what were they thinking when they designed the 9 *1*4, i sure they didnt foresee its cult following or sickness as is said Options

[thelogo]

So when these cars came out what was there so called segment

I know it's said that it's the 912 replacement


And

Karmin ghia replacement


But was this thing really made as just a fill in car .

I personally use it as many things , it fill many roles well not something we usually associated with a small 2 seater


It may be the 2nd best handling car around

No.1 , 944




But how was it marketed and presented to the motoring public when it came out .Obviously it was not marketed as buy this car and it will still be cool 35 years later. And was it designed to handle really well (for a car with normal tires )

Or was that just a by product of superior german manufacturing and execution.

In all honesty the 912 and karmen ghia are

Pretty big shoes to filll







And a teener does it well

But would I be correct to assume a 914 (not wild conversion) with the same power
As a 911 would be the faster or quicker car
(IMG:style_emoticons/default/pray.gif) (IMG:style_emoticons/default/screwy.gif) (IMG:style_emoticons/default/smilie_pokal.gif) (IMG:style_emoticons/default/sunglasses.gif) (IMG:style_emoticons/default/beer3.gif)

[thelogo]

I googled 914 advertisement s and they show a lot of magazine reviews about the car

But too small to read



And I doubt I can find a road and track from the 70 s

[Tom_T]

I googled 914 advertisement s and they show a lot of magazine reviews about the car

But too small to read



And I doubt I can find a road and track from the 70 s

Actually, you can find a Folio book on Amazon etc. which is a compendium of all the English articles on the 914 from back in the day. Get one & read up on the period & some later look-back reviews.

BTW - it might help the readability of your posts to change to single spacing, so it's not so spaced out visually (no more disparaging comments to the poor guy from the peanut gallery on the figurative application please - he's asking some legit questions).

The 914 was the entry level Porsche, replacing the 912 in that role due to it's ever increasing cost to produce a /4 ~ 911 bodied car - plus it had the disadvantage of being confusing to market an entry level Porsche which looked exactly like a higher end 911 - more or less.

However, they were trying to bring their mid-engined racing technology & better handling & performance to a relatively affordable street car .... and they'd known that mid-engined was superior for handling since before Porsche came about in Ferry Porsche's Auto Union & other 1930's racers, plus they originally designed the 356 in 356-1 as a mid-engined car, but changed to a tail-dragger to simplify the use of VW drivetrains/parts & to keep cost more modest.

With 4 wheel disc brakes, EFI, mid-engined, 5 speed, well balanced suspension with a wider track than the 911 - the 914 really was a better & more advanced sports car in its day, than were the competing offerings from England, Italy, etc. - even though the "VW version" 1.7L /4 was weak, but that changed in 73 MY with the introduction of the 2.0L /4. Unfortunately the price of the /6 being too close to the 911T ran it out of the market by 72 MY (see below), & the much better side-shift trans didn't appear until 73 MY.

The 240Z (Datsun), MGB, TR6 & TR7 (later), Healy 6 (vs. 914-6 only), Fiat 124 Spyder, Alpha Spyder, Lancia, the later Fiat X/19, & a few others were the primary direct competitors to the 914s back in the day, & I looked at & evaluated them all before I went hunting for my used 914 after finishing college & landing good job in 1975 - with the 914 winning the very close race for me with the 240Z due to better retained value on used cars at 3-5 years (MGB, TR6, 124 & Alpha were close behind for me - but the 73-74 914-2.0 won out in my mind, with the then new 75 & &6 914-2.0 lagging due to smog stifled power loss).

If you look at the various magazine ads of the day back then, they were touting it's versatility & wide range of uses with their "Snow Porsche," "Sun Porsche," "Rain Porsche," etc. glossy ads - as well as it's luggage carrying capacity (16 CF & = to most sedans then & now), mid-engine layout & other advancements. So the 914s were really marketed as an all around car which you could race or cruise with on the weekend, & even comfortably accommodate a 3rd person (the 911/912 rear "seats" are a joke).

BTW - you can buy good quality cut-outs from magazines examples of those ads on evil-bay for $5-10 from the non-gouging vendors, if your interested - & some post pix in their listings which are actually readable upon enlargement, FYI.

