916 development question, for the historians with German roots Options

[larryM]

just got Gooding's 914 book (Enthusiast's Guide, 2016), which has some interesting historical stuff on the 916 & GT cars;

it prompts this question:
(which probably requires the knowledge of you few 914 folks with Germany roots or current contacts to those who worked at Zuffenhausen in the '69-71 time period)

When did the factory begin development of the 916 variant?

i.e., start on the design of the different body components & chassis improvements, and decide on the powertrain, etc??

and when were the first prototyped "new" components begun & finished for trial fit on the the prototype chassis?

(and where were they made? (?-Werks-1? - or ?)

Who was responsible for the decision to do the 11 finished cars for the Paris show (October 1971)?
(edit update: looking at http://916.dingianni.org/Info/, we see that 4 916s were finished & gone to new owners prior to that Paris Show date, so Gooding's statement is a bit misleading)

and who decided to kill 'em?

inquiring minds want to know

TIA

[gms]

It was Ferdinand Piëch early in 1971, he is one of the most underrated members of the family.
One popular misconception is that they were reject 914/4 bodies, this is NOT true the Karmann numbers indicate that they were late 1971 914/6 chassis.
The Prototype (Brutus) was just restored at AA with help from Steve Gaglione.

[Tom_T]

It was Ferdinand Piëch early in 1971, he is one of the most underrated members of the family.
One popular misconception is that they were reject 914/4 bodies, this is NOT true the Karmann numbers indicate that they were late 1971 914/6 chassis.
The Prototype (Brutus) was just restored at AA with help from Steve Gaglione.

Hey Glen,

Didn't they recently show "Brutus" at Amelia earlier this year or 2016?

I thought I read somewhere that it won some award at Amelia. (IMG:style_emoticons/default/idea.gif)

IIRC they were intended to be priced higher than the $12-14K noted above - at $16000 in 1973 dollars, which was maybe around $250,000 today with inflation - which would be a hard sell for a top dog Boxster/Cayman even today.

The 916s did have all leather interior & quite a few other upgrades over a fully optioned 914-6 - beyond just the engine & chassis improvements, but as noted above - it competed with their top dawg 911S, & may have even out-sold them if given the chance - assuming they could squelch the NARP tag!

(IMG:style_emoticons/default/beerchug.gif)
Tom
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[mepstein]

It was Ferdinand Piëch early in 1971, he is one of the most underrated members of the family.
One popular misconception is that they were reject 914/4 bodies, this is NOT true the Karmann numbers indicate that they were late 1971 914/6 chassis.
The Prototype (Brutus) was just restored at AA with help from Steve Gaglione.

Hey Glen,

Didn't they recently show "Brutus" at Amelia earlier this year or 2016?

I thought I read somewhere that it won some award at Amelia. (IMG:style_emoticons/default/idea.gif)

IIRC they were intended to be priced higher than the $12-14K noted above - at $16000 in 1973 dollars, which was maybe around $250,000 today with inflation - which would be a hard sell for a top dog Boxster/Cayman even today.

The 916s did have all leather interior & quite a few other upgrades over a fully optioned 914-6 - beyond just the engine & chassis improvements, but as noted above - it competed with their top dawg 911S, & may have even out-sold them if given the chance - assuming they could squelch the NARP tag!

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

No way would the 916 outsell the 911. Porsche could hardly get the 914-6's off the dealer lots.
$16,000 in '73 would be about $91,000 today
*dollar times inflation calculator.

[Tom_T]

...
IIRC they were intended to be priced higher than the $12-14K noted above - at $16000 in 1973 dollars, which was maybe around $250,000 today with inflation - which would be a hard sell for a top dog Boxster/Cayman even today.
...
(IMG:style_emoticons/default/beerchug.gif)
Tom
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$16,000 in '73 would be about $91,000 today
*dollar times inflation calculator.

I stand corrected: $93,597.70 using the calculator below

http://www.in2013dollars.com/1972-dollars-...17?amount=16000

... or $95,422.21 using the compounded actual inflation rates (not CPI Factor), with the 1.10% estimated rate for 2016 & 2% for 2017.

But then, that's assuming you accept the Fed's stated rates & CPI, which are known to significantly understate the true rate of inflation, in order to curb CPI based labor & government benefit costs.

Most economists whom I know & under whom I studied for my MBA in Urban Land Economics feel that the actual rate of price increases is more like double or more of what is stated, resulting is an actual value "thumbnail" erosion factor of 1/2 per decade - or double the price per decade +/-.

This is partly due to things like surreptitious price increases sneaking by the CPI price checkers, when a product is introduced in a new smaller size for almost as much money, then later the larger & lower cost per unit priced one is withdrawn. A good example is what we used to pay for a 1/2 gallon of ice cream last decade vs. the now common 1.5 quart size - the change to which was an effective 25% increase in that year at that point alone.

Another damping factor is items which are held out of inflation calculations because they're said to be "too volatile" (translation: would make real inflation much higher) - such as oil & gasoline prices. Using my SoCal gas prices as an example - my local best price (not average nor highest price) for Regular ran $1.00/gal+/- in 1999-2000, then ran up to $4.00-5.00/gal+/- by 2005-06, & is now about $3.00-3.50/gal+/- today - making 400-500% over 6 years & 300-350% over all 17 years - & certainly NOT 1-3% per year!

Multiply that by millions of other products, & your dollar has devalued by far more than the stated "official" CPI or inflation rate.

Y'all can think of that the next time you ask for a raise! (IMG:style_emoticons/default/huh.gif)

So I used my thumbnail of about doubling every decade, compounded for the $250K+/-.

I sincerely doubt that they could produce & sell a 916 today - with Porsche's typical profit margin - for only $95K+/-. JMHO!

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