Okay, maybe I've got a sickness or something. I've had my Boxster S for 4 years now and have spent some time modding it. Then this May I got a Carrera 4S and thought all was good. I was supposed to buy a daily driver, a beater car. I got too tempted though by the idea of getting something nice, too nice really to be a daily driver. Still I love the C4S and will not be getting rid of it!
So.... I've been looking for a cheap Porsche daily driver to replace my '87 Honda CRX (good car, but I'm going for something different now). Last weekend I looked at a $4,500 1971 911 that was total crap. I gave up on the idea of finding a cheap 911 beater and started looking at 944's and 968's. I don't care for the 924's or 928's, so those were out. This weekend I looked at a 1972 914 that was highly modified and in pristine condition with a recently rebuilt transmission, strong brakes, minimal rust, and a very freshly rebuilt engine.
Well today I took the plunge and drove her home 1 hour from Paradise, CA. The previous owner had her since 1996 and had dumped what he estimated to be $22,000 into the car. He was selling it for $12,500. Times are tough though and it's a buyer's market, so he dropped his price to $7,000 and I got it a bit cheaper still. The car drives great and I think it's a real head turner. I just hope it's reliable as a daily driver. We shall see! Even if it's not, I'm a car guy and enjoy working on cars, so I will enjoy tinkering with the car and getting it as reliable as I can.
Here are some shots from today:
The interior is very fresh and actually pretty spacious:
Front trunk with updated, but somewhat older sound system components:
Rear trunk, gotta love those strut braces!!!
1975 2.0L engine making a whopping 88 HP or so, twin Weber carbs added, recently rebuilt by AVP, f_ck California smog, I'm smog free on this puppy - YES!!!
The body kit is a rare find, called a Chalon kit. I found just a couple pictures of cars with this kit on the web. It gives the car wide flares in the rear, a cool wing, and a 911 slant nose front end. Honestly I don't like the looks of stock 914's, but I do like the looks of this car. The car is obviously lowered and the suspension is super stiff and appears to have been updated. It will be fun to dig into this car more to see what's been done as the previous owner was somewhat clueless despite years of ownership.
Kirk