Porsche 914/4
The Porsche 914 or VW-Porsche 914 is a mid-engined sports car designed, manufactured and marketed collaboratively by Volkswagen and Porsche from 1969 until 1976. It was only available as a targa-topped two-seat roadster powered by either a flat-4 or flat-six engine.
Originally intending to sell the vehicle with a flat four-cylinder engine as a Volkswagen and with a flat six-cylinder engine as a Porsche, Porsche decided during development that having Volkswagen and Porsche models sharing the same body would be risky for business in the American market, and convinced Volkswagen to allow them to sell both versions as Porsches in North America.
On March 1, 1968, the first 914 prototype was presented. However, development became complicated after the death of Volkswagen's chairman, Heinrich Nordhoff, on April 12, 1968. His successor, Kurt Lotz, was not connected with the Porsche dynasty and the verbal agreement between Volkswagen and Porsche fell apart.
In Lotz's opinion, Volkswagen had all rights to the model, and no incentive to share it with Porsche if they would not share in tooling expenses. With this decision, the price and marketing concept for the 914 had failed before series production had begun. As a result, the price of the chassis went up considerably, and the 914/6 ended up costing only a bit less than the 911T.
The 914 was Motor Trend's Import Car of the Year for 1970.
The Car.
I always wanted a 914. I think the best way to buy cars to restore and sell is to buy cars you want in the first place. I have looked at a few 914’s over the last 10 years but mostly they are rusty , broken or wrecks. I nearly bought one in 2014 for £2000 from a friend of a friend but i did not think it was worth it!
In July 2023 I was looking to see how to import cars and I saw a 914 in LA for sale. I thought ok let’s do this. It was rust free and looked in good condition. I bought the car and started the process of importing the car. There are companies that bend over backwards to help you in this process if you’re willing to pay a premium. In late Oct 2023 my 914 arrives in Southampton. The whole process from getting the car collected in LA and taken to a warehouse, then put in a container and sent to the UK with all the documentation state site and UK + delivery to London came too £2200. I now owned a 914 from Beverly Hills.
July 23
First look is that the car has some real issues. It looks ok but a deep dive tells me that i have project car. The gear stick just came of in my hand , the engine does not start , the hand brake is not there and all sort of things are missing. The bodywork is not as good as it looked in the pictures either. Im up for the challenge tho. So lets begin with the bodywork. There is no messing around. A full respray needed and im sure things will fall off as i dismantle the car. Lets see. Exciting ! The first few weeks are taking the car to bits and getting it ready to paint. Lots of jobs to do and yes bits fell off and i had lots of welding and making of parts to fit back on the 914.
