So for my day job, I work for an airline, yes that’s odd enough, but sometimes it takes odd twists. My trip is rescheduled abut 4 times leaving me to catch a shuttle the company arranged for to drive from LAX to San Diego. Getting in after 2AM. Long day.

So they have me in the back and I start talking to the guy next to me. The subject of cars come up. Well of course we had to talk about the 914. Showed him a picture and the effect was he was awestruck. Mentioned that he always wanted a Carrera GT. He pointed out something I hadn’t really noticed before. The 914 really looks similar. I had seen the car up close and never made the connection on the styling ques. But then he showed me a picture, and it all was so obvious to me.

Really nice dude, lives in LA and I invited him to stalk us here. @jim_hoyland apparently he lives near you. Told him you might be able to get him a ride in one. Or to just show up for one of the drives in the are to at least get a good look at one.

Meanwhile, after all the excitement last night, I get a call from crew scheduling letting me know there’s a big storm that they think will affect operations out of JFK, and my flight is canceled, so
I’m going home early.

I can see it. Too rich for me...
https://www.dupontregistry.com/autos/result...che/carrera--gt

Let's face it. The 914 was the logical outcome of everthing Porsche had learned racing represented in an affordable street car. Yes the 550 was 1st street legal mid-engine but that wasn't exactly affordable or produced in volume.

The 914 formula: Mid-engine, low polar moment of inertia, and light weight.

I can easily see the connection to the CGT, and I think anything Porsche did right since the 914 (i.e. Boxter, Cayman) have their roots with the 914. Of course the mid-engine 914 owes it DNA to the 550, 904,906,908, 917, and even as far back as the mid engine Auto Union cars of the 30's.

These days I often mention #40 at the 1970 Lemans most people don't get it, but a few do. It's tough to argue with reality

Light weight and mid engine are a few of the ingredients of the recipe for this giant killer

Well, the "odd" turn signals do mimic the distinct 911 headlights.

Also the first car to have the bumpers integrated into the body shape & aerodynamics. Well into the 80s bumpers on most cars looked like chromed guard rails.

Does the GT have a targa top? Looks like it would.

Will gladly

Yessir, fun to look at the CGT as the 914-10 ! The (theoretical) resemblance even more visible when the CGT is topless...really breaks up the flowing lines and gives it a big go-kart look to it like our 914s.
In the side profile of both red cars, on the CGT you can see the "Extra stretch" of body rearwards from the cockpit area; for stuffing that drivetrain in there.
YouTube has some good CGT driving vids, handled by Walter Rohrl A CGT even without exhaust work= one of the Best sounding sports cars ever !
AND, when the 986 Boxster ads hit media in 1997, Porsche buried the 914 heritage and touted the Boxster lineage direct to the 550. Things must have changed over in Zuffenhausen...today they see the bucks in the 914 (Classic).

In 1970 at the LM24, if you were one of the 2L 911 entrants, Nobody ever expected a weird New box shaped VW/ Porsche to P1 in class; it did.
In 2010 at the Daytona 24, if you were one of the Daytona Prototype (Riley chassis, etc) entrants, Nobody expected a car powered by a Porsche SUV v8 engine to P1 in class; it did / and Overall winner.
There were NO Porsche brass there to take the mic either...Nobody saw it coming. My good friend Ben Lozano (the engine builder) was hussled up to the Podium, spoke a few lines and the Champagne flowed !

OK, how long now before we see the "Carrera GT" kit for the 914?

@bkrantz CGT kit car would look dwarfed built on a 914 wheelbase at 96.5"
The Carrera GT comes in at 107.5" wheelbase
Don't forget, the Carrera GT came to be a Street derivative of a race car Projekt that they nixed ; and the center mounted fuel tank (behind seats) would have been a Big move towards Safety with a Fuel Cell being standard equip.
That long wheelbase kind of reminds me of pure track monster.
An older F1 closer to the era of the '05 CGT was
126" (Force India)...even longer wheelbases in today's F1 cars

All the best stuff is mid-engine!

Who would have known, the boys/girls really got it right, out of the box

Personally, I would pass on the Carrera GT in favor of a well tuned version of #40, much more pure without ECU's, etc, ....

Having actually sat in both driven one and ridden in the other, I’d go heavy on the fully evolved. My 914-6 growls behind me, the CGT screams ala F1. The one I rode in had 27 miles on it, a chip in the windshield and a new $4K windshield sitting in the garage in case the chip became a crack. Sitting in the 914 makes me hope the seats are clean and my 914 is fuching nice. Sitting in the CGT made me wonder if my pants were clean.
The CGT looks refined but that bitch will kill you in a moment. Too much street car and not quite enough race car. I absolutely trust my 914 at both mine and its limit.

