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The 914 I purchased last month finally arrived here in Scottsdale.
I had Intercity Lines pick it up at the seller's home in North Carolina
last Saturday & it was delivered today (Thursday).
It's a 1973 914 2.0. Vin # 4732905540. They say if you can't get
a '70/'71 914-6, this year (1973) & model (2.0) has to rank as the
next best model to have. And some think it's as good as a 914-6
due to the engine's lighter weight & similar performance!
But this car has one more characteristic that makes it very special to
me & the reason I bought it. Its exterior color is the very desirable,
and somewhat rare, 'Ravenna Green' - color code L65K! And most
of you Rennlisters know by now that I am into rare Porsche colors!
***
Since I am retired & have all the time in the world, and this 914
forum is not that active & in need of more content, I am going
to take my time & tell you via a circuitous route, how this day
came about & why I decided to buy this particular Porsche. So
bear with me, please!
****
My first Porsche was a 1968 912 Soft-Rear Targa that I bought
back in the summer of 1973 when the car was about 5 years old.
I didn't know it at the time but that Porsche would hook me into
a world that I have yet to leave! But I didn't know that then. I
was 22 years old, right out of Penn & into my first adult job after
graduation with GE. Until six months before I purchased my first
Porsche, I didn't even have a driver's license...although I had taken
Driver's Ed as a Senior in high school. I was a true 'City Slicker'
& far removed from the car culture that later has played such a
big role later in my life. I quickly crashed that 912, then went to
Paris & did other things related to my career. When I came back
to the US I got into international banking in NYC & didn't need
a car in that city. It was only after I was posted in Miami by
Bankers Trust in 1978 that I needed to think again about a car
...and bought a used 1970 911T coupe. The exterior was a little
ratty & I naively painted it 'Imron Red' because I thought that
was a cool thing to do! After all, planes were painted in Imron,
what could be better? I also tossed the original Porsche seats &
bought a set of colorful Recaros!
What was I thinking? In any case, I decided to move to California
in 1984 after my banking career back East. I sold the '70 911T &
became interested in a 1973 914 2.0 in 'Sunflower Yellow' that I
found in the classified ads of Panorama. It resided in Westchester
County & I remembered it as being quite expensive at around $8K.
The 914 seller needed the cash to buy a low mileage Concours'
1974 911 Carrera that I also knew well (it was a local NNJ PCA
car!), but considered to too expensive at the time!
The 914 2.0 was in pristine mostly original condition (it was also
only 11 years old at the time), so I bought it & then immediately
took it cross-country drive to the West Coast. Part of what captivated
me about the 914 was a desire to get back to an open roof car!
And the Porsche ads of the day highlighted that 'sunny' style, seen
here in a similar 'Sunflower Yellow' model in their advertisement:
All I remember about the cross-country trip in the 914 was how
hard the upgraded 'sport' suspension felt. Immediately upon
arriving in Los Angeles I found a local independent Porsche
shop to remove those hard springs & replaced them with the
stock 914 2.0 factory set up. The mechanic that did that work
for me was named Dave Bouzaglou. And the shop he had was
TRE Motorsports, which is still in business although at a new
location in the 'City of Angels'.
Today Dave is a fellow R Gruppe member who I frequently see at
our R Treffens. But he is also my oldest Porsche friend in the West
Coast dating back to that time! Perhaps he is now best known for
putting together the great 'Targa California' driving event each year:
And most of the time he is driving it in his heavily modified 914!