For me, in 1975 I was looking at both new & used 914-2.0s (& a couple of used 72 914/4 1.7) to replace my monstrous 1969 Pontiac Ventura 4dr. 400 ci V8 2 bbl. AT gas-guzzler (a Catalina full size, formerly my parents' car) - as my economical, reliable & fun sports car for a young guy just out of college, to serve as my DD for about 10 years (75-85 & would've been longer except for the unfortunate accident which garaged her in May 75). In addition to driving to work sometimes (otherwise fair weather biking for physical training for my Rugby), & driving to everything else, including: beach cruising/body surfing, snow skiing/XC, biking, camping (tent), Rugby practice, matches & tournaments, flying lessons & flights, meals out & dates (courted both ex & current wives in my 914), long & short vacations, our "Private Calif-Mille Rally" with buddies in other sports cars on PCH Coast 1 to/from SD>SFO every summer, grocery store, Xmas tree shopping, etc., etc. for about 1427,000 miles fo fun!
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In fact, the 914 saved Porsche's bacon with it's almost 119,000 sold in just 5.5 MYs - more than ALL production Porsches in the prior decade or two (just as the Cayenne saved Porsche in recent years- yet another VW-Porsche JV) - with very respectable sales above 20,000/MY in 73 & 74 when they finally perfected the 914/4 & prior to the other factors below really took hold (27,000-ish in 73 & 24,000-ish in 74 IIRC) - again a multiple of ALL other Porsches sold in those 2 MYs.

I think that alone is a successful sports car from a then very small company by any measure - despite the uninformed BS put out by some auto media journalists looking to grab headlines with minimal research - then & now!

Plus, both the 914-6 & /4 were very successful in both pro & amateur sports racing - even without the level of factory race support & privateering which the vaunted but poorer handling 911s got. IMHO, with the same top engine/driveline & suspension/brakes, tires/wheels, etc. as a 911 at any level (911T, E, S, Carrera, RS, etc.) - the 914 would outperform the 911s - just as we're finally seeing with the GTS flavor of the Boxster/Cayman middies of today.

And I'm not sure that I'd agree that the 944 is better handling than a 914 - if both were provided equal power-to-weight, suspension set-up, tires, etc., but let's leave that for another topic.

I believe that Porsche thought the 914 would last longer in production than it did, but several things conspired against that, including in no particular order:

A. VW & Porsche were looking for a two-fer from the 914 - to both replace the Ghia & 912, with a much better performing car than the Ghia, & equal to the 912, if not beeter - especially in handling. It was also a platform to incorporate all the new VW & Porsche innovations, such as EFI instead of Carbs from VWs 411/412 cars for the 4-banger 914s, the mid-engine layout from Porsche's vaunted racers 550 to 917 & their 5-speed transaxle from the 911/912-optional 901 (Ghia was 4-spd.) + 4 wheels disc brakes (Ghias were disc front only), etc. - then end up with 2 cars to market - 1 for each brand.

Unfortunately, they did a poor job of differentiating the 2 versions, other than a VW-Porsche badge on 914/4s for most of the rest of the world - & 60% of both /4 & /6 were sold in the US/Canada with both as Porsche brand, then only internal mechanical differences of the cars by engine, 4 vs 5 lug, etc. This was far less than the way they differentiate the Touareg & Cayenne with different grills, lighting, styling of windows & body panels, etc. - in addition to the mechanical differences - so they've leaned their lesson from the 914.

However, the original JV between Porsche & VW got all screwed up when the VW chair died & their verbal agreement on pricing for 914-6 shells from VWs Karmann Plant got jacked-up to full cost + profit by the new VW Chairman - contrary to the agreement to a lower set price based on the fact that Porsche sunk most of the design & engineering costs in return for a set price, which resulted in the 914-6 cost being too close to the 911-T's with the bigger 2.2L motor.

Porsche eventually took over the JV as sole owner & bought out VW by 74, but the damage to the 914-6 was already done, & they backed away from the 916 concept of an upscale 914-6, because again it was deemed too close to the 911 line-up.

Oddly enough, Porsche also stopped the US/Canada marketing campaign of the `73 914-2.0 as a "914S" (but didn't stop it in Japan nor the 914SC in the UK) due to complaints from some USA 911 owners & PCA members about that somehow demeaning their vaunted 911S (now the "S" appendage is widely used on ALL Porsches & I doubt it would happen that way today). More odd is that Porsche hadn't even intended initially to badge the 2.0 any differently from the 1.7L (i.e.: the 1.7 & 2.0 badges were an afterthought), which presented a marketing & model differentiation dilemma here where they were both sold as pure Porsches (in RoW the 1.7, 1.8 & 2.0 remained a VW-Porsche). Ergo, the early production 914s will have stamped holes for the 914 rear badge, with the 1.7 or 2.0 badge mounting holes drilled into the rear face panel! So things weren't always cmpletely thought through by Porsche brass, nor between the worldwide branches.