Ben Lozano was basically hired by Jim France to develop the Cayenne V8 engine for use in the DP's. He was buying every crashed Cayenne he could find for little more than the core engine. A deal could not be worked with Porsche to supply the necessary parts for the program.
Daytona Prototype racing back then was very interesting with respect to engines. Porsche Motorsport was building the 6 cylinder engine and GA was limiting all the engines. Jim France wanted a V8 powered series which is the reason he contracted with Ben. All engines were eventually leased and were limited to certain HP and Torque figures. Chevy, Ford, BMW, Toyota (Lexus) and Porsche were all available. The Porsche 6 was the most expensive engine to run. 9500 RPM made the engines run for just one race weekend. V8'S would run for 30-45 hours.

And thus began the end of my love affair with Porsche. Turned its back on racing to build SUV's. Em'. Plenty of cool vintage metal in this world, the 914 being 1st among them in my view.

To continue the original poster's theory, the Panamera is the fully evolved Beetle.

@Mikey914 last thread hijack from me ! @9146GUY
In conversations with Ben during our engine construction he had mentioned that dozens of salvage yards were contacted by "Sources" instructing them not to sell the Lonzano Bros Porting shop any Take-Out Cayenne v8 engines
Just one of the pallets of expired v8 Cayenne engines headed for scrap alum...leftovers from intense track testing from the Daytona project days. They put these spec engines into Rileys and ran testing over at Jim Hall's Rattlesnake Raceway, Tx.
The grey Engine Crate in the center picture was for our shipment.
Click to view attachment

I think any company will try to maximize it's ROI and Porsche obviously hit a home run entering the suv market. I think it's similar to following a sports team. They need fans to bring in the money but are playing for their own interests. I realized my interests seem to fall into the '65-75 timeframe. For me, later sports cars are too big. But if I had the money, I would have a Cayenne turbo in my garage.

...and then there is this limited (25 made) Gemballa "Mirage" version with rooftop air inlet. Our neighbor Ben up the road had a blue CGT Mirage, and took it with him couple years ago upon his move to Manhattan, N.Y. I really loved to hear/see it move spiritedly through the 'hood. He did wreck 2 of his previous supercars; Veyron, Lambo. See next post on how he "Modified" his CGT/ Mirage.

Click to view attachment

Ben needed DE and a dedicated track to stretch the legs of his Carrera GT mirage; the streets of Manhattan not the correct proving grounds...
Check out that "Stance Nation" right rear camber
Click to view attachment

Hope he was/is ok? maybe he should take a driving class or??

nice to see someone out there driving a very exy porsche like he stole it.


if i had been out walking and he pranged that car in front of me i would have run to the nearest bottle shop and bought him a six pack to celebrate while he waited for the flat bed.

we can all thank a socially dysfunctional genius for the 914 - and just about anything else porsche made that would make you pee your pants strapped into the passenger seat. its one man? more or less driving the insanity and purism?

https://www.german-times.com/before-passing...n-group-intact/

above article is the best obit i read about him. love the disrespect thing he had going down for the rest of the family. thats how we got 914s.

did he have anything to do with carrera gt pulling strings on puppets from a distance.
i don't know but its his kind of car? maltese falcon could answer that question.

if he did - theres your link.

According to the news , he was slightly imbibed, destroyed other cars (and a van) that were street parked. He casually lit up a smoke, was interviewed by NYPD, hailed a flatbed and the situation just went away.
Power of stupid money I guess ¿

@wonkipop On another note; Ferdinand Piech is one of my all time favorite racecar geniuses, along with other people I have high respect for; Smokey Yunick, Zora Arkus Duntov, Ak Miller, Ferdinand Porsche, Hans Mezger, Carroll Shelby, Alwin Springer, probably 10 more I can name.
Herr Piech (I'm sure) carried his Family's bagage with him through life (who hasn't?) dealt with VW Dieselgate, other BS I'm sure...but kept his wits, eyes on the prize, and got Big Wins for the Marque.

As far as the CGT design goes, I only know that Porsche designer Grant Larson and his team got the greenlight to break ground and produce the winning design. Grant and I met at an Art Center/ Pasadena Ca. conference several years ago, and we had a nice chat. He's a 356 guy

sounds like i would have only been offering him a top up!

thats some classy names you lined up there maltese falcon.
i'm sure herr piech wouldn't mind being included in the list,
even if in his mind he was in a list all of his own.