Looking for a Project Car! Porsche 914?

PMB Performance's shop 914-6 flared racecar (Salt Lake City, Utah) 

 
Welcome to 2026! I've been doing this blog for 18 years.  My first post from this Hechtspeed blog was in May of 2007. Yikes! It's been a really fun blog to keep all these years. Its just a journal of my car hobby and you can see, I'm all over the place. I think that makes it fun! It's been over a year since my last post in December of 2024. I still have the 2008 Mustang GT. It's "winter" so its rocking the winter wheels and tires right now. It's fine, I don't love the look. I can't wait for warmer weather to put the 19s back on it. 

Photo taken at the Nov 1 Sandy Mall Cars-n-Coffee

The Mustang has been "done" for almost 2 years now. I'm enjoying it. It's a great car. It's the nicest car I've owned so far (not including my wife's new Honda family cars). Sure, I could put more money into the Mustang. The thing is, I already have $23k into it and its maybe worth like $15k (if that, honestly). Its an 18 year old Mustang GT with 138k miles. Its nothing special. You can find stock Mustangs from 2005-09 for under $10k. I just turned 48, 3 of my 4 kids have moved out and my youngest is 16 and driving, working and hanging out. So, I have more time on my hands and have been working on saving some "fun money" for something. I'm bored! I'm looking for something fun to do with my extra time.

I'll walk you through where my head is at lately. There are lots of cool things I could work towards as far as my car hobby goes. Here's some of those ideas in no particular order:

1. Keep building the Mustang (ideas such as: Coyote swap, supercharge the 3V 4.6L, gut it and make it more racecar, change up the wheels and get some expensive, really cool wheels (like $2500-$4000) like, Volk TE37s, Apex forged 18x11s, etc.

Pros: Scratches the project car itch, means the Mustang can stay parked in the garage year round. Make the Mustang even cooler. Cool wheels are the most viable option here, and cheaper than a 5.0L swap or Supercharger.

Cons: Engine swap is scary, will mean the car is not operational for some amount of time, might mean it can't pass emissions. Supercharger makes the car more nose heavy, even more powerful and thus even less useable on the street, its already pretty fast for city speed limits. 

2. Keep saving (probably at least another 5 years of saving and not touching the Mustang) and get a Factory Five Racing kit (Daytona Coupe MK3, Shelby Cobra MK5 (lots of leg room now)

Pros: This would result in the coolest future car to own in the future. Assembling a FFR kit is just sounds so insanely cool. It's the ultimate obtainable dream.

Cons: This option takes the most patience (many years away, so what do I do between now and then) and the most money! ($25k+ for the kit, plus a donor car, or buying new/used drivetrain parts separately) It requires the most space (you have to put the fiberglass body somewhere while you are building up the frame. Many boxes of parts needing to be stored somewhere. You need to store the Mustang donor car somewhere until you have a shell and either sell it or take it to the dump.

3. Get a "cheap" project car, something that's not likely driving but could be fixed up to get it on the road for not too much money.

Pros: Cheapest option to get another car, to get me a project that doesn't take the Mustang out of commission. Will provide the most satisfaction (taking a non running/driving car and get it driving). Let's me build up the car over time as I have money and time. Provides a chance to have "the hunt" for the perfect project car. Once its to a good driving condition, could potentially be sold for a small profit to keep funding the next project (maybe? is that wishful thinking? stars would have to align).

Cons: Means the Mustang has to park outside (Dad says just get a nice car cover for it). Could mean the repairs end up more expensive than I thought or planned or have budget for. Could end up selling it for a loss (but the idea is to by a cheap project so the costs are low and thus the financial risks are low. Not zero, but lot you know).

So, with Option #3 here, a cheap project car, let's talk about what cars sound interesting to me:

Aircooled VW Bug/Squareback/Karman Ghia, Porsche 914, old Ford or Chevy truck from the 40s-80s, MGs, Jensen Healey's, Fiats, Japanese cars (old Corollas, Celicas, Datsun 510s, 240Zs, Civics), old Volvo 242, old Ford muscle cars (Falcons/Mustangs/Cougars/Mavericks/Pintos) and so on. That's a lot of options and there's even more than that (like old VW Jetta/Rabbit/GTi). In this large group of options, there's a lot of different types of cars too, cruisers, trucks, hot rods, commuter cars, etc. 

Whoa! That's a lot!

