Porsche 914 Buyer’s Guide

One of the most common issues many people face when it comes to Porsche 914’s is finding the right one for you! Here at Martin Mid-Engine, we have seen every little option a 914 could have, so we will take you down the road and tell you a few things to look out for so that you don’t end up taking an unwanted trip to see us with your new purchase!

As we’ve discussed previously, the Porsche 914 is a fun and competent mid-engine vintage sports car that remains fairly budget-friendly for anyone looking to enter the niche. But there are many options over the seven-year production run, including 4 and 6 cylinder engine combos, GT and base models. So let’s dive right in! 

Buy The Best Car You Can Afford

This seems obvious, but when it comes to 914’s it is crucial to find the nicest car that you can afford because in today’s world it is cheaper to spend a few more grand up front on a driver ready car than to find that “been sitting for 25 years barn find” that you’ll spend three times as much in parts and repairs for the same product. The question is, what are you looking for?

#1 - Rust Is The Death Of Most 914’s

A cool fact about Porsche is that almost all 911’s and Boxsters are equipped with galvanized bodies that have saved most of those from dealing with rust; however, that technology came a little late for the 914. With the main construction of the 914 coming from Karmann Coachworks, the cars were never really engineered to drain and shed water all that well. Combine that with over 50 years of weather, and some can have serious rust issues. 

So if you are looking at a 914 that needs interior re-upholstered or a new engine against one that is very rusty, be sure to choose the former option.

#2 - Volkswagen Power!

All of the possible 4 cylinder 914 engines made appearances in other Volkswagens. These non-914 VW engines lacked some of the performance parts that were made specifically for the little speedster, but bus owners would often pull the higher-performance heads to be able to pull hills or merge into traffic a little easier. The inverse of this is also true; guys would often pull bus engines out of junkyards after they blow up the numbers-matching motor. You can tell if this has been done with serial numbers or carburetors instead of fuel injection. But if yours is one of these, don’t worry, many race engines have been built from bus engines! 

#3 - Check The Numbers

That leads us into our next pointer to look at, and that is what many car collectors are already aware of, which is a numbers-matching sports car. 

Given the fact that these are entry-level sports cars, many of these were ridden hard and put away wet, or wrecked even. So, for over the past 50 years, many cars could have had exterior parts swapped from other cars, or two cars could turn into one. And unfortunately, like many other cars, this does hurt the value of them. If you care about having a numbers-matching car for the investment side of it, check for the serial number on the passenger side of the “frunk”, lower left corner of the windshield frame, and the passenger side front fender, and assuming it hasn’t been repainted or scraped off, a sticker on the door jamb.  

Patience For The Right One And Right Price

Looking for a Porsche 914 is not the hardest car to find when it comes to sports cars; with over 116,000 of them built, you don’t need to be in a hurry or overspend on one. You can find very nice restored examples of 914 and 914/6 cars for under $35,000, while driver cars can be found for less than $15,000 and cheaper. If you look in the sub $5,000 range, you need to look the car over with a microscope, and oftentimes will have issues that need to be addressed before it is street worthy.  

Visit Our Porsche 914 Shop — Just Over an Hour from Salem

Martin Mid Engine
📍 25858 S Elwood Rd, Colton, OR 97017
📞 (insert phone number)
🕘 Mon–Fri, 9am–5pm

Just northeast of Salem via OR-214 through Silverton. If you're serious about fixing building the perfect 914, we are the shop for you!