My girlfriend (now my wife) and I purchased her from a fellow VW enthusiast. Originally a 1.7L, it now held a rebuilt 2.0L D-jetronic powerplant. It wasn't in the greatest of shape but the interior was in very nice condition and the body would provide me with some simple welding/bodywork experience (or so I fool myself to believe). I really missed my first 914 so for $1000 this was too good of a deal to pass up. My girlfriend said she'd help pay for half (so it is half hers...even though she can't operate a manual tranny at this time) as long as I could work on it.

Secure in my garage, here's how she looked when we bought her (used a crappy cheap camera on some, sorry):
The front hood does close, it's just open in this picture.


The rear trunk hinges are broken so there's a welding task I'm gonna have to do after I drop the engine.










Gonna need to fix my bumper :-(

And some rot I'll need to weld up. I found it while removing the bubbling paint. Painted it with etching primer until I can fix it.

There's rotting metal in the "hell hole" and about the engine console area. I'm sure the longs will be rusty as well. The engine leaks oil quite badly and the heat exchangers are very rusty and full of holes. The tranny has worn 1st and 2nd gear synchros. The clutch is fairly new and the fuel injection system seems to work good enough to allow the car to drive. It was hit in the front right fender and cheaply straightened so the targa top doesn't fit right...that'll need re-straightening!

Yes, plenty of work to do...