The Porsche 914 or VW-Porsche 914 is a mid-engined sports car designed, manufactured and marketed collaboratively by Volkswagen and Porsche from 1969 to 1976. Available as a targa-topped two-seat roadster, across a single generation, the 914 was powered by either a flat-4 or flat-six engine.
History Pre-development
By the late 1960s, both Volkswagen and Porsche were in need of new models; Porsche was looking for a replacement for their entry-level 912, and Volkswagen wanted a new range-topping sports coupé to replace the Volkswagen Type 34 Karmann Ghia coupé. At the time the majority of Volkswagen's development work was handled by Porsche as part of an agreement that dated back to Porsche's founding. Volkswagen needed to contract out one last project to Porsche to fulfill the contract, and decided to make the 914 that project. Ferdinand Piëch, who was in charge of research and development at Porsche, was put in charge of the 914 project.
In 1966 and 1967, German company Gugelot Design GmbH began showing a proposed design for a sports coupe built with technology developed in partnership with Bayer to several major car builders, including Volkswagen and Porsche. Some sources have suggested that the Gugelot proposal, suitably adapted, was the origin of the design of the 914. The rationale is that an outside design would be able to please both Volkswagen and Porsche without appearing too similar to either of the partners' existing products. Later sources have rejected this idea. While acknowledging that Porsche was aware of the Gugelot design, they assert that the 914 design was done in-house at Porsche, and is primarily the work of body engineer Heinrich Klie.
Joint venture Originally intending to sell the vehicle with a flat four-cylinder engine as a Volkswagen and with a flat six-cylinder engine as a Porsche, Porsche decided during development that having Volkswagen and Porsche models sharing the same body would be risky for business in the American market, and convinced Volkswagen to allow them to sell both versions as Porsches in North America.On March 1, 1968, the first 914 prototype was presented. However, development became complicated after the death of Volkswagen's chairman, Heinrich Nordhoff, on April 12, 1968. His successor, Kurt Lotz, was not connected with the Porsche dynasty and the verbal agreement between Volkswagen and Porsche fell apart.
In Lotz's opinion, Volkswagen had all rights to the model, and no incentive to share it with Porsche if they would not share in tooling expenses. With this decision, the price and marketing concept for the 914 had failed before series production had begun. As a result, the price of the chassis went up considerably, and the 914/6 ended up costing only a bit less than the 911T, Porsche's next lowest priced car.
The 914 was Motor Trend'''s Import Car of the Year for 1970.
Slow sales and rising costs prompted Porsche to discontinue the 914/6 variant in 1972 after producing 3,351 of them.
Production of the 914 ended in 1976. The 2.0 L flat-4 engine continued to be used in the 912E, introduced that year as an entry-level model until the front-engined four-cylinder 924 was introduced the following model year.
The 914/4 became Porsche's top seller during its model run, outselling the Porsche 911 by a wide margin with over 118,000 units sold worldwide.
Features
Volkswagen versions originally featured the fuel-injected 1.7 L VW Type 4 flat-four engine producing .
Porsche's 914/6 variant featured the 2.0 L air-cooled Type 901/3 flat-six engine from the 1967–1969 911T model. This was the least powerful flat-six in Porsche's lineup. This engine had revised pistons that reduced the compression ratio to 8.6:1. The cylinder barrels were entirely made of iron, in contrast to the iron and aluminum "Biral" barrels in the engines in the 911S and 911L. New camshafts had less lift, and relaxed timing characteristics. The venturis in the Weber 40IDT3C carburetors were , smaller than the other 911 engines, and the exhaust pipe diameter was also reduced in size. Power output was . When the 911T got a 2.2 L engine in 1970, the engine in the 914/6 remained at 2.0 L.
All engines were placed amidships in front of a version of the 1969 911's "901" gearbox configured for a mid-engined sports car. Karmann manufactured the rolling chassis at their plant, completing Volkswagen production in-house or delivering versions to Porsche for their final assembly.
The 914/6 models featured both a higher power output and higher curb weight than the 4-cylinder models. They came with lower gear ratios, larger brakes, five-lug wheels and an ignition on the left side of the steering wheel. Suspension and handling were otherwise mostly the same. A Volkswagen-Porsche joint venture, Volkswagen of America, handled export to the U.S., where both versions were badged and sold as Porsches. The four-cylinder cars were sold as Volkswagen-Porsches at European Volkswagen dealerships.
For 1973, the discontinued 914/6 was replaced in the lineup by a variant powered by a new 2.0 L, fuel-injected version of Volkswagen's Type 4 engine.
For 1974, the 1.7 L engine was replaced by an 1.8 L, and the new Bosch L-Jetronic fuel injection system was added to American units to help with emissions control.
