Spotted tooling through Anaconda.
Let's just get this right out of the way: 914-4s (the "-4" means they have a VW-based 1700/1800/2.0L four-cylinder engine) aren't Porsches any more than Labradoodles are Poodles. That they are badged as Porsches at all is an artifact of a marketing stunt (maybe "ploy" is a better word) in the 1970s. 914-6s, where the "-6" means they have a six-cylinder two-liter straight out of the 911T, are, of course, actually Porsches.
I have a fondness for 914s because in addition to being beautiful (really!), a 914 that I never met played a small part in my courtship (such that it was) of a certain young lady named "Melissa", back in 1995: the first real time we spent alone together was when she drove me from Lincoln to Omaha to check out a 914 I was contemplating buying, but by the time we got there it was sold.
A couple years later Melcher bought a basket case 914-4 and spent a Winter putting it back together. I got to drive it once though not more than once because my friends have always found my driving suspect. I didn't exactly put it through its paces, but even during a short jog through downtown Lincoln I found it to be the best handling car I've ever driven.
I have a fondness for 914s because in addition to being beautiful (really!), a 914 that I never met played a small part in my courtship (such that it was) of a certain young lady named "Melissa", back in 1995: the first real time we spent alone together was when she drove me from Lincoln to Omaha to check out a 914 I was contemplating buying, but by the time we got there it was sold.
A couple years later Melcher bought a basket case 914-4 and spent a Winter putting it back together. I got to drive it once though not more than once because my friends have always found my driving suspect. I didn't exactly put it through its paces, but even during a short jog through downtown Lincoln I found it to be the best handling car I've ever driven.
2 comments:
I think it would be fun to have a 914. I see way more bay window buses than I do 914's out on the road. In fact, I can think of only one that I have seen in the past 2 years, besides the one pictured here in your blog. Maybe I should start looking harder.
I think it would be fun too.
They are very prone to rust, and not all that many were made to begin with: not even 120,000 914-4s and only 3,332 914-6s (much rarer than the 356) were built between 1969 and 1976. Compare that to the well over 3 million Bay Window buses which were made and now you know why you see the one much less often than the other.
Alright,
Mitch.
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