I thought I should put a post up as I have been lurking for a while reading all of the great work being done.
I have been a car fan (some might say addict) for a very long time. For the last 20 years, I have pretty much exclusively owned German cars. Porsches have always interested me, and 914 have been high on my list of desirable cars. 6 years ago I bought a Porsche 964 (back when they were just about affordable) , which I used as my daily driver for couple of years (not as expensive to run as you might imagine), but a change of job led to a long commute, so a modern car was bought and the 964 became a weekend car. 18 months ago I took it off the road for a six month tidy up, which I have just about finished
I like having a car other than the modern to run around in at the weekends, and thought about a 914 at that point. But I thought having two air cooled Porsches which might need attention at the same time would be a little much to cope with, so bought a 944 instead.
In autumn 2014, I started thinking about 914 again. I never seem to do things the easy way, so I started researching the possibility of importing one from the USA. I corresponded with lots of people, some seemed genuine, some less so. But I then found one on eBay which ticked a few boxes. I wanted a project, but not a basket case. I asked the owner lots of questions, and received some very honest responses. I sorted the shipping quotes and realised importing was feasible. I then got cold feet and decided not to buy the car. The bidding was to end on 30th November 2015 at around 2am. On 29th November I went to a 40th Birthday party, had a few drinks, felt relaxed, and on the way home, put a bid in. I was delighted to win it!
So, the following week I arranged shipping, transferred the money, and started planning for when the 914 would arrive. Shipping took a very loooooooooooooooooooong time, with various delays meaning the car didn't arrive until last week.
Okay, before you fall asleep, here are a couple of photos
As you can see, the car is sprayed Olympic blue. I knew before the car got here that this was not the original colour, as it should be silver metallic. It is a pretty poor paint job, with some of it flaking off.
Putting aside the paint job for a moment, I was more interested in finding out the condition of the rest of the car. I am fortunate in that I have some space in a workshop where I work on my cars, and I get occasional access to a 2 poster ramp (but I generally end up scrabbling around on the floor). I haven't had much time to have a look around the car as I am in the last knocking of finishing my 964, but I did get 30 mins on the ramp. The underside of the car is much, much better than I dared hope for!! There are two very small repairs required to the floor pan.
I had asked the seller to send me pictures of the battery tray before I bought the car. It is corroded, but the good news is it is limited to the tray, support and panel behind the battery, the hell hole is fine. I also popped the sill covers off - and was very pleased with what I found
Elsewhere on the car the interior is dirty, seats are complete, I have what appears to be a full set of carpets, I am missing the drivers door card.
Progress for the next few weeks will be slow. I have been working in every spare moment of my free time to get the 964 finished. I need to recover some cash, tidy up my work space, remind friends and family what I look like, take a holiday (Le Man 24 hour - have I mentioned car addiction?!!) and work out the sequence I want to attack the car.
I am a project manager by trade, so you might expect me to prepare a schedule. Well, I don't bring my work home, and I work on cars to relax, so I won't do too much planning at the moment. I am looking to get the 914 functioning again, aiming for mechanical reliability (I will be taking the engine out as I am unsure of its condition), structural rigidity (the welding will be done soonish), a rebuild of the key aspects, particularly brakes and suspension, and then use it with its rough paint until such time I can afford a respray back to its original colour. In the mean time, Olympic blue is similar (in my head anyway) to gulf blue, so don't be surprised if a bit of orange and some gulf stickers appear - I know this won't win me any concours points, and I hope this won't upset the purists
.I would like to tell you I have the skills and work rate to match Darren's restoration. Alas you will have to be patient, and I will be looking for lots of advice.
Well, I hope that wasn't too rambling an introduction......
Look forward to seeing how the project unfolds 