Yesterday, Corey and I actually drove across town 10 minutes away and looked at a 1965 Ford Ranchero with 289 V8 for sale for only $3000. It had been posted Saturday evening and I ended up messaging the guy around midnight. Here is a picture I took as we walked away with the "Thanks for your time, I'll think about it" farewell. It's definitely worth the $3k asking price, it runs but doesn't drive. But, the work involved, according to the seller, sounds pretty simple to get it to be a running and driving car (trans not hooked up-they tried swapping from floor shift to column shift and bought wrong column, water pump). Peeking underneath and around the windshield and in the interior, the rust repairs needed eventually are the hold up for me. Which will be a normal discovery with any of these projects I'm looking to buy, I know. It looks really good from a distance eh? Cool cars! I dig the GT wheels too.

For the rest of this post, I'm going to explore the Porsche 914 idea for Project option #3. Why the 914? The 914 is a cool sports car that is budget friendly (relatively speaking obviously, compared to some other options). It's a Porsche! But also, its not fully a Porsche. So, sort of best of both worlds when you're on a budget. My dad had one as well, which gives me some really cool history with it. I really like aircooled Vdub Bugs, Karman Ghias and Type 3s (Squareback, Fastback, Notchback, Type 34 Ghia) and the 914 is the peak of the aircooled VWs. I love that there is a wide body racecar version of the 914! It has real racecar cred'! Another point is I already have a V8 muscle car! I like variety! After building my Mustang into a pretty decent track prepared street car, but only having gone to the track once, I've learned that I'm not a committed track driver guy. I like the idea of it! At this point, I'm not ready to commit to the track life. When it comes down to it, I want to tinker, I want a project, I want something that I can get running and make it look really cool. I am interested in joining up with like minded people. If I got a 914, I would be part of the Porsche world, albeit on the bottom of the todem pole, which I wouldn't mind at all. I think I would enjoy the sports car enthusiast culture that the Porsche world brings. 

Let's get into my 914 history. I'm surprised I've never really dug into my dad's 914. It looks like I posted one picture years ago of his car in my blog. My dad owned a 1975 (or was it a 1976? memory is fading...) Porsche 914 with the 1.8L (technically 1795cc). A quick search tells us that there was the "1.8L" 76-84hp option(depending on the market, which we know the USDM got the lower hp rating) or a "2.0" 88-95hp option. I interviewed my dad about a year ago to write a life history. Below is the info I got from him about the car (I got basic story and info on each car he's owned), plus some additional details after talking to him on the phone tonight.

1975 Porsche 914: Bought in 1993 for his 40th birthday (35 mpg with a/c on). This was a car he wanted since they were new in the early 70s. He commuted in it 100 miles per day to Edwards AFB and back. On a hot summer day, Rodger picked at a paint chip and it quickly escalated to a full repaint in the garage in the same Copper Metallic (L99K) color (reading a BaT post of a Copper car for sale, it says this was a 1975 only color). The engine was out of the car about 5-6 times as well during a rebuild with fresh cylinder head work and a new camshaft (first cam wasn’t right). Engine parts were bought from a small VW shop in Tehachapi called “Mark Stephens High Performance”. I ended up working there for 2 weeks during the summer but they weren’t busy enough to keep me employed. It was a killer cornering car that drove like a go kart. The only downer about the car was the transmission needed a rebuild as it had difficulty shifting into a couple of the gears. It had a 4 tip “Pacesetter” exhaust that sounded nice and gave it a deeper tone. Dad says it was too loud and droned going up the hill on the way home from work, the one thing that was annoying with the car.

I'm looking at this pic of dad sitting in his 914 and I'm now a few years older than my dad when this photo was taken. Yikes! Time flies eh! Here's some recollections I have on the car. In 1993 when dad bought the 914, he had been driving a 1990 Geo Metro xFI hyper commuter car. He was commuting 100 miles per day 5 days a week. In like 3+ years, the Geo had over 100k miles on it. He was bored of driving the Geo and wanted something more fun and had always wanted a 914. After his mission, dad and mom had broken up temporarily and he said "screw it" and went to buy a new red 914, but was going to need to have his mom sign with him on the loan. For some reason it didn't work out at that time in the mid 70s but 20 years later he made it happen. He paid around $3000 for this copper one. It was in town in Tehachapi. He continued commuting to Edwards AFB in the 914. It had an a/c system installed and with that small interior compartment, it was ice cold for those Mojave desert commutes! Dad added a bumpsteer kit to correct the geometry when lowering it. It had ride height adjustability in the front and he had lowered it a little. The brakes were meh, but the car being so nimble and light (under 2100 lbs) it didn't need much brake. Dad started running into an issue with having to adjust a lifter too often. One day when trying to adjust the lifter again,  a valve seat fell out and the piston was running into the valve. That's when the can of worms opened up as they say and the "while I'm in there" situation unfolded. Dad had the heads reworked with the trademark Mark Stephens valve seat mod, along with bigger pistons/cylinders to get the displacement up to about 1900ccs. He also put a cam in it. The cam must have been defective or too big because it broke the end of a valve twice (which meant the engine had to be pulled out several times. So in went a smaller cam. and all was well for the rest of his ownership. He chose a hydraulic cam because adjusting lifters was a pain.

