I just read that a very small number of 914s were fitted with an optional Sportomatic semi-automatic transmission.

Has anyone ever seen one? Pictures?

Thanks!

I've seen several 914-6 Sportos. (I believe that 25 of them were made, not counting prototypes.) Never seen a four-cylinder one, and I'm not at all convinced that there was ever one made in series production.

--DD

I think George at AA has a car with one in it. I think Road Race in the LA area the SF Valley had one for sale a while ago. Ck Ebay

Bob B

I saw the one that George has for sale way before he bought it at the Parts Heaven swap meet. Should have bought it. It was under $20k at the time, but I thought a 4 speed auto how lame. Should of known it would be worth a fortune some day.

I used to own the 1971 914/6 sportomatic that George Hussey owns. I sold it to him in 1998 for $25,000. There were 4 of them made. One is in Sweden, 2 in the USA and the other one is unaccounted for.

Click to view attachment

I've driven both VW Autosticks and 911Sportomatics.
They must be shifted up through the gears to perform adequately.
AND...dont let your right knee touch that knob !

I was trying to say they had a trans for sale not a car

Bob B

My first wife of 30 years had a VW auto stick shift. Being a stupid High School kid, I would touch the shifter and rev it up and let go. It never broke on us. By the way her parents got her a 914 first but she could not drive it. Kept staling it so they just sold the 1970 914 with no miles on it. Cannery Yellow same as my 6

Bob B

We had one in the early '70's in a bug, called it a touch clutch. Was kinda cool

Had a 1970 AutoStick Beetle. My daughter used it for a while to drive to school. Had to stress over and over do not drive with your hand on the gearshift knob unless you were going to shift.

I had a sportomatic 911 project car that I had great plans for. I had bought most of the bits to switch it to a 901. I have the 4 speed sporto the previous owner mated to a 3.2 if anyone wants to build a sporto car :-) I'll donate it. The rest is long gone.

If you look in PET, there are part numbers listed for a 4 cylinder sportomatic 914. But They never made it into production.

Same for the Webaso heater. There are part numbers in PET, but no 914 ever had one.

Clay

@gustl

Do you still have yours?

http://www.914world.com/bbs2/index.php?showtopic=8825

I remember that thread, but I didn't remember that you actually had pictures of one.

My father had a corvair when we moved to Ohio. He found a webaso heater from a wrecked VW bus and installed it in the corvair. It made life easier in the Ohio winter.

Anybody have any pictures of what the gearshifter inside the cockpit looked like?
Maybe George took some?

@sarivers2001

http://www.914world.com/bbs2/index.php?showtopic=86472

http://www.autoatlanta.com/life/showcase/

Some pictures of George's Sporto. It was a nice orange one

Bob B

Click to view attachment
Click to view attachment
Click to view attachment

Wow, that is really cool. How did it perform?

This info was in our database:
Bob B

Found online: Frank Pohl's 914-6 Sporto
Thank you very much for your interest and thank you also for your great work with the Sportomatic-platform!

http://www.sportomatic.org/sportowners/frank.htm

Concerning the numbers of cars built, I did some research a several years ago. The result was, that I found about 10 body numbers. Unfortunately, my notices are lost. but I remember details of some cars: one Sportomatic belongs to Mr. Spicka in Germany. The car runs with a 2.4 S engine. A second car was featured in the French Magazine "Flat Six" a few years ago. A third had been wrecked in Stuttgart. It was a car with many prototype features. I saved the rear bumper for my 914. I was also offered a 914/4 Sporto in 1993. This car came from Wolfsburg, where the VW factory is. From the 914/4 Sporto probably 2 have been built, making this to one of the rarest Porsche. The 914/6-version has been built in a quantity of at least 25. The Porsche statements indicating 5 been built stem from Jürgen Barth and are not correct.

My car (914 143 0120 went through about 10 pre-owners. The first was a WWII-veteran with just one leg - reason why he bought the car. The fourth owner did not like Sportomatic and built in a mechanical 5-speed-gearbox. In the late Seventies and early Eighties, the car underwent a career of an unliked child. After some further stations of not-caring possessors, there was not too much left from the car´s substance, apart from 4 layers of painting (originally tangerine 2310, then black, green and purple!!!), when I bought it and the rest was in miserable condition. Axles have been packed just on top of the interior, instruments stolen, the body sand blasted without covering glass nor cables nor plates. When we cut out the body, we removed nearly the complete chassis: no floor, no fenders, no doors, no longitudinal inner nor outer frame, no lids remaining. It was a desaster. And so was the interior, electricity, mechanics. You imagine the need for a 13-year-ground-up-restauration........ Fortunately, over the years, I could get a new interior, instruments, electric cables, a factory-new 911 T-Sportomatic -engine and a brand new gear box and so on. Somebody gave me a new converter in exchange for original 959 calipers. Strange ways to a new 914/6 Sportomatic....

