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Posted by: biosurfer1 Aug 17 2003, 07:49 PM

I got into 914 around 6 years ago when i was in highschool, an exchange student from germany and i got to be close friends and he was very into porsches, especially 914's. before he came here for school, he actually worked at the porsche plant in leipzig (?). his job, to me, seemed great. any time they had mulitple complaints about a part of a model, he would have to take that model out and test it to see if a recall was needed. i would have thought that was a great job, however he said while it was alot of fun to do it, most of the time it was little things and he was forced to minimally use the vehicle, i.e. it was like being given a ferrari and being told to only use 1st gear. all car companies keep a certian amout of models for testing and since they have to make sure the cars havent been tampered with, they keep the models in storage until needed. even today, they still test 914's, and marco (friend) claims that he knows of 4 914's they have on site, 2 of them having less than 1000 original miles. pretty amazing in itself. anyhow, one model on the 914 has always interested me, that being the 914-8, since there was supposedly only 2 made. when i asked him about that car, he said that he had been to the porsche museum and seen the 914-8 they have on display there, but then went on to tell me something more. according to marco, many people who have worked at the site for years claim that there actually 4 914-8's made. 2 of them have known history, the other two dont. he told me that after they made the first two and decided to discontinue making them, several months after stopping, a "friend" of the porsche family wanted one, but the original 2 were already accounted for, but they produced one for him. who this friend is neither i nor marco have any clue, but the story for this 914-8 could be believeable. the last 914-8 is quite different. it seems that one of the engineers who helped design the 914-8 wanted a souviner of his accomplishment and since he could not buy one, he had an unauthorized one produced for himself. whether or not any of this is true is up to you since the cars are not accounted for, but it certianly is interesting and makes you think a bit

Posted by: mskala Aug 17 2003, 08:00 PM

While it is true that some things get done off the books or in a
way that is hidden, or get lost (see the recent 901 story in
Pano?), I would think that somebody would know if a 908 Motor!
went missing. Then you might have some

Posted by: URY914 Aug 17 2003, 08:01 PM

With all due respect-I don't believe it.
I'm not saying it is not true, just saying I don't think it is.

Paul

Posted by: GWN7 Aug 17 2003, 09:17 PM

There was some talk a while back about some guy who knew some girl who had a 914-8 (cousins,sisters,uncle's friend).

The story went her dad bought it for her and had it shipped over from Germany. It was suppost to been the NE USA.

Time to start looking in barns.

Posted by: Curvie Roadlover Aug 17 2003, 09:20 PM

Bruce, Do I smell a roadtrip?

Posted by: tryan Aug 17 2003, 09:24 PM

i went to an artsy fartsy hairy armpitted women type party last night. oak and chestnut beamed house and the nutso owner lived in a tree for two years while he built the house.

he had not one , but two bugeye sprites stashed in the barn. cool.

Posted by: Curvie Roadlover Aug 17 2003, 09:28 PM

Posted by: biosurfer1 Aug 17 2003, 10:10 PM

like i said, i can neither confirm nor deny, could have been some bored mechanics filling their days...

Posted by: Brad Roberts Aug 17 2003, 10:15 PM

Thanks for the story.. and welcome to the BBS. It wouldnt surprise me if something escaped the factory back then. Their record keeping was close to worthless back then.


B

Posted by: GWN7 Aug 17 2003, 10:29 PM

Anyone got any pictures of the two 914-8's engine comprtments?

I want to know how the were fitted in there.

Posted by: redshift Aug 17 2003, 10:31 PM

Woman found a $1M Spanish parade helmet in the rafters in Rhode Island, A guy in Penn. pulled a '55 D-Type Jag out of a barn just a couple years ago.

Guitars used to be cheap.

I don't know if I believe the story, but then again I don't really care, the reality of it rocks enough for me..




M

Posted by: Mike Pearson Aug 17 2003, 10:37 PM

Posted by: jonwatts Aug 17 2003, 10:50 PM

Posted by: Hawktel Aug 17 2003, 11:04 PM

A 914-8.

Well that would be the Holy Grail.


Even a Conversion car with a 908 engine in it would be something special.

I'm not certain I'm a believer in your story, but, I do like to think there is a 914-8 out there, somewhere, hopefully in a dry spot. Waiting for the someone who understands to come along.

Posted by: redshift Aug 17 2003, 11:42 PM

It's rumored the mechanic had the 914-8 built with a Sportomatic, for in place of his right hand was.....

...... A METAL CLAW!!!!!

Posted by: URY914 Aug 18 2003, 05:45 AM

There was also a flat 12 out of a 917 installed in a 914. The owner was a midget and he moved the seats forward and cut the firewall out. The wheelbase was left stock. You couldn't tell from the outside until he opened the door and got out.

