Facts about the 914 you may not know ... Options

[SirAndy]

So, reading through DGVWPB again, i decided to make a list of things about the 914 that people may not know.

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- The idea for the 914 was first developed during a long conversation between Ferry Porsche and Heinz Nordhoff (VW) in the early '60s.
The reasoning behind a joint venture being that Porsche wanted a "affordable" entry sports car and VW wanted to better it's image by adding a sports car to it's product line.

- For VW, the 914 was supposed to be the successor to the Karmann-Ghia.

- From the beginning, two variants were planned. One with a VW 411 engine and one with a Porsche 911 engine.

- From the beginning, the car was planned to have a mid engine layout. It was seen as a direct evolution that started with the Auto Union "P" car and the Porsche Typ 1 followed by the Porsche mid-engine race-cars.

- The first "VW-Porsche" was a series of 6 race cars build between 1949 and 1954 by Walter Glöckner using VW and Porsche parts. His number #2 car set 17 world records at the Paris Linas-Montlhéry Motordrom during a 3 day test session.

- The first sketches of the 914 at Porsche go back as far as 1964.

- The official start date of the 914 project was August 1966.

- A total of 5 entries were submitted during the initial design contest. All 5 entries came from Porsche Design Studios employees. All entries were submitted as 1:5 scale clay models.

- 2 of the 5 entries were submitted by Heinrich Klie (who also submitted the winning design). One entry was submitted by Ferdinand Alexander Porsche (then the newly promoted head of the Porsche Design Studios) and one entry each was submitted by the two studio employees Schollp and Epple.

- Klie designed the targa roof to follow the rear deck lid curvature so the roof could be easily stored.

- Klie also designed the rain gutters on the targa roof.

- Klie's initial design called for dual headlights that could pivot behind a "grill" in the front bumper when retracted and could act as a "headlight flasher".

- The "914S" designation was first used to describe Ferdinand Piech's red 914-8 prototype.

- Initially the front and rear bumpers as well as the rocker panels were all supposed to be made of fiberglass. However, VW rejected the fiberglass due to their lack of experience working with the then still fairly new material.

- The front and rear bumper tops are made of Polyurethane foam and were the first parts made from this material on any production car. The manufacturer "Phoenix Werke" gave them the serial numbers #1 and #2.

- The center cushion was planned to be easily replaced with a child seat. In fact, not only did all early cars have provisions for a 3rd seatbelt in the center, they were even labeled as a "3 seater" from the factory.

- The handbrake is located to the left of the driver because the initial design call for a 3-seater layout.

- The initial dashboard design included a series of indicator lamps that performed a full check of all electrical systems in the car when the car first powered up.

- The front turn signal design went through at least 3 phases going from small to large and back to small.

- The wheel base was extended several times during the design phase from 2400mm to the final 2450mm.

- The front track width was increased several times during the design phase from 1340mm to the final 1365mm.

- The rear track width was increased several times during the design phase from 1360mm to the final 1402mm.

- The first prototype shell was finished March 1st 1968 and the car was finished by the end of April. It was a 4-cylinder model.

- By the time the first 6-cylinder prototype was finished, 15 4-cylinder cars were already being tested.

- Several of the early prototypes crashed during test drives due to mistakes in the early rear suspension design.

- The initial design had only one rear lid that covered both the engine compartment and the rear trunk.

- There were almost no factory replacement parts available when the 914 initially rolled out due to the fact that the newly formed VW-Porsche Vertriebsgesellschaft had difficulties combining the two workforces efficiently (roughly 50% Porsche and 50% VW).

- In 1973, the German magazine "Der Spiegel" printed a survey of 3,000 914 owners to answer the basic question of why they had chosen the 914. The article began with this answer from a 914 owner: "Previously, i drove a 5-seater (sedan) and at parties i always ended up as the designated driver for several ladies, thus greatly diminishing my chances of getting laid. Now, with the 914, i only have room for one lady, and we usually end up at my house."

- Excerpt from the official 914-8 handbook: "The 908 motor tends to smoke a lot on startup during cold weather. The correct time to start driving is after the engine has stopped smoking."

- Originally, the LE cars were supposed to have the cursive script "Canam" added to the side-stripes, but Porsche dropped that idea because it was too similar to the "Carrera" script on the 911.