***
Soon after my arrival in Los Angeles, Dave told me about a Porsche
group that I had never heard before back East. It was called the
'Porsche Owners Club' & it had a history almost as long & distinguished
as the PCA! It was founded, similar to the Porsche Club of America,
in 1955. But it basically stayed local to the West Coast! This was
their original badge which is today a collectors' item:
In 1985 I spent quite a bit of time at POC events at Willow Springs &
Riverside International. Dave & some other POC drivers had an RV
which became the 'social center' of our racing weekend. I had great
times with these guys at these remote desert tracks all over Southern
California! And at one particular POC event at Riverside, I got a bit
over-confident & early apexed Turn 2 with my newly acquired 1973
914 2.0. That was 'not a good move', if any of you remember all
the turns at that historic raceway which is no longer in existence:
At first, I thought I brought it under control by getting back on the
track. But I couldn't hold it. And I went to the opposite side, finally
hitting the wall. It was a total loss! So less than a year into ownership
of this 914, I destroyed it. I then purchased a slightly used 1984 911SC
in 'Guards Red' which kept me comfortably in 'wheels' while I continued
living for a time at Marina del Rey on Tahiti Way before I moved up to
NorCal. Shortly after that I got into 944s...then into 356s. You can
follow the progression of cars that I have owned in my 'signature' below.
I honestly didn't start wanting to get back into a 914 until more recent
times. But this brief ownership in the 1980's, plus what I learned from
other talented 914 drivers I met along the way, made a great impact
on my thinking about Porsche cars...and continues to influence me to
this day! I'll come back to this theme in a future post.
***
Sadly this was the second Porsche I had totaled in 12 years, not the
most auspicious start to my long history of ownership in the marque.
I had lost the '68 912 just a month after I purchased it - a stupid
rookie mistake on a country road just outside Virginia Beach, VA.
And now another accident, this time on a track. But I wasn't
discouraged. I had enjoyed my brief ownership of the 914. The
thing I remembered the most was its great handling...and it's
ample & roomy cabin. Like the modern Porsche 718, it had two
luggage compartments. And it also made me a lifetime believer
in the mid-engine concept that Porsche later perfected with the
Boxster/Cayman platform, especially its Spyder versions in the
987 & 981 era & the gt4. I will return to the topic of handling
& what an impression the 914 made on me (and many other
Porsche enthusiasts) at the time! Hard to believe now, but
back in the late 1970's & early 1980's, the 914 nearly dominated
autocross & driving events in PCA/POC all across the United States!
The 'little' 914 left a potent memory on all of us that lived through
that period in Porsche history!
There is more to come. I will continue this personal '914 Story' in
a future post!
If you are reading this post on a 914 forum, the chances
are you are already very knowledgeable about the important
part that the 914 played in Porsche history. So I will wait to
wax poetically about that in later posts. But first, let me
continue with my personal history with the 914.
I first became aware of the model while in my senior year
(1972) at Penn in the City of Brotherly Love, Philadelphia.
One of my wealthy friends there, Richard Carrión of Puerto
Rico, bought a new 914. Don't remember much about it...
but it was the first time I knew anyone that actually owned
a 914! The next year, while working for GE in Norfolk, VA
(at their Television manufacturing plant...back when GE still
made these!), I got to see many brand new 914s for sale at
the small showroom of the Virginia Beach Porsche dealer,
Checkered Flag. There I distinctly remember seeing one
day a bright green 914 that I thought look positively stunning.
The color of that car was 'Zambezi Green', known in German
as 'Sambesigrün'. And it made a very favorable impression
that lasted over the years...and to the present!
***
In 1984, when I decided to buy my first used 914, I wasn't
looking for any particular color car..just the condition of the
actual 914. But over the years I have become more picky
about the colors I want to see in my cars, especially my
Porsches. And just over one year ago I received an email
from a fellow R Gruppe member that is also a car dealer in
Southern California. His name is Paul Kramer & he runs
'Auto Kennel' in Costa Mesa, CA.
The subject of the email was a 1974 914 he had for sale.
And it struck a cord with me...since it was in that same
striking 'Zambesi Green' I remembered that new 914 back
in my 'youth'.
So I called him as soon as I read his message. Unfortunately
I was not the first caller interested in the 914! At the top of
the list was Patrick Long, who wanted to own a nice example
of that Porsche model. In fourth place was my buddy Bob Smith,
a fellow R Gruppe from Scottsdale, who is also a 'green' car
fanatic & sold me his 2007 997 Carrera S in 'Signal Green'
(he was the original owner) back in 2011. Sadly, I was down
the list in 12th place & out of the 'running'!