I was 15 years old when he bought it. I soon got my permit. This 914 was the second manual car I ever drove. I still remember the first time I ever drove it. My dad and I were driving home from Bakersfield right as the sun was going down. He pulled off the 58 freeway out near the orange groves and parked the car and said, "Ok, you're turn to drive it". It was a really cool experience! The synchros were toast so shifting into 2nd and 3rd gear were slow and annoying. I also remember the e-brake didn't work that good. If the car was parked on the driveway, which had a slant, and you went to put the clutch in an start it, it would start rolling down the driveway. So, you had to do this heel-toe dance to keep a corner of your foot on the brake, but blip the throttle to help it start up and stay running for a second. Well, one day I was taking the car somewhere and we had a family friend with his truck parked behind the 914. It was a little to the side and I thought I would have room, but when I started it, I got distracted by this heel-toe start up sequence and it rolled back ever so slightly and bumped into the truck and cracked the passenger side taillight. Well, that taillight is a Porsche part wouldn't you know it. That was like $150 back in 1996 or so. Oof! Sorry pops! Don't worry, with 4 boys, Karma has paid we back just fine! haha

I remember feeling so cool when I would drive the 914 around town or to the high school. While its known as the "Poor Man's Porsche", its still a Porsche and a very cool looking sports car! That with the nice sounding exhaust and targa top removed and stored in the truck, that's one cool machine!

One final memory of the 914. I remember riding shotgun with dad up and over the hill from Brights Lake to Stallion Springs. There is a nice winding mountain road (Touge! or Die Alpenstraße if you're german! haha). Dad starting taking the corners hard and at one point, we were 4 wheel drifting the 914. It was scary and thrilling and I was impressed with dad's racecar driving skills! I was hooked!

Beautiful restomod 914-4 by PMB Performance in Salt Lake City

One of the beneficial attributes of the 914 being the "Poor Man's Porsche" is it does make it affordable to the everyman like me. Really nice examples with the factory VW Type 4 1.8 or 2.0L engines can be had for around $15k-20k. So, this makes picking up a project car somewhere in the $5k range, give or take, depending on condition.

My Pantera buddy, turned Porsche buddy Corey and I have been talking 914s. His idea is to do an LS V8 swap or a Porsche flat 6 swap, like a 3.4L water cooled flat 6 engine from a Boxster (which is mid engine too), with either option using a Boxster transaxle. While that sounds amazing, the swap idea is not something I'd be doing anytime soon. My thought is to get a 914-4 and just get it running and driving as is with the 4 cylinder. I think a modified 2.0L with dual carbs making about 100-130hp would be plenty of fun in a car that weighs 2000 lbs. I would want to do the metal box fender flares, which can be bought in steel for about $1000 from PMB Performance (no, PMB is not sponsoring this blog, but they should eh?! ha)

Another clean 914 spotted at the PMB Performance Cars-n-Coffee in November 2025

The 914 still has pretty good support for replacement panels and parts. I think it being a Porsche sports car has helped keep the aftermarket alive through all these years. There were 119k total 914s made from 1969-1976 world wide and they were raced as well, which always helps a car live on after its production is ended. 

The box flared flares are a big draw for me. I love the factory "narrow body" lines for sure, but I'm a huge fan of wider is better with wheels and tires for that aggressive "bulldog" look. So, if I picked up a 914 project, I would plan to do flares at some point. Just look at this thing!

Gorgeous 914-6 with box flares at PMB Performance event

I've been watching the local Facebook Marketplace here in the Salt Lake City area for a long time. There are certainly 914s which come up for sale, but not many. So, the pickins' are slim as they say. Right now, there is this red 1976 914-4 project for sale down in Pleasant Grove (about an hour from home). It looks mostly all there, looks to have a mostly straight body, but its not running and likely has rust in the usual areas. But, what are you going to do, any 50 year old car is going to be similar. This one is for sale for $3000.

His ad says "Definitely a project." haha You got that right. I've sent a message enquiring for more photos of the engine bay and floors to try and get an idea of its condition. It's been listed for about a month you can see as well. It would be sweet if I could pick this up for $3000 or even less and get it running with minimal investment.