliant.

There were twenty 916s made that had a permanent steel hardtop and factory steel flares. The 914-6 had a 2.0 liter six and while a very nice car I'd rather have a 74 2.0 four banger, the best in my opinion.

They came with an anemic 2.0 six & no flares.  I pulled out the 2 and put in a fuel injected 3.2.  That puts SEG on ya!

one of the funnest cars I ever built was a 73 914 with a 3.6 varioram.lightning quick and spun on a dime!

My first ever Porsche was a 914.  Ironic, but they said the same thing about it back in 1974 as they do now about my Speedster.  "It's not a real Porsche."

 

^ even more cool with the ski racks! 

Yup.  Drove it all the way from Huntington Beach to Jackson Hole Wyoming for a ski vacation in the winter of 74.

Haters gonna' hate. Call me white-trash, but I'm lovin' it:

 

914/8: Trailer-Park Hero

Now that would be a 'street sleeper'

And a hell of a lot of fun!

The guy in the local club who coordinated the club's Spring run to Saratoga used to have one of those V-8 converted 914's.  

 

I remember it having a big hole in the front hood just ahead of the windshield to let the heat out of the radiator.  If you had the Targa tops stowed, all that heat washed up the windshield and rolled down into the cockpit before exiting out the back of the car!!  I also remember him having cooling issues if he stayed on the interstates for any lengthy period.

 

The fact that he sold the car says something, too.......

       
       

That's sweet and that's the way to present a car on eBay.

Make no mistake: I'm sure there are details to be worked out with something of this sort. I do, however, think it's interesting that a 914/6 with an engine smaller than my Type 1 is apparently worth more than $70K, while this one (with comparable paint, etc.) is worth $15K-ish.

 

The SBC is the greatest engine in the history of the planet. Light, cheap, wicked powerful, they are universally derided by elitist snobs who pine for authenticity above functionality. 

 

... sort of how the rest of the world looks at a replica speedster. 

"The SBC is the greatest engine in the history of the planet. Light, cheap, wicked powerful, they are universally derided by elitist snobs who pine for authenticity above functionality. 

 

... sort of how the rest of the world looks at a replica speedster." 

 

I'm with Stan! Choosing functionality over authenticity, I put a SBC 350 in my '75 FJ-40. Climb any obstacle with impunity! 

 

I have a friend who had/has one like that 350 but his is turbochrged.  Last time I saw it the car was on the side of the highway blowing steam.  Add a turbo to the mix and there is no way to keep it cool enough.  It was a cool rainy day.

I had a '73 FJ also dropped a 350 in it, put on new Rancho lift suspension all around, skid plates, 10'' 'wagon wheels', 31.50 MT tires, etc...painted it '68 Z-28 green w/white top...wish I had kept it sometimes...great off-road with lots of hill climbing power, plenty of room for camping gear to boot.

Regarding the 914-8 it always amazes me that someone can spend so much time and money on a car like this and then part with it based on space, too many cars etc. I'd be married to that thing for a long long time.  Maybe its because on the front plaque someone spelled gauges as 'gages'.  Just kidding...neat car. I had my eye on one before the Speedster came along.

Me too, Frank. I'll never get it.

 

I spent probably 2000 hours and north of $10K on a '75 Monza with a 350/NO2 back in '83/'84 (I made $4/hr at the time). I sold it because I was getting married, and had a liquid net worth of about $1000.

 

Things change. I wish I had that car back, and the $3000 I got for it wasn't much even then. A $15K 914/8 is pretty much in the same range for being stupid-cheap.

Yeah Stan. it is.  I looked at a bad 914 in New Hampshire and had a good one lined up in Mass. but found another car in the mean time.  The 914 I did drive was called a "momentum" car by its owner.  Slow as crap but a 5 speed which was nice.  I like the idea of the car and with a big motor it would be a total screamer. 15k for a well sorted car would be good.  I wonder if he has cooling issues or just doesn't have time, space etc as indicated. Thats a lot of trouble to go through to get 15k for it....

Sold for $20K. Worth 2x that, if what you are buying is fun.

This one sold for $71,000

The 914/8 was a $teal, if closer I think I would have owned it. Face it, with a car like that, Porsche guys don't like you, chevy guys won't like you, but then again all they would see are the tail lights. Great looking car and my favorite engine, Chebby 350!

Gary

Gary-

 

That's the stuff! I've always thought buying stylish things because other people think they're fashionable is a sure way to end up broke, and with stuff you don't like. The stuff I've poured my time and treasure into will always be a great investment because it's cool to me, even if (especially if?) it isn't cool to anybody else.

 

A 914/8 pleases no one-- which makes it almost perfect

 

... a lot like a twin-plug, dry-sump, Type 1 plastic imitation.

What those guys said. I like their attitude!

Stan, I used to think the same, then I realized who am I trying to impress? I like to impress me and like non-mainstream cars/motorcycles. I have a 47 Chev hot rod, chev 350 naturally. I am sure purists would scoff at, but I like it and "it spoke to me" when I was looking on ebay. I am sure "it spoke to me" sounds weird, but you know when a car fits your personality, and let's face it, cars reflect who we are. Like it or not, deal with it.....  

Gary-

 

Read it again, man. We agree with each other 100%. If it's cool to me and nobody else, it'll be cool to me forever. I couldn't care less what other people think-- that's why I don't show it. If somebody else likes it, that's nice for them. If I love it, that's enough for me.

I've always liked 'different'...in HS all my friends wanted a Tri-five HT or 2dr Sedan...not me I wanted a wagon, 2 or 4dr, preferably a Nomad...lol...everyone thought I was nuts to want a 'family car'. Couldn't afford a Nomad but my junior year I found a '57 Sedan Delivery w/283, 3 on-the-tree, new repaint, turq w/white top and some one had installed '57 BelAir trim to it. Put chromes and moons on it and drove the snot out of it. My senior yr I pulled the 283/3spd(put a rod right through the block one night) and dropped a Corvette 327 w/4-spd in it...

 

Been a hot rodder all my life and like to be different from the herd...do not really care what others think of my rides...I've built them for me!