Then, in 2002, the car was finally completed and drove for the first time after a 23-years rest. Unfortunately, after some kilometers, a piston burned out destroying the new (and last factory-sold 911 T) engine. Currently, I am enjoying a 2.2 E machine. Makes a lot fun. I am happy to answer all questions or sending you more photos. As soon as I have more time, I will be searching again for other 914 Sportos and sending you information.
Best wishes Frank

Click to view attachment

No, I sold it in 2009 ... it was a pleasure to drive in the lowlands, but as you might know I live in the mountains, where it turned out that the Sporto isn't my 1st choice

Here's one nice shot in the alps, still with the german licence plate (just before I registered it in Austria):

Click to view attachment

The current owner in Slovenia completely restored it to its factory specification:

Click to view attachment


little additional info about the amount of produced cars:
The Porsche factory itself stated, that they built 16 units of the 914-6 Sportomatic. Some other sources report 21 or even 25 units. The difference might be the result of counting prototypes or not, but that's just my guess.
Back in the days when I owned my Sporto (by the way, the very last factory built 914-6 Sporto) I did some intense research together with some other 914 guys and we found 12 or 13 factory original 914-6 Sportos in existence - and some later Sporto conversions.

Gustl

This thread has some more info:
http://www.914world.com/bbs2/index.php?showtopic=256406

have not driven an early 911 sporto.
not that many were ordered by australian buyers.
def a USA market thing in the main.

but have driven this. NSU RO80.
very first rotary engined cars. original wankel engines.
all were fitted with 3 speed semi auto gearboxes with the fichtel and sachs electronic clutch then mated to what is effectively a manual trans. same thing was done for the 911 sporto using the porsche box and transaxle.

power about the same as a 911T engine. approx 110 hp.
except very weak torque and engines had problems with snatching and jerking when mated to a standard manual gearbox. so all RO80s got the sporto box.

fun to drive. took a little bit to get used to. usual habit that everyone says which is you rest your hand on the gearlever habitually (just about everyone does that in city driving with a manual. ). so you have to really make yourself keep both hands on steering wheel. good for the discipline i guess.

i can't imagine a 911T with one of these boxes. leisurely driving? or at least straight line acceleration.

the RO80 was not what you would call quick off the line.
but boy was it smooth. the closest thing to an electric car in 1968.
no engine vibration.
once you get them up and rolling they keep their pace up too.
a bit like a 914. no need to slow down in corners.
pretty shocking for a 1968 car.


Click to view attachment


i guess the sporto 914/6 is these days a rare creature and has rarity value as an artefact. but i can see why they would not have shifted many of these units.
you just would not have wanted one unless it had the grunt in the engine to make up for it.

i have also had a very close look at a citroen GS birotor that was in the shop right through the lockdowns in 2020. same deal as the NSU. that had a NSU-Citroen Co-motor wankel in it. basically same engine as the NSU. mated up to a citroen version of the same sportmatic gearbox. the F+S electronic clutch combined with a citreon 3 speed gearbox. very advanced car for its time. suffered the same fate as the NSU.
the one in the shop is the only one in north antarctica. so it was a real rare treat to get a good look at one. also got a few rides as the passenger with the mechanic - as lookout for him. the birotor is LHD which was fun in the city traffic!


the best 914 with the best shift pattern was one of the 914/6s that came here originally.
it had a 4 speed box. with short ratios. special order from the factory for the distributor. i drove that a couple of times when it belonged to a mate of mine.
that car was a dream to shift. of course it lacked the top end for high speed autobahn cruising but i don't think that was what the aus distributor had in mind as a use for it.
very fast off the line in city traffic with the first to second shift. in many ways this would have been a good option to tick on the box for a 914 in the early days of the car but the factory did not think so obviously. but then again like the sporto maybe not many buyers would have opted for it?

WOW!!!

@SirAndy - thank's for digging out the old threads
re-reading all this old stuff was interesting and funny together - and brought up some cool memories

A four speed 914 6 ?... that is even more unusual than a Sporto !

might be the one and only.
i gave davep the chassis number.
there might be an interesting story to it.
its still here.
the present owner runs the 356 register.

I drove the vw version around town for a few hours. 1st to 4th and step on the brake. Rinse and repeat. It worked but it was all the work with none of the fun.