*
In the end, P. Long decided to pass on it. But by that time
Paul's wife had fallen in love with the cute two-seater! And
they changed the wheels, did some mechanical restoration
needed & never sold it. Paul still kids me on occasion, calling
it 'Eduardo's car'.
And I have a standing offer to buy it from them when the
Kramers are finally ready to sell! But Paul admits it will
be hard to get it out of the grasp of his wife's hands!
***
Once we sold our home in Carmel this year & found a new place
in Scottsdale, my horizons opened up for adding cars to my 'collection'.
In the past, I have always been restrained by lack of storage space
at any of my previous homes in California (where my wife & lived
for over 31 years!). My last garage at our home in Carmel, which
we owned for 16 years, was a small tandem which accommodated
only two cars!
Previously, when we had owned second homes in Nevada & Colorado,
we had been able to store more cars...and in pretty nice style too!
Nevada:
1965 C Cabriolet - 35K original miles / All original paint & interior.
*
2001 BMW Z8
*
Colorado:
1970 911E Targa / 55K original miles / All original paint & interior.
***
But we eventually decided a few years ago to sell our second homes
& concentrate on just one home at a time. Fortunately, the home we
recently bought in North Scottsdale has a three car garage. And we
are buying a separate 'car condominium' in something called 'The Toy
Barn', just 15 minutes away in nearby Cave Creek:
We are waiting to take delivery of the car condominium in October
to start decorating it, plus my three car garage in Scottsdale, with
the auto memorabilia I have collected in over 42 years in the hobby!
So with the possibility of storage for more cars, I started a serious
search for a 914 earlier this summer. That will be part 3 of 'A 914 Story'!
my 1972 914 with a vellios conversion 915 transmission, 3.2 liter motor.
This car was purchased new by my dad in 1972 for my mother as a gift. stock 1.7 motor was swapped out.
I had won multiple of local autocross events and hill climbs
Getting back down to north Scottsdale in about 2 weeks. In process of shipping my new Boxster Spyder down to join my '73 914 2.0.
That Toy Barn looks very interesting!! Gonna have to check it out personally! My son lives in north Scottsdale too and since he also inherited the car gene, his small 3 car garage is getting very full as well.
That Toy Barn looks very interesting!!
Gonna have to check it out personally!
My son lives in north Scottsdale too
and since he also inherited the car
gene, his small 3 car garage is getting
very full as well.
The developer of The Toy Barn is Paul Phillips.
I'll put you in contact with him if you PM me.
He is about to start building a second Toy Barn
further up on Cave Creek Road, approx. at
Lone Mountain Road. The current Toy Barn
is almost sold out!
My unit, which is 20 x 40 sq. ft., runs $115K.
I am adding an A/C, double epoxy floor, painted
walls & a steel mezzanine (so that I can add
almost 50% more 'space' since the ceilings
are extremely high). So that will add around
$24K more. It will accommodate around 4
large American cars or 6 smaller Porsches.
More if add you lifts. There is a common lounge
area where they hold parties once a month
during the 'season' - Oct to April. It has WiFi
& cable for TV, etc. HOA fees & taxes are
minimal.
Here is what a similar unit to mine looks like.
This was was sold just recently:
The Toy Barn was built around 2011 so it's a modern infrastructure.
Something like this in Northern California would have cost
me 3x or 4x more money!
And it's only 15 minutes away from my home in the Troon
area of North Scottsdale. I just take 'Dynamite' to 'Cave
Creek Road', make a right & it's the next turn on the right.
I know that car well that Patrick Long bought from Auto Kennel.....
the owner originally asked me to appraise the car for him and put the word out for him to our local Porsche Club. I did, and also helped answer questions from prospective buyers in a 3 state area. It did not sell and he then consigned it to Auto Kennel, where it sold quite quickly. For the sum of what I heard later, was the same amount I had appraised it at.
