By Steve Turcotte. Republished with permission from the January 2016 issue of Fourteener Motoring Magazine.

I read a story not long ago that categorized sibling personalities by their birth order. Which would be the most outgoing, or have the best sense of humor, or sense of entitlement, all determined by if you were the oldest, youngest or middle child.

It led me to wonder how to categorize 914 owners and how many different categories there might be. Here is what I came up with:

The Pros: You know this group. If not, keep your car long enough, and you will. These are the professional mechanics. A diverse group who make a living keeping our little history bombs roadworthy.  I worked as a mechanic in my younger years, and know how hard it can be to get motivated to dig into someone else’s problems.

The Concours Weenie: Whenever you get a group of collector car owners together, you’ll find the Concours Weenie. These are the people who will willingly subject themselves to hundreds of hours of cleaning their cars, well past the point of obsession, all to win some judge’s favor. I assume all Concours Weenies are compulsively clean…and neat…and organized. My wife will confirm that I will never be mistaken for a Concours Weenie.

The Original Owners: This may be the rarest breed of 914 owners. Those that purchased their 914 new from the dealer, and have held onto it for 40 to 45 years. I have shirts that old, but nothing mechanical has survived my possession for even a quarter of that time. I would like to believe that these owners had the foresight to see how these unique cars would appreciate in value. But, it’s more likely they are closet hoarders and still have everything they owned from 45 years ago.

The Vendors: Where would we be without the Vendors? Some of the best are doing this as a side business, while maintaining a real full time job. I find that amazing. I can barely carve out time to mow the lawn, and some people have built a whole business in their spare time. The quality of the products, the inventiveness of the Vendors, and the legacy of vehicles still on the road as a result of their efforts, cannot be diminished. 

The Daily Drivers: It takes a hearty soul to use a 40 year old car as a daily driver. I would liken it to dating a beautiful girl. It’s great, and you get a lot of attention, but you know it’s not going to end well. The best days are wonderful – the top off, engine revving, the smell of outside. The other days – wet clothes and interior from leaking roof and windows, the heater doesn’t work, or sweaty shirts because there is no air conditioner. I’m guessing there are a total of 10 folks daily driving a 914.

The Fair Weather Driver: My guess is that most 914 owners fall into this category. They don’t have to drive the car….ever. So they only take it out when the conditions are ideal. The mileage and the maintenance are minimal, and so are the headaches. You may not know all the systems intimately, but you know enough to be dangerous. The Fair Weather Driver prefers a very well sorted 914, but they will dig in when needed . . . that’s what keeps the pro’s in business.

The Jack Stand Owners: On second thought, this may be the largest group. They are currently fixing something, or have been fixing something for a dozen years or more. Some are doing full blown restorations, and some are just trying to get the damn thing to work like it’s supposed to. For any number of reasons, the car is rarely, if ever, driven . . . money, time, parts, motivation, or all of the above prevent this owner from being able to get the car road worthy.

The Modifiers: This is the group of owners that can’t leave well enough alone. Call them tinkerers, or itchy brains. But whether it is an engine rebuild, or a 6, 8 or suby conversion, really nothing is off limits. The cars are faster, look cooler, are more reliable, and seem like what the factory would have built, eventually. All Modifiers have replaced the stock stereo.

The Racers: A small, dedicated group of owners that create purpose-built race cars… and race them! Given the platform, they are typically successful race cars. A racer is gonna race, and better they do it on the track, where they keep the 914’s racing heritage alive and thriving.

So there you have it, a quick list of the types of 914 owners. But are there more? Maybe a group for original 914/6 owners, or the Historians. The reality is there are as many types of owners, as there are owners in general, and we have more in common than just the car we obsess over.