This year saw the 25th anniversary of the Porsche Boxster – yes, you read that right; hard to believe, isn’t it? And it’s the mid-engined Boxster, now fast approaching classic status itself, together with the Cayenne SUV, which was largely responsible for making Porsche the ultra-profitable high-end manufacturer it is today, after looking at an uncertain future in the mid-1990’s.
This wasn’t the first time the Stuttgart company had been in need of a boost – the picture was similar back in the late 1960’s and early 1970’s. Then, Porsche looked to Volkswagen – themselves searching for a way to replace the ageing Karmann Ghia – for help in reducing its reliance on the 911. One of the fruits of this co-operation was the front-engined 924, currently the cheapest way into classic Porsche ownership, and a car that sold well through various iterations, eventually morphing into the 944.
The first collaborative attempt was not quite as successful, though with over 118,000 sold, hardly a failure, and in recent years has become more and more sought after, with prices rising consistently to the point where this might be the last time a good example of one of these cars is likely to come in within our theoretical £20,000 budget, and to be honest, I’m stretching it a bit this time.
That car is the Porsche 914, or as some are badged, the VW-Porsche 914, and a direct precursor of the Boxster, in more ways than one, sharing both its mid-engined layout and push me-pull you styling, though the newer car is somewhat softer than the uncompromisingly square-edged 914. The 914 was also the first genuinely mass-produced sports car with its engine behind the rear seats.
We’ve written about the 914 at length before, not least when we celebrated its 50th anniversary last year, so I won’t go into too much background detail here. Suffice to say that when the 914 was first introduced as a replacement for the then entry-level 912, the reception it received was mixed. It earned high praise for its handling and general road manners, and for its performance in 2.0-litre form. The smaller 1.7-litre was considered a bit lacking in the gusto department, but the main criticism was aimed at the car’s styling. It’s fair to say that this small sports car is not a beauty, lacking any smooth sweeping lines, no long bonnet (for obvious reasons) and a shape that makes it difficult in profile to tell which is the front of the car and which is the rear.
And yet…I really like the 914, and it seems I’m not alone, as good cars that fetched £12-15,000 five years ago are now in the £20-30,000 bracket, and the ultra-rare 914-6 can change hands for £80,000 and more, classic 911 territory. It’s a pure two-seater, of course, but has two small luggage compartment and an easily removeable and stowable targa top, adding to its appeal, and it’s also the cheapest air-cooled Porsche now available.
Indeed, it’s the inexorable rise in 911 prices that has led to the increase in 914 values, and this week’s Prime Find is a good example of a 914 that will surely represent a sound investment as well as providing years of driving pleasure, and it’s in a great colour 😊.
It’s a 1974 car that was first sold to a buyer in the US, where it lived for 22 years before being imported into the UK. From 2008 onwards, the then-owner put the car through an extensive restoration process, including a bare-metal respray in its original Sunflower Yellow, a new black interior as well as rewiring and upgrading the smart period-correct alloys.
The car comes with a comprehensive history file that includes photos of the restoration, as well as all manner of invoices for other work, plus copies of magazines featuring this car.
As it’s a US market car, it does have the slightly heavy market-regulation bumpers, and there is an unnecessary black rubber spoiler on the boot, visual aspects of the car that could be changed fairly easily, especially the spoiler which does what its name implies, and is certainly not original. Even so, the car looks terrific, the yellow and black colour scheme suiting its uncompromising styling perfectly.
The engine has been bored out to 2-litres, so it, too, is no longer original, which may in part account for the relatively low price for a car with such an extensive and documented restoration. Nevertheless, if it matches the original 2.0 car, it should be able to push it to a top speed of 118mph/190kmh, which would seem even quicker when your backside is only a few inches off the ground.
The paintwork still looks to be very good, indeed the whole car seems to be in fine fettle. It goes under the hammer with Silverstone Auctions at their NEC Classic sale next weekend, and the auctioneers have assigned an estimate range of £18,000 to £22,000, which if the car lives up to its billing, seems pretty reasonable – I’ll have a chance to see for myself when I attend the show. You can see the full lot entry here, and as usual we recommend arranging prior inspection before bidding if possible.
With our Saturday instalment of Prime Find of the Week, we’re offering our services to the classic car community, by passing on our favourite classic car for sale from the week that passed. This top-tip might help a first-time-buyer to own his first classic, or it could even be the perfect motivation for a multiple-classic-car-owner to expand his garage with something different. We’ll let us be inspired by anything from a cheap project to a stunning concours exotic, and hope that you will do the same.
Just remember – Any Classic is Better than No Classic! We obviously invite our readers to help prospective buyers with your views and maybe even experiences of any given model we feature. Further to that, if you stumble across a classic which you feel we ought to feature as Prime Find of the Week, then please send us a link to primefindoftheweek@viaretro.co.uk