It was a one owner car with the wife having bought it new from the local dealership shortly before they were married. Nice couple who kept it very good form...... I was sad to see it leave our area.
The 914 I purchased last month finally arrived here in Scottsdale.
I had Intercity Lines pick it up at the seller's home in North Carolina
last Saturday & it was delivered today (Thursday).
It's a 1973 914 2.0. Vin # 4732905540. They say if you can't get
a '70/'71 914-6, this year (1973) & model (2.0) has to rank as the
next best model to have. And some think it's as good as a 914-6
due to the engine's lighter weight & similar performance!
But this car has one more characteristic that makes it very special to
me & the reason I bought it. Its exterior color is the very desirable,
and somewhat rare, 'Ravenna Green' - color code L65K! And most
of you Rennlisters know by now that I am into rare Porsche colors!
***
Since I am retired & have all the time in the world, and this 914
forum is not that active & in need of more content, I am going
to take my time & tell you via a circuitous route, how this day
came about & why I decided to buy this particular Porsche. So
bear with me, please!
****
My first Porsche was a 1968 912 Soft-Rear Targa that I bought
back in the summer of 1973 when the car was about 5 years old.
I didn't know it at the time but that Porsche would hook me into
a world that I have yet to leave! But I didn't know that then. I
was 22 years old, right out of Penn & into my first adult job after
graduation with GE. Until six months before I purchased my first
Porsche, I didn't even have a driver's license...although I had taken
Driver's Ed as a Senior in high school. I was a true 'City Slicker'
& far removed from the car culture that later has played such a
big role later in my life. I quickly crashed that 912, then went to
Paris & did other things related to my career. When I came back
to the US I got into international banking in NYC & didn't need
a car in that city. It was only after I was posted in Miami by
Bankers Trust in 1978 that I needed to think again about a car
...and bought a used 1970 911T coupe. The exterior was a little
ratty & I naively painted it 'Imron Red' because I thought that
was a cool thing to do! After all, planes were painted in Imron,
what could be better? I also tossed the original Porsche seats &
bought a set of colorful Recaros!
What was I thinking? In any case, I decided to move to California
in 1984 after my banking career back East. I sold the '70 911T &
became interested in a 1973 914 2.0 in 'Sunflower Yellow' that I
found in the classified ads of Panorama. It resided in Westchester
County & I remembered it as being quite expensive at around $8K.
The 914 seller needed the cash to buy a low mileage Concours'
1974 911 Carrera that I also knew well (it was a local NNJ PCA
car!), but considered to too expensive at the time!
The 914 2.0 was in pristine mostly original condition (it was also
only 11 years old at the time), so I bought it & then immediately
took it cross-country drive to the West Coast. Part of what captivated
me about the 914 was a desire to get back to an open roof car!
And the Porsche ads of the day highlighted that 'sunny' style, seen
here in a similar 'Sunflower Yellow' model in their advertisement:
All I remember about the cross-country trip in the 914 was how
hard the upgraded 'sport' suspension felt. Immediately upon
arriving in Los Angeles I found a local independent Porsche
shop to remove those hard springs & replaced them with the
stock 914 2.0 factory set up. The mechanic that did that work
for me was named Dave Bouzaglou. And the shop he had was
TRE Motorsports, which is still in business although at a new
location in the 'City of Angels'.
Today Dave is a fellow R Gruppe member who I frequently see at
our R Treffens. But he is also my oldest Porsche friend in the West
Coast dating back to that time! Perhaps he is now best known for
putting together the great 'Targa California' driving event each year:
And most of the time he is driving it in his heavily modified 914!
