Carpokes Porsche Forum

G'day all and sundry 'classic Luftgekühlt car fans (not a reference to the business of that name, of course, but a generic ascription). I regularly peruse the CRAIGSLIST website to see what's available in terms of 914s being offered for sale and as one might expect, given the fact that too many 'younger' folks regard the 914 as an 'affordable' mule to modify and hop-up, a great many of them become available on said site for accordingly 'reasonable' asking prices. Most of these are far from any PCA rating of 3 and above, naturally, and I gather that many 914 people in this category are not rocket-scientists with PhDs (or corporate CEOs, looking for an expensive status-signaling toy to play aound with). [Yes that's a gross and somewhat dismissive generalisation, but permit me this one breech of good-neighborliness and just go with it for a moment, eh?]

At any rate, yesterday I noted a green 1974 up for grabs on the C-List that had a hugely amusing misspelling in its description (a good argument for always, ALWAYS proofing anything you've written before turning it loose on the etherwaves like a war pigeon in the trenches).

Below is the description, reprinted verbatim. See if you can find the misspelling! It is, by the way, hilariously appropriate to a certain extent, given the awful characteristics of the early Porsche 914 tail-shifter linkage. [Apologies in advance to our moderator if this somehow violates the CARPOKES proscriptions against anything less than squeaky-clean, Good Housekeeping Seal of Approval posts, but the item in reference is unintentionally FUNNY, and most of us all need a good laugh, every now and then!]

"Porsche 914 1.8 running driving car. has a few needs tires are out of date and have flat spots from storage. interior has been refreshed and i have a few thousand in receipts to get the car in good running condition. This is not a rust out nonrunner for 5k. nor is it a fully restored 40k this is a car you can drive . it needs shocks,paint is a 10 footer. These are the inexpensive air cooled Porsches to own and are increasing rapidly in value 1974 Porsche 1.8 it has the desirable side sh*t transmission 2dr Targa"

PS: Just between you and me, I will never get used to the habit too many people have of not punctuating properly or using all lower-case letters in their electronic communications. This is one of the results of cellular phone reliance, of course, since too many dash off abbreviated text messages without any qualms, but it bespeaks a young person (or perhaps what I call an 'arrested adolescent') who has never been properly schooled in English or literature, which is a genuine shame (Sic humano civilitatis gloria finit!).

Sadly enough, the overall presentation here is not the best way to sell a 914 that moderately serious money is being asked for, nor does the lack of any other images of the car with that ad encourage interest in it. Perhaps these chaps need a quickie 'marketing refresher course', also? [I wish that little green "entry-level Porsche" all the best; it certainly deserves better treatment!]

That was good. Also wholly agree on the lack of punctuation and lack of reasonably correct word and sentence structure. Marketing refresher course indeed.

Maybe the little green 914 finds a good home. It could use one - I'll keep it in my thoughts for a bit.

reading and decoding thumbspeak is the um sentence we deserve after investing so heavily in early education the nuns who staffed the grammar school there's an eventual misnomer if ever there was one were terrors when it came to writing and particularly sentence structure a few here might remember when those were important major universities often had published style guides that offered some very minor descriptions or clarification of rules that applied to papers submitted for consideration in my undergrad years i wrote papers for profit as i worked my way through the formative years and always scored great scores on them thanks to those early lessons from the sisters of corporal punishment i just don't know why we can't just write things the way we hear or speak them ourselves oh well nobody believed we would ever survive after listening to rock and roll and ditching piano lessons but somehow the world has allowed that i also payed good attention in history and now see that those who didn't are destined to repeat centuries of mistakes but its ok because there is nobody left to document it and besides nobody reads past the headlines anyway twelve thousand for 914 with a sh!t transmission sounds pretty steep i remember they were a lot cheaper than that when they were brand new these new generations just don't depreciate a good car any more oh well period

dr bob wrote: Mon Apr 28, 2025 2:20 pm reading and decoding thumbspeak is the um sentence we deserve after investing so heavily in early education...

"Thumbspeak"...I love it. That's a new one on me but so very appropriate, after watching some of the youthful cellphone messagers massage the virtual keyboards on their pricey iPhones (especially the latest ones with 32 different specialised camera lenses)! I guess one could observe that "...that's REALLY thaying thumbthing!" As Bill-the-Cat would adroitly put it, "Urrrrrk!"

PS, Dr. Bob: I am the Moloka'i Yacht Club's former Commodore Pro Tem and in Kaunakaka'i, when we make misbehaving members walk the plank, it's always a Max Planck over a yawning sea of entropy, swarming with hungry Quarks... Um, jest sayin, theoretically speaking. Shivers me timbres, matey! Here's a picture of Max in his 914 on the Kaunakaka'i MYC Landing...