The 914-6 was powered a 2.0L from the prior 63-69 MY gen 911 series, but detuned from the 125 HP of the 69 911T - to only 110 HP - again, for a differentiation between the models, but too many buyers opted up to the 2.2L 135 HP 911T (70-72) for a few hundred more + better interior finishes, 5 gauges, more cachet & sex appeal, etc. - thereby stifling 914-6 sales to only about 3000 - even if it were the far better handling car, lacking the tail-dragger 911's nack for biting your butt in turns by an inexpert driver!

Remember that VW-Porsche marketed the 914/4 everywhere else outside of North America as their own car, so it wasn't a RoW VW-Porsche option until 73/74 MY to have the hotter 2.0L /4, but they never gave up on the Ghias in both forms at the same time, so their sales of 914/4's were cut into as well, given their price differences. In North America both the /4 & /6 flavors were successfully marketed as Porsches, & the US accounted for about 60% of worldwide sales of all Porsches - including 914s separately, & about 60% of the US sales were in California back then. So about 36-40% off all Porsches & 914s worldwide came to California.

B. The West German Mark (DM) exchange rate went crazy high vs. the US Dollar in the 1970's - largely due to Nixon taking the dollar of the Gold backing system, as well as economic downturns in the US during the mid 70's & the first Oil Crisis - so that pricing made the pricing issues on the 914s vs both 911s & other competing sports cars worse, since the Brit & Italian & Japanese could deliver more car for less money.

For example, during the 73 MY alone - the fully equipped with Appearance & Performance Groups of options early marketed as "914S" 914-2.0s went from about $5200 - up to about $7000 in just 12 months - largely due to the DM > $ exchange rates! (IMG:style_emoticons/default/blink.gif)

Porsche attempted to offset this by pulling the "included" App. & Perf. Group options off & making them at extra cost for 74>, & by decontenting the cars with lower cost & lesser quality upholstery (heat seamed bolsters in seat bottoms/backs - instead of sewn), substituting plastic for metal parts (door sills, black button guages with plastic instead of glass lenses, etc.). By the 2nd half of the 73 MY they were also offering a "Sport" version of the 914-2.0 with sway bars & 2L Fuchs, but otherwise with little or no options (e.g.: see Dave K's orange example).

C. The body styling was too ahead of it's time & too much of a departure from the roundy 356 & 911/912 design for many in the Porsche world, so they either loved it or hated it ... but some learned to love or at least appreciate it's unique styling. In later years it was largely seen as a nice "modern" reinterpretation of the classic 911/912/356 light in fender styling - just pinched in a bit, which still allowed for that low front face/hood line for road visibility as with the others. Today, all but the 911 hardliners see the 914 styling as pleasant, if not great.

D. Smog, smog & smog ... the rules ruined the 914's run in several ways: by 73 MY the 914-1.7 in CA fitment was drained to just 69 HP form the original 70 MY's 80; then in 75 MY the crapalytic converters (& early ones were crappy) sapped the 2.0 from 95 HP to just 86 (91 to 81 in SAE terms) - so the 914/4s became ever more hum-drum performers enginewise, but this affected all sports cars by all mfgrs. equally; then there was the scare that Porsche (& VW) wouldn't be able to continue to meet ever increasing smog limits (& some proposed that didn't happen until much later).

E. The 924 project which Porsche also designed for VW to use their Audi water-cooled I-4 as yet another sporty option was abandoned by VW, then taken over in response to their above noted fears of needing to switch to water-cooled engines exclusively. This fear also spawned the 944/968 iterations, as well as the V8 928 as an intended 911 replacement - but the 911 aircooled H6s soldiered on until the early 90's, with the 928 never replacing them, but instead marketed as an upscale GT.

F. Unfortunately, the above meant that the 914 was booted from the Karmann plant to build the 924's for the 77 MY, so after Dec 75 the 914 had no home & all 76 MYs were actually built in 75 - even if there had been improvements to the 914 to keep it viable & market support to buy it past 76.

So a botched & eventually aborted VW-Porsche JV, money exchange rate induced pricing problems, smog controls & concerns, newer water-cooled models, & a lost factory, & a few others all co-conspired to kill off our beloved 914s.

But now early aircooled 356, 911, 912, 930 models are sky high pricing, the 914 has gained respect as a great handling street/AX/racer, & it's being rediscovered - often by former owners who got a 914 while they lusted for - & saved up for a 911, who now want to get their old 914 back or a substitute, so the 914 prices are going up again, with the 914-6 leading the way - more due to limited numbers than better performance, since you can tweak a 2.0 to perform better than a stock 914-6, without the weight penalty of the extra 2 cylinders.

Hope this answers some of your questions.

Cheers! (IMG:style_emoticons/default/beerchug.gif)
Tom
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