2015 20th Anniversary Amelia Island Concours d'Elegance Photo Thread + 914 World Member Meet and Drive to the Concours, Let's caravan with pride in our ride! Meet itinerary post#59 / Concours photo content begins pg3 / Please RSVP for Meet + Breakfast and Drive post#110 Options

[tumamilhem]

I think this will be a fun and great opportunity for other 914 World members who are coming to the Amelia Island Concours d'Elegance in March 2015 to meet, get together and caravan our 914s up to Amelia Island, especially since the 914 is the featured car being honored at this event, the second most prestigious classic car show in North America (if not the world). Though the Concours is over four days, the first two days are individual and specialized events; some individually ticketed and some by invitation only. The third and fourth days (Sat and Sun) are the actual car shows, so I thought about doing two meetups, one before each car show on Saturday and Sunday. Saturday is the Cars and Coffee at the Concours and Sunday is the Amelia Island Concours d'Elegance. The drive up Heckshire Drive (the road to Amelia) is an easy winding scenic road that goes right through the Intracoastal (inland water marshes) up along the coast and through Big and Little Talbot Islands to Amelia Island.

I am more than happy to welcome other World members to meet at my house. I have fresh ground coffee (I grind my own beans and get my beans from an excellent local roaster), breakfast foods, etc. Then we can all make a noisy 914 caravan up to Amelia. I am right next to the interstate that goes up to Heckshire and down the street from nice and affordable hotels on the way and next to the interstate for those staying from out of town. Unless you want to stay up at Amelia (which will cost more). Or, we can meet at my place then go to a local spot on the way for breakfast. Or we could all just meet at a place for breakfast and skip my house altogether. We can do this Saturday morning, Sunday morning, or both. I will be going to both days.

If anybody is coming and is interested in doing this, let me know so I can get an idea of how many to expect and make further more detailed plans to accommodate.

Saturday, 14 March 2015
Cars & Coffee at the Concours
9 AM - 1 PM
Over 250 classic and exotic cars from local car clubs will be displayed on the 10th and 18th fairways of the Golf Club of Amelia Island. Vehicles must be pre-registered to participate.

Sunday, 15 March 2015
The Amelia Island Concours d'Elegance
9:30 AM - 4 PM
The Golf Club of Amelia Island
10th & 18th Fairways

Entire Amelia Island Concours d'Elegance Event Schedule: https://www.ameliaconcours.org/event-information.aspx

With Magnus Walker at the Concours. We had a long chat about 914s. He wants one. An Urban Outlaw 914 would be cool. (IMG:style_emoticons/default/smile.gif)

[tumamilhem]

Since you guys don't live here and likely don't have a copy of this months First Coast Magazine (a magazine showcasing NorthEast Florida), I thought I'd share this with you.

This month's issue is dedicated to the 20th Anniversary of the Amelia Island Concours d'Elegance - which includes an article showcasing this year's featured and honored car - the Porsche 914

First Coast Magazine
February 2015









Here is the full article. You may also find it online here: First Coast Magazine article: Porsche 914 - Born Under a Fast Sign

Porsche 914 - Born Under a Fast Sign


- A factory-entered Porsche 914/6 finished third in the 1971 Monte Carlo Rally

Porsche’s 914 began life in the late 1960s as a joint project between corporate cousins Porsche and Volkswagen. The economies of scale and the well-established engineering expertise of the famous German sports car maker made for a natural partnership.

Volkswagen required a sporty two-seater to replace the aging Karmann Ghia. Porsche needed something worthy of the Porsche crest but much less expensive than its well established six-cylinder 911.

The project was given to Dr. Porsche’s grandson, Ferdinand Piech. At the time Piech had other pressing corporate engineering responsibilities. He was creating a monster.

After two decades of being the king of road racing’s undercard, of being the gutsy underdog and more often than not the giant killer, Porsche was ready to fight for sports car racing’s ultimate prize: outright victory in the 24 Hours of Le Mans. Herr Engineer Piech was their point man.

That a colossus like Porsche’s 917 could simultaneously occupy the same intellect as the civilized Porsche 914 sports car seems peculiar. But both the 917 and the 914 carried their engines behind the driver as pure race car engineering orthodoxy demanded.


- Gerard Larousse and Jean-Claude Perramond in the #1 914/6 from the 1971 Monte Carlo Rally

The 917 debuted a year after the 914 arrived in showrooms, and served notice at Le Mans that the rules writers of international sports car racing had left a huge loophole in the paragraphs about engine displacement and production numbers. The 917 packed a monster 4.5 liter air-cooled flat-12 that made enough power to blast through the loophole and shove the 917 down the Le Mans’ Mulsanne straight at something over 230 mph.

The 914 was powered by an air and oil cooled flat-four, that many Porsche purists and 911 disciples called a Volkswagen. But the Porsche family stamp was plain to see in the engine bays of both cars.

Perhaps that’s why something unexpected happened to the 914. There was some sort of cross pollination that invested the little mid-engine two-seat 914 with the Targa top – especially the 914/6, the model with the flat-six engine from Porsche’s iconic 911 – with some competition DNA from the mighty Le Mans-winning 917.

In 1970, the doomsday 917 delivered by winning Le Mans outright for Porsche for the first time. A few canny Le Mans observers noted that that a Porsche 914/6 placed sixth overall and was first among all the Grand Touring cars – even the bigger and more powerful Ferraris and Corvettes. The 914/6 even outran the best 911 by three laps, or 25 miles.

In less than a year the 914 established a blood tie to Florida’s First Coast, when Brumos Porsche’s Peter Gregg and Hurley Haywood won the first IMSA GT race at Virginia International Raceway driving a tangerine-colored Porsche 914/6 GT (the same color as the 1970 Le Mans winner).

Behind the wheel of a Porsche, Haywood went on to win Le Mans three times, the 24 Hours of Daytona five times and the 12 Hours of Sebring twice. And it all started in the 914/6 GT, a racecar that still wears the same war paint it did in April 1971 at Virginia International Raceway.

Just after 9:30 AM on Sunday March 15, 2015, the most extraordinary collection of rare, unusual and in some cases, downright exotic, Porsche 914s will take to the fairways of the 20th annual Amelia Island Concours d’Elegance. The rarest of the rare 914s, the eight-cylinder 914/8 made for Herr Piech himself, will join Hurley Haywood’s 1971 IMSA Championship-winner and the 1972 Troutman & Barnes 914 custom pick-up truck on Amelia’s show field. A dozen outstanding Porsche 914s from around the world will assemble the first 914 exhibit at an international concours at Amelia.

It all started nearly five decades ago when a 12-cylinder Le Mans-winning monster and an agile, civilized sports car were born into a nice Bavarian family.


- Brumos' Peter Gregg hard on the brakes in his 914/6 GT at Sebring 1971


- George Larousse and Jean-Claude Perramond 914/6 in the 1971 Monte Carlo Rally


- Victory at Daytona: Jacques Duval, Bob Bailey and George Nicholas beat all the 911s in their 914/6 GT to win the 2.5 liter GT class placing seventh overall in the 1971 24 Hours


- A silver Porsche 916, there are only eleven in the world