Interesting 914 Article I just found, Jan 04 Classic Motorsports Options

[Tom_T]

This is an interesting older 914 article from 2004, which I just found perusing the website of "Classic Motorsports" that I recently subscribed to for the halibut!

http://classicmotorsports.net/articles/porsche-914/

Enjoy! (IMG:style_emoticons/default/type.gif)

[Tom_T]

Dave -

While there are some similarities - there are far more differences in the two designs, and certainly not enough to be considered the basis for the 914 design (for example copyright law only requires 25% different).

Moreover, lacking a contract to do the design for Porsche/VW, it's hard for Gugelot or anyone to maintain that they did the design, so it's probably just speculation in the past. But they certainly could've been aware of the Gugelot design study at Porsche, and that could have influenced their design for the 914 indirectly.

Also somebody previously posted at another topic on here, a pic of the Porsche Design Studio with the design sketches of various studies for the 914, including the final design - supporting the history that it was done internally at Porsche Design. Maybe Sir Andy or someone can post it here for you.

Ludvigsen & the others espousing the Gugelot theory were speculating, without any basis of factual documents, as far as I & others have seen. Opinions get expressed & sometimes that gets spread by others.

...... and that is just IMHO!!!! (IMG:style_emoticons/default/biggrin.gif)

[dlkawashima]

While there are some similarities - there are far more differences in the two designs, and certainly not enough to be considered the basis for the 914 design (for example copyright law only requires 25% different).

I'm not up to speed on copyright laws, but what you say makes sense. Else, any part of a car that resembles elements of another design could be considered a copyright violation ...


But here's an excerpt from Porsche 911: Perfection by Design, by Randy Leffingwell that I find interesting. This passage discusses Albrecht Goertz' role, or lack thereof, in the design of the 911:

Through Max Hoffman, his U.S. distributor, Porsche contacted Count Albrecht Goertz, who had designed the 507 for BMW. Goertz was a German living and working in New York City. Porsche gave him a set of dimensions and asked him to design a car with more interior space and an unbroken fastback roofline. Goertz spent eight months on the design, known internally as Project 695. His design prominently featured quad headlights in the style of General Motors and Ford Motor Company. The roofline tapered down to rear fender height, but it ended abruptly in several angled surfaces adorned with three taillights per side. In profile, however, the Goertz roof shape and front fender forms hinted at what was to come. It just was too American for Ferry.



... Henry Klie, the company's chief modeler since 1951, struggled to modify Albrecht Goertz's design into something Ferry Porsche liked. Goertz had come up with a new concept, still within the typ 695 designation. As Klie executed it he made half of it as Goertz designed it. But Klie did his own variation on the other half of the large form. Each of these got closer to what Ferry Porsche wanted.


What I find interesting is that, while the Goertz concept is far different than the production 911, Klie (and Butzi Porsche) used the Goertz concept as the starting point for their work. Does that warrant some level of credit for Goertz? Goertz suggested it did but of course he got no credit for the design of the 911. The Gugelot clay model that Ludvigsen credits as the basis for the 914 is certainly closer to the production 914's final shape than Goertz's concept is to the production 911.

... and then there are those who say the 914 looks just like a box of tissue, therefore design credit should go to Kleenex ...