My first post on this fine forum. My name is Menno. And I live in the Netherlands, sort of eastern part. Or: 275 mls NW from Stuttgart. I'm closer to 60 than 50, married with two sons. My current classics are a TR3A, a Saab 96. My DD is BMW 320D and a VW Up. Hobbies apart from cars? Sailing and working in the garden with petrol driven equipment (large & loud!)
I was pointed towards this forum by members of two other forums: the TR-Register and TZ-UK, a watch related forum. (I even spotted some familiar names!).
For years, I've been busy driving British and Swedish classics: Triumphs and Saabs. I've restored my TR between 2004 and 2009 and since then, I've bought one-owner 1971 Saab 96 in Sweden. Sort of lottery ticket: the car only did 55K kms since new!
Can it be possible to hit the jackpot once again? Well perhaps!
For a while now, I've been thinking along the line of 'And Now, Something Completely Different' - in short: a Porsche. Partly because it's something completely different (for me), on the other hand, I always liked the over-engineered approach of Porsche! And I have a weak spot for the 914! I remember sitting the back of my father's car watching the Dutch Motorway Police in their 356/911s and from the mid 60s the 914!
It was my wife who told me to start looking for a Porsche. "You've been talking about it for ages now. It's time you get out there and try to find one." So I started my search on the TR-Register forum: I knew about a member there who's into Porsches as well and I asked him for advise about the 914. HIs reply was remarkable: "Why ask me? You guys in Holland have Arno Wienands! He knows everything about 914s." So I googled him. Guess what, he lives only 20mins south of my address! I contacted him and went to see his place.
When I walked in, he pointed me towards a silver grey 1973 2.0 914. As said, can it be possible to hit the jackpot twice? Remember, it's the first 914 I checked out. The car had been layed up for 17 years! Back then the D-Jetronic broke down and the (first!) owner put the car away to have it fixed on a later date. He put the car away with the intention the reuse it! All joints were greased, the engine completely filled with oil and the car was stored in a dry and heated storage! In short: a time capsule. To-tal-ly original. And I was the first person to spot the car. Again: a first owner since new, all original Dutch car, 17 yrs in storage. Isn't there anthing wrong with it? Well, before it was stored, the car was resprayed. Not the best job, tbh. But not too bad, no flakes etc. Just not so nice - but perhaps my standard is too high(?).
Arno's shop houses a 914 Emporium! I think that he has every part for 914 in store! And only 20mins from my house. Unknown for a man who had to search the internet high and low for his TR's parts!
We agreed that Arno will bring the car back to life and that he'll be sure that the car will pass the APK, (Dutch MoT). I told him only to be interested in a structurally sound car, with no or very little welding (my welding skills are more or less comparable with frying an egg...).
Arno is currently bringing it back to life. He found only two pinhole-sized holes. Reason for this is the fact that the owner ordered a full anti-rust protection when he bought the car: all cavities are filled with the oily/waxy substance from Dinitrol.
Some pics to illustrate this story:
Current stable of classics:
Menno