Model year changes
Over the seven model years, Porsche made a number of changes to the 914. Some of these changes were cosmetic and others were in response to changing crash protection standards. From 1970 to 1972, the 914 was offered with chrome or painted bumpers. In early 1970, rear bumpers were produced with a straight crease on either side of the license plate indent. Between 1970 and 1972, both front and rear bumpers were smooth without bumper guards. In 1973, bumper guards were added to the front of the car. In 1974, guards were also added to the rear bumper. In 1975 and 1976, the chrome or painted bumpers were replaced with heavy, rubber-covered units which actually made the cars more stable at high speeds.
The headlight surrounds were white from the first 914s to mid-production of 1973 and subsequently black. Cars produced up to early 1972 had a fixed passenger seat and a removable passenger footrest. Later cars featured a movable passenger seat. Other interior differences included changing vinyl designs, gauge appearance, and air vent configurations in the dash.
The most significant performance upgrade during the vehicle's lifespan was the introduction of anti-roll bars, significantly improving the handling, and a change from the "tail shifter" to the "side shifter" gearbox for 1973 to 1976, improving the otherwise vague long linkage.
Technical summaries Technical specifications of the standard versions The Porsche 914 was produced from 1969 to 1976 in the following models:
914/4 1.7 S (Targa) 914/6 SC (Targa) 914 1.8 Base (Targa) 914 2.0 SC (Targa) Engine Flat, four-cylinder boxer engine Flat, six-cylinder Type 901/3 boxer engine Flat, four-cylinder boxer engine Flat, four-cylinder boxer engine Induction Bosch D-Jetronic Fuel injection Two 3-barrel 40 mm Weber Carburetors Bosch L-Jetronic Fuel injection (European-spec Dual Carburettor) Bosch D-Jetronic Fuel injection Displacement Bore x stroke Maximum power at 4900 rpm at 5800 rpm at 5000 rpm Maximum torque at 2700 rpm at 4200 rpm at 3400 rpm at 3500 rpm Compression ratio 8.2:1 8.6:1 7.3:1 (European-spec 8.6:1) 7.6:1 (European-spec 8.0:1) Valvetrain Single cam-in-block. 2 overhead valves per cylinder. Single overhead camshaft (one per cylinder head). 2 overhead valves per cylinder. Single cam-in-block. 2 overhead valves per cylinder. Cooling Air cooling (fan) Transmission 5-speed manual transmission 5-speed manual transmission4-speed semi-automatic transmission (Sportomatic) 5-speed manual transmission Front suspension MacPherson struts and lower A-arms. Longitudinal torsion bars. Rear suspension Semi-trailing arms. Coil springs over tubular shock absorbers. Body/chassis Steel unibody Track width(front/rear) Wheelbase BrakesFront/rear disc / disc vented disc / disc Tires 155 SR 15 165 HR 15 or 185 HR 14 165 SR 15 165 HR 15 Dimensions(L x W x H) Curb weight Maximum speed Acceleration 13.3 s 8.7 s 12.0 s 10.5 s
914 road car timeline Porsche 914 model/power production timeline: 1968 to 1977 Model Power 1960s 1970s8 90 1 2 3 45 6 7 914/4 914/6 914 1.7 914 1.8 (US) () 914 2.0 (US) () 914 2.0 (US only)
Chassis numbers Porsche 914 chassis numbers from 1970 to 1976Year914/4914/691619704702900001 – 47029133129140430001 – 914043266819714712900001 – 47129162319141430001 – 9141430443914143019519724722900001 – 47229215809142430001 – 91424302609142330011 – 914233002019734732900001 – 473292766019744742900001 – 474292137019754752900001 – 475291136819764762900001 – 4762904100
Concept cars, prototypes, and factory specials Porsche 914/6 GT, 914/6 R
On 1 March 1970 the 914/6 was homologated by the Fédération Internationale de l'Automobile (FIA) for Group 4, Special Grand Touring cars. That same month two cars were sent to the Targa Florio for testing, not as competitors. These were the first two 914/6 GT cars built. Externally the cars were distinguished by squared fender flares that were the full depth permitted by FIA rules. The chassis was reinforced with three welded plates on each side. For rally applications, a stone guard protected the power-train and a stone shield did the same for the front of the car.
The GT cars received stronger lower front A-arms, and anti-roll bars were fitted front and rear. Ground clearance was reduced to . Brakes front and rear were upgraded to the same components used on the racing 911S model.
Fiberglass panels for the front and rear bumpers, front and rear deck lids, and left and right rocker panels replaced the original steel parts. The rear air