***
Soon after my arrival in Los Angeles, Dave told me about a Porsche
group that I had never heard before back East. It was called the
'Porsche Owners Club' & it had a history almost as long & distinguished
as the PCA! It was founded, similar to the Porsche Club of America,
in 1955. But it basically stayed local to the West Coast! This was
their original badge which is today a collectors' item:
In 1985 I spent quite a bit of time at POC events at Willow Springs &
Riverside International. Dave & some other POC drivers had an RV
which became the 'social center' of our racing weekend. I had great
times with these guys at these remote desert tracks all over Southern
California! And at one particular POC event at Riverside, I got a bit
over-confident & early apexed Turn 2 with my newly acquired 1973
914 2.0. That was 'not a good move', if any of you remember all
the turns at that historic raceway which is no longer in existence:
At first, I thought I brought it under control by getting back on the
track. But I couldn't hold it. And I went to the opposite side, finally
hitting the wall. It was a total loss! So less than a year into ownership
of this 914, I destroyed it. I then purchased a slightly used 1984 911SC
in 'Guards Red' which kept me comfortably in 'wheels' while I continued
living for a time at Marina del Rey on Tahiti Way before I moved up to
NorCal. Shortly after that I got into 944s...then into 356s. You can
follow the progression of cars that I have owned in my 'signature' below.
I honestly didn't start wanting to get back into a 914 until more recent
times. But this brief ownership in the 1980's, plus what I learned from
other talented 914 drivers I met along the way, made a great impact
on my thinking about Porsche cars...and continues to influence me to
this day! I'll come back to this theme in a future post.
***
Sadly this was the second Porsche I had totaled in 12 years, not the
most auspicious start to my long history of ownership in the marque.
I had lost the '68 912 just a month after I purchased it - a stupid
rookie mistake on a country road just outside Virginia Beach, VA.
And now another accident, this time on a track. But I wasn't
discouraged. I had enjoyed my brief ownership of the 914. The
thing I remembered the most was its great handling...and it's
ample & roomy cabin. Like the modern Porsche 718, it had two
luggage compartments. And it also made me a lifetime believer
in the mid-engine concept that Porsche later perfected with the
Boxster/Cayman platform, especially its Spyder versions in the
987 & 981 era & the gt4. I will return to the topic of handling
& what an impression the 914 made on me (and many other
Porsche enthusiasts) at the time! Hard to believe now, but
back in the late 1970's & early 1980's, the 914 nearly dominated
autocross & driving events in PCA/POC all across the United States!
The 'little' 914 left a potent memory on all of us that lived through
that period in Porsche history!
There is more to come. I will continue this personal '914 Story' in
a future post!
Saludos,
Eduardo
Scottsdale, AZ
Eduardo,
As always, thank you for your business. The 914 looks great and we look forward to helping you with any future moves.
When my dad was looking for his 914 back in 73, he had a color brochure for the car. I was 11 and had learned the word "Chartreuse" and saw the Ravenna Green color in the brochure. I told dad that he had to get the 914 in Ravenna Green. He agreed. But when he went to purchase the car, there were none available in the color. So he settled for the Saturn yellow. Oh well, we tried. I still think its one of the best color's EVER!!!!
Eduardo, very nice story--and some awesome cars. I appreciate your long term commitment, and your desire to chase and own some interesting cars, even if they are not true (high dollar) collector models.
I also appreciate your mention of Riverside. When I lived in Arizona I went to several races there, and while I was a flagger for SCCA I worked at the first--and second--last ever races there. Too bad subdivisions and shopping malls now cover that ground.
But reading your history is dangerous for me. I also had a series of 914's, from ratty to pristine, and then a PCA/SCCA race car. And since I also recently retired, I am feeling itchy for another.
The ratty 914 2.0 (looks pretty good but very rusty):
The pristine 2.0 (had to sell it before I started making it into a track car):
The race car (which I also wrecked on track, but with lots of help from a Miata):
Eduardo, I enjoyed reading your story about this 914. How close to Birch green is Ravenna green? I think it's a great color for the 914 shape, in addition to improving visibility for all those cell phone taking SUV drivers who might not see you otherwise.
09-09-2016, 03:28 AM
A 914 Story
