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914World.com _ 914World Garage _ 1991 Audi Spider concept

Posted by: Mike Bellis Sep 27 2014, 09:18 AM

The concept was conceived by Ferdinand Piech while at Audi. Several rumors state that Porsche had investigated using this platform with a flat 6 since the 928 V8 was too big. Ultimately Porsche asked him (Audi) not to produce the car due to fears it would put Porsche out of business. Porsche was not doing very well in the early 1990's.

The really cool part? It uses Porsche 914 door handles!

Posted by: FourBlades Sep 27 2014, 09:52 AM

That is a nice looking car!

John

Posted by: Dave_Darling Sep 27 2014, 10:30 AM

I see echoes of the R8 in there...

--DD

Posted by: ThePaintedMan Sep 27 2014, 11:23 AM

Yup, basically an early R8. Truly beautiful car!

I see 993 side marker lights too I think, or at least a derivation.

Posted by: db9146 Sep 27 2014, 07:43 PM

Looks a lot better than the TT to me. They should have built this.

Posted by: DBCooper Sep 27 2014, 08:53 PM

In style I see R8 too, but proportions? It's not un-914 like. And you say Porsche couldn't get a 928 V8 into it? So even more kudos to Rick, who's shown he can.

Posted by: Mike Bellis Sep 27 2014, 09:28 PM

If you read up on the car, it was determined the chassis would need to be lengthened for the production model. The base car was set to have the 2.6L V6, transverse mounted AWD system. 5 speed was standard.

Porsche looked at it, could not fit the 928 motor and was looking at making it a rear engine flat 6. IMHO, they would have ruined it.

The Audi version would be at least 10% cheaper than the 911. Porsche sales in the early 90's were sinking. In fact, Mercedes commissioned Porsche to design one of their models in an attempt to help the struggling company.

Louise Piech (Porsche) was the person that convinced Ferdinand Piech not to produce the concept car in order to save the family business. Or so the story is told...

Posted by: boxsterfan Sep 27 2014, 09:39 PM

Definitely some early R8 in that design. But somehow, it almost looks like what a modern evolution of the 914 could look like....

Any shots of the rear of this car?

Posted by: OmaPossu Sep 27 2014, 10:23 PM

My favourite Audi . Have not noticed 914 door handles before..

Posted by: Rleog Sep 28 2014, 04:41 AM

Much better proportioned than the current R8.