After buying a 914 in pieces on eBay it took quite a while to get it all together and working. It was, however, a rewarding process and I ended up with a new-to-me, freshly painted yellow 1972 914. A beauty! But with a young family, and having no one else besides my father really interested in the car, it ended up having a lonely life sitting in the garage, rarely being taken out. So the idea had taken shape to sell the car, although parting with it was not the most compelling idea.
Luckily, I found out that SIG 914 was celebrating the 50th anniversary of the 914 with parade laps at the 2019 Can-Am Club Race at Mosport, so I decided to join PCA UCR. Suddenly, things took a whole new turn, and I was not just going to the event, but my car would take the honour of representing the first-ever pace car in an F1 race in 1973 on the same track with a similar 914.
What made this experience so very memorable was not just the fact that my father and I were recreating history, getting to drive on a race track for the first time in a car that was becoming more and more a part of me, but also that we were welcomed with open arms into the 914 family. </>
By Tim Van Rooij
Own a 914? Join the UCR SIG. Contact John Tipper at sig914@pcaucr.org
