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.

Great stuff!

Can't wait to start alienating family and guests when I start info-dumping this stuff during holiday get-togethers.

Thanx Andy!

I've had my copy DGVWPB for almost a year now, but with my limited 1 year of college German about 40 years ago, translating/understanding it is mostly beyond my linguistic skills!

BTW - in my case I was happy to go to the 2+1 seating from my prior 6 seat Pontiac Ventura 4-door for similar reasons, except that I occasionally utilized the middle seat for a 2nd gal "along for the ride"!

Awaiting more tid-bits!

Great information ! Are there any artist's renderings of the other proposed models ???? That would be very interesting

Not to my knowledge ... That would be cool indeed ...

Thanks for that info Andy!

You've inadvertently given me the idea I needed for a particular aspect of the final paint/detail of my build.

- Nelson

that's awesome, I will have my house cleared in no time.


Andy , great readings.

Thanks Andy!

That is very cool to read Andy! Thank you for posting that. Still learning new things about my old car all the time, cheers!!

I always love learning more about our cars. Thanks; good way to start the day with a cup of Joe.

Good stuff.......

.... sometimes I just crack myself up!

OK - I thought more about my 3-seater (2+1) comment above, & realized that I need to explain a bit more what I meant, lest I come across as trying to be "a 3-way Tool"!

I agree with the guy you quoted as being the designated bus driver with the big car, but it's also nice to have the 3rd seat in our 914s, since many Gals would go places with a Gal-buddy/wingman, and then were inseparable for the poor sots with a strict 2-seater.

So it was nice to say: "No problem, all three of us can fit, and we can drop her off at her house first."

The real trick was to get the cuter one to sit in the middle.

Hopefully that came across the way I meant it.

Happy Holidays All!

Very cool. You rock!

What about the front engine rumor?

The book clearly states that during the first meeting between Ferry Porsche and Nordhoff, it was decided that the car would have to be mid-engine to be in line with the Porsche race-cars.

There's no mentioning that a front engine layout was ever considered ...

Thats what I thought.

The front engine concept came about with the 924 and its successors, I would wager.

But I'm just guessing.

- Nelson

...............Thanks Andy, great stuff.

Thank you

Great read... I knew only 2 -- Karman-Ghia replacement and Dash Check Lights.

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

Does anyone have images of these sketches, or a link to them ?

I'm afraid those are lost in space ...

The only person i can think of that *might* know anything about those would be Norbert Schlüter from Germany who not only inherited the original clay model from Klie, but also bought Klie's private 914 (which was used as a design study mule) ...

Andy, Can I propose that this gets Nailed to the beginning of the Garage forum? This is great stuff that would be a shame to get lost in the dozens of pages once people stop commenting on it.

Great stuff!

Great reading Andy. Thx. And thank God they didn't install the system check. We have enough electrical gremlins without additional stuff. (stuff is my favorite big word)

Now I know why I love 914's...I was born in 1964...The year the first drawings of the 914 go back to...I was born in the month of August....The month of the official start date of the 914 project in 1966!! And...I can totally relate to this final tidbit....

- 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."

This is some really awesome stuff Sir Andy...Thanks for sharing

Boy, I love to see those...

I was also concieved in 1964, but showed up Aug 65

914 was designed to replace the Karmann Ghia... But which one ? the 14 or the 34 ? Not the 14 that was produced from 1955 to 74 ...
The Karmann Ghia type 34 (the square one presented in 1961) was a commercial Fiasco. 42500 produced between 62 and 69...
In 1969 the Type 34 was removed from the production lines in Osnabrück and replaced by the 914.
This Karmann was never officially imported in the USA.
I think the 34 was designed specifically for the USA. It had the same style than the Corvair. But why did it never made to the USA ? Homologation issues ?.

More about the Type 34 ... http://www.type34.com

I will ask Norbert if he get some more early papers from Mr. Klie.

Btw: Norbert is restoring the Klie 914, the shell is ready.
I suspect that the car is back on the street next year.

It was the 14 they wanted to replace, even though 914s used the prior 34 part of the Karmann line. The only 34's which I saw around SoCal back in the 60's were military people who got them overseas & then the military would ship them home for them. Maybe 1-2 around San Diego then, but lots of 14 Ghias.

My best High School bud in San Diego had a 64 Ghia he painted kind of an olive green & added thos stick-on vinyl "peace-&-love" flowers you saw on Buses in the 60's.

And the best part of this is that the car started over a beer between two buddies.

Rich

Cool reading. Can U post a pic and info of the book or mag this is out of?

Click to view attachment

130.00 to 150.00 EURO !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Geeze. That's one expensive book. Is it really worth asking Santa for one?

IMHO - yup! I paid $200 for mine this past summer!
Now I just need to learn to read German!

I can relate. When I was in High School I used to drive my parents VW Bus all the time. Always carrying lots of people to parties and never getting any action. Then I got the 914 on prom night. Major action.

I paid $145.00 for mine quite a few years ago. A photo of my M471 at the Nurburgring back in 1972 is on page 70, so I am very happy to have this book in my collection.

Yeah - a lot of the "real Porsche" guys & others tried to coin it a "Girls' Porsche" or "Girls' Car" - to which I always agreed, but for different reasons!

IMHO - the "action" was better in a 914, than in any of my other buddies' 911s or 912s, for some strange reason - especially with the top off, it seemed to attract more attention, back in my single days of the 70's-80's.

BTW - Steve's 914-6 now looks just like the pic on pg. 70 when new - he did a great resto on it!

Would you post a pic of page 70....

Click to view attachment

Different photo (not in DGVWPB), another angle and in color.

Current photo

My cover is bigger than yours ...

And the back with a quick translation:

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Das Grosse VW-Porsche Buch tells, for the first time, the complete and remarkable story of this unique sportscar. The VW-Porsche 914 was presented to the public in 1969. And not only the chassis was a departure from the traditional Porsche sportscar design. The 914 was based on the mid-engine layout concept. It was supposed to combine the genius of the Porsche engineers with affordable mass-production technology. The child of the david and goliath of the German automobile industry stirred up a lot of emotions and was either passionately loved or all out hated.
The car-journalist Michael von Klodt has collected many to date unknown facts and pictures of the development of the 914 as well as background information about the teamwork between Porsche and VW.
Furthermore: The racing history, prototypes and custom builds using the 914 as a platform, everything worth knowing about clubs, buying a 914 and much more.
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Thanks Andy, I think every week you should read us a new chapter.
I look forward to more.
How bout you bring the book to the WCR and read to us around the fire, and NO I'm not being a smart a$$.
See you soon
T

Great vintage pic ! What is the thingy on the side and trunk parts about ?

Camera Mounts as Steve's car was used by Porsche & Strenger to film commercials

I did a brief search and the cheapest copy I could find was $415, a bit too much for me. My 914 book collection will remain incomplete for now.

If anyone wants it, see below.

http://www.alibris.com/booksearch.detail?i...rt=p&page=1

The comment about finding a photo of your M471 in the book sort of hit home. I have a series of sports car racing annuals and in one volume I found an arial photo showing the pit staight and spectator parking near the main drag at Sebring. There in the rows of cars is my old white Nissan pickup with its bed cap that was my sleeping place race night. Ahh, memories...

Thanks Andy
Keep reading, I'm listening

http://de.fetchbook.info/compare.do?search=9783893652709

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