There was a lot of DIY involved with those vehicles, for one you could and for another you had to, lol. Another friend had one of those 914 Porsches with the VW air-cooled four. Great car, like a go-kart, felt a lot faster than it really was, it was a blast. The persistent problem with those was a cable in the shift linkage fraying on some portion of the underbody. A spare cable and the tools to replace it were kept in the vehicle at all times.
Back in the early 70's, a high school buddy of mine had just gotten out of the Army, having been stationed in Germany. When he came back stateside, he had his new mid-engine Porsch shipped over too. He drove it cross country to visit me in New Mexico where I was still in the Air Force. He took me for a couple of rides, showing off his new toy. We noticed it seemed to cut out a little every once in a while. He said he's get it checked out when he got to Phoenix, his final destination.
Well, several months later, I get a call from him. He tells me his car is destroyed and he's being sued because he blew up a gas station just outside of Phoenix, with it. He was taking a nurse he had met on a weekend date to San Diego. They pulled into the Flying Eagle gas station in Buckeye, Arizona to gas-up for the trip. Just as they pulled into the station, the Porsche started cutting out again and was lurching forward. He and his date jumped out of the car just as it ran into one of the gas pumps, blowing the pump and the car sky high. The flames spread to the station itself and burned it to the ground while they and the attendant watched. The station owner sued him but his insurance company representing him, won the case because the gas station owner didn't have a fire extinguisher on site when the accident happened.
I have never heard a more spectacular story about a mid-engine Porshe than this one. We still laugh about it on the phone once in a while 40 years later.