and the main star in the shop today is... Options

[dr914@autoatlanta.com]

and he really loves his car!!!

[ClayPerrine]

I keep having a recurring alternate history dream that the handshake deal between VW and Porsche that created the 914 was actually formalized in a contract.

So the price of the 914 shells sent to Porsche was a lot cheaper. The sale price of the 914-6 was so much lower than the 911T that the 914-6 out sold the 911T. With the introduction of the 916 into mass production in 1973, the sales of the 911 line dropped. Eventually, VW/Audi replaced the 914 in their line with a Porsche designed, water cooled Audi. Utilizing the Audi fox motor and Beetle suspension from the VW parts bins, it was panned in the press for poor handling and being under powered.

The same level of development work that was done on the 911 to improve performance was done for the 914 platform as well, but the gains on the 914 platform were substantially greater than the 911 platform due to the mid-engine design. The 916 became the race car to beat in the GT classes, as it had the same horsepower as a 911, but it was lighter and had a mid engine. It racked up lots of wins in the late 70s and 80s, racing alongside the 917, and the 956/962 prototype cars. In 1988, Porsche took both the overall win at LeMans with the 962c taking the top 3 places, and the GT win with the 916 taking the top 4 places.

Due to lagging sales of the 911 in favor of the 914/916, Porsche discontinued the 911. The last of the 911 line rolled off the line in December of 1976. During the 1980s, engine development at Porsche created a Porsche designed 4 cylinder for the 914 and increased displacement and performance on the 916 engine, first with the 3.0L CIS engine, and then with the 3.2 Motronic engine. In the 90s, Porsche introduced the 3.6L Motronic engine. During this time, they updated the 914/916 design to use a front end similar to the now discontinued 911 and improved the chassis design to use 4 link suspension on all 4 corners. The improvement in the appearance and handling increased sales of the 914/916 dramatically.

The 914, with a Porsche designed flat four, and the 916 with the Porsche flat six continued on until 1998, when the last of the 3.6L/G50 916 models rolled off the assembly lines. They were replaced by the Boxster/Cayman as the top of the line Porsche.

The 911 became a cult following, with their proponents claiming they were great cars. Even with an upgraded engine from the 916, the 911 chassis still could not compete with the mid-engined 916.



Hey.. we can all dream.. right????