He is now running for Gov in Calf.

Paul

Posted by: Lawrence914-6 Aug 18 2003, 07:04 AM

Posted by: Bleyseng Aug 18 2003, 08:30 AM

I think the story teller has added two cylinders and its the last six he is talking about


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Posted by: Bleyseng Aug 18 2003, 08:31 AM

here Bruce


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Posted by: Bleyseng Aug 18 2003, 08:32 AM

hkjhk


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Posted by: Bleyseng Aug 18 2003, 08:32 AM

ghffdhg


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Posted by: Chris H. Aug 18 2003, 11:30 AM

Someone had to say this....

Didn't the 914 Limo have an 8 in it? Or was it a 12?


I've never seen that batch of 914-8 photos. Cool! Can you imagine the scream of that 908 engine right behind your head!? If only we could all get 5 minutes of drive time in that thing!

Posted by: Aaron Cox Aug 18 2003, 11:44 AM

cool photos-
hey- since when have the shock towers been in the engine compartment?
the orange one had slidevalve mfi injection right?

Posted by: Brad Roberts Aug 18 2003, 11:54 AM

Lyressa (my wife) is driving to work the other day in her 914 screaming along at 80-90 MPH and blows past a late model 911. Later in her commute he catches up to her in traffic and rolls down his window and begins "chatting" with her. as they begin to move..he asks her if it is a six (she says no) and he promptly hits the electric window button for the passenger side window and moves over a lane.

It was her first time to have a 911 owner "turn their nose up at a 914 driver" ..LOL

She didnt understand.


B

Posted by: JmuRiz Aug 18 2003, 12:20 PM

Aaron,
Yep, the Orange car had the full race 908 motor in it, MFI and all. Supposedly it leaked oil like the race motor too. It has the cool bits, like dual headlight buckets and other tidbits.
The Silver one looks much more finished, a total sleeper! Has a carbed 908 motor, so it's a little less HP, but looks much more sorted out and 'finished'.

Posted by: silver six Aug 18 2003, 01:31 PM

These are the badass fenders that should be reproduced, not the chunky 914-6 gt fenders.

Douglas


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Posted by: silver six Aug 18 2003, 01:34 PM

I dig the dual headlights too. And I want the flip lid for the gas cap.

Douglas

Posted by: silver six Aug 18 2003, 01:35 PM

ff


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Posted by: Dave_Darling Aug 18 2003, 03:21 PM

Rumor mill has it that there are at least two 914-8 "conversion cars" existing in the US. One in Southern Cal, and the other one may have been on the East Coast somewhere?? Someone liked the idea so much they decided it was worth the pain of putting up with the 908 motor. (Talk about complex--it makes a 911 engine look like a Type IV!!)

The orange car was built out of one of the prototypes, which explains the features like the double headlights, different turn signal lenses (like the #4 car that was discussed earlier around here) and the fuel filler door. I think the silver car was also a prototype originally, but it was closer to the production car in most details.

The rear shock towers were in the engine bay because the firewall had to be moved back about 8-10" in order to fit the high-butterfly injection of the 908 race motor. And probably also to make room for the cooling system and some of the motor itself.

--DD

Posted by: SirAndy Aug 18 2003, 03:38 PM

ahhhh, and look at those door-panels!

the padding area on the top has exactly the shape of
the original cutout on the top of the door that never made it into production.
seems like they already had the (cut) door-panels,
and just added some material on the top after the cutout was
taken off the production list ...

now where is that pic of the wooden prototype that still has the top of the door cut-out ?


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Posted by: mskala Aug 18 2003, 03:48 PM

Andy, you just showed me why it is that the window
winder and/or the person's fingernails always begin
to chew up the door panel after a while; the front
under the vent window should have been flat like
that. Late design changes always suck

Posted by: URY914 Aug 18 2003, 04:06 PM

I'm calling Butzi to get this crap strighten out.
How come we don't have some Porsche family members on the board?
How about some of the factory drivers?

Paul

Posted by: GWN7 Aug 18 2003, 10:06 PM

Thanks Bleyseng, great pictures.

What did they use for a transaxel in the 914-8?

Posted by: Hawktel Aug 18 2003, 10:19 PM

I honestly don't know, but what was the Hp/Torque/ Displacement on 908 plant?

Posted by: Rob Ways Aug 18 2003, 11:36 PM

Posted by: URY914 Aug 19 2003, 03:31 PM

Hawktel,
The 908 was 2997 cc, 380hp, @8400 rpm and weighted 1386 lbs.

Sorta like my car.

