Check out what Esquire thinks about the 914, Black sheep Options

[gandalf_025]

Just saw this on Yahoo...

http://www.esquire.com/lifestyle/cars/g247...otive-families/

[screenguy914]

I'll save everyone the effort:

Porsche 914
Porsche needed an entry-level car that was cheaper to build than its 912 (which was essentially a 911 with a 356 engine). Volkswagen needed a replacement for its Karmann Ghia. What resulted wasn’t a total failure, but the Karmann-built bodies wound up being more expensive than Porsche anticipated, making the end result pricier than Zuffenhausen had hoped. 

Sold in Europe as the Volkswagen-Porsche and in America simply as a Porsche, the four-cylinder cars were built entirely at Karmann and carried Volkswagen’s Type 4 engine behind the seats. Six-cylinder models featured a weak-sister variant of Porsche’s 2.0-liter flat-six, ran five-lug Fuchs wheels, and were assembled in Zuffenhausen. Regardless of the locale of their manufacture, the VW shadow hung over the 914, keeping its value depressed among Porsche-philes—at least until the recent explosion in everything air-cooled. 

Despite lackluster support for the 914’s racing program, the mid-engined mite managed to win the GTS class in the 1970 24 Hours of Le Mans, placing sixth overall in a rainy war of attrition that saw more than half the field fail to finish. Perhaps more impressively, 914s finished 1-2-3 at that year’s grueling 86-hour Marathon de la Route at the Nürburgring.

Plenty of myths swirl around the 914, the most persistent of which is that the car was a repurposing of a concept penned by industrial designer Hans Gugelot. But the truth is Porsche’s Heinrich Klie, designer of the iconic five-lug Fuchs wheel, did the majority of the aesthetic work on the machine. The rear suspension isn’t shared with any other car, while the front is pulled from the 911. The five-speed transmission, though it may have VW emblems stamped on the case, is the same unit used in 1960s and early ’70s 911s. Did we mention that Ferdinand Piëch was in charge of the 914 program, at the same time he was spearheading the development of the vaunted 917?

In fact, aside from a corporate steering column used on the four-cylinder cars, some underdash wiring bits and pieces, and the Type 4 engine (which was reworked by none other than Hans Mezger in 2.0-liter guise), the 914 was much more Porsche than Volkswagen. It’s certainly more Porsche than a Macan or a Cayenne, and at least as much a Porsche as a Panamera. And if you argue that it was built at Karmann, might we remind you that the Boxster and Cayman were constructed at Valmet in Finland? Is the 914 a black sheep? Yes. Have a gander at the thing. It is kinda weird-looking. Is it a Porsche? Also yes. Very much so. —Davey G. Johnson

Notes:
- my bold text (e.g. not insignificant)
- The "....weak-sister variant of Porsche’s 2.0-liter flat-six" comment is slightly incorrect. While the weakest of all flat six variants, it is the same 911T engine used in '69.

In another of his articles: "These 42 Sexy Vintage Cars Just Ran One of America's Most Underrated Rallies", http://www.popularmechanics.com/cars/g1833...-cars/?slide=21
"This car ran better than at least half of our cars", and the choice of two C/D staffers. Preview the others.