Paul

Posted by: Dave_Darling Aug 19 2003, 03:36 PM

Supposedly the 908 motor in the silver car was detuned to make it more civilized. It "only" put out 300 HP out of 3 liters.

--DD

Posted by: URY914 Aug 19 2003, 04:26 PM

I'd like to see it run against a V-8 conversion just for fun.

Paul

Posted by: GWN7 Aug 19 2003, 04:34 PM

I spent some time reading about the 914-8's last night (about 3 hrs). As Dave mentioned one was 300hp and the carbed one was 260hp.

"During the seven year production life of the 914 series, Porsche explored the outer limits of the chassis's capability with several projects. Two cars were constructed and powered by the 4-cam flat eight cylinder engine from the 908 race cars. One of these special cars was presented to Ferry Porsche on his sixtieth birthday. It was detuned as much as possible to make it docile enough for road usage. Ferry Porsche used the car for commuting from home to office registering some 10,000 kilometers before garaging the beast after which this 914/8 found a permanent home in the Porsche Museum. "

Still can't find what they used as a transaxel.

Posted by: ein 6er Aug 19 2003, 05:05 PM

isn't someone casting new 908 cases?

not like i could afford one anyway.

doug

Posted by: jkeyzer Aug 19 2003, 05:10 PM

what does it mean when an engine is "detuned" anyway?

they stuff rags into the intakes? swap in some 914-4 parts?

Posted by: Hawktel Aug 19 2003, 06:02 PM

I think Detuned means it has less hp, but avoids that pesky rebuild every 1000 miles. (hopefully).

Posted by: URY914 Aug 19 2003, 07:22 PM

They probably changed the cams so the thing would idle. I would hate to see Dr. Porsche stall it when leaving a stop light. What would the common folk think.

Paul

Posted by: eitnurg Aug 20 2003, 01:43 AM

This is the transaxle in the orange car - maybe enough to indentify it?


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Posted by: eitnurg Aug 20 2003, 01:44 AM

And a rather gloomy shot of the silver car:


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Posted by: GWN7 Aug 20 2003, 01:56 AM

Thanks for the pictures. Now we just need someone who knows more to take a look.

Posted by: jim_hoyland Nov 18 2015, 07:46 AM

Any update on this ?

Posted by: scotty b Nov 18 2015, 08:10 AM

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Posted by: JmuRiz Nov 18 2015, 09:21 AM

This thread makes me feel old...

Posted by: scotty b Nov 18 2015, 10:56 AM

QUOTE(JmuRiz @ Nov 18 2015, 07:21 AM)

Posted by: RobW Nov 18 2015, 12:01 PM

Cool stories....

Posted by: SirAndy Nov 18 2015, 12:27 PM

Holy necrosis batman ...

Posted by: 914_teener Nov 18 2015, 01:21 PM

QUOTE(SirAndy @ Nov 18 2015, 10:27 AM)

Holy necrosis batman ...

Posted by: euro911 Nov 18 2015, 01:53 PM

Yeah, 12 years have passed

Posted by: bandjoey Nov 18 2015, 02:09 PM

At that time the cost of the motor probably wasn't much more if any than the cost of car. Great story. If only we could track down someone who actually built any of the flat 8 cars.

Posted by: bcheney Nov 18 2015, 10:46 PM

QUOTE(GWN7 @ Aug 17 2003, 11:29 PM)

Posted by: bigkensteele Nov 18 2015, 11:29 PM

Eight cylinder 914s are one thing, but I just hope that one day we figure out who killed Abraham Lincoln.

Posted by: Maltese Falcon Nov 19 2015, 12:07 AM

Brad who ?

Posted by: Cracker Nov 19 2015, 07:14 AM

It wouldn't even be close...

T

QUOTE(URY914 @ Aug 19 2003, 05:26 PM)

Posted by: Chris H. Nov 19 2015, 10:52 AM

QUOTE(Maltese Falcon @ Nov 19 2015, 12:07 AM)

Brad who ?

Posted by: Brett W Nov 27 2015, 08:45 PM

The only thing that would make this archaic thread even more interesting is when archaic members start posting as well..

Hello everyone, I am from the past.

Posted by: r_towle Nov 27 2015, 08:57 PM

Brett, go hibernate again.

Good to see you though.

Where is Miles??

Posted by: SirAndy Nov 27 2015, 09:23 PM

QUOTE(r_towle @ Nov 27 2015, 06:57 PM)

Posted by: 914Mike Nov 27 2015, 11:33 PM

Hey I just noticed that Bradholio stole my story about buzzing past a BMW and later having the guy roll down the window and ask if it was six. Well he did change a few things... So thanks to the Zombie raiser.

BR still owes me an early rear hub, if anyone knows how to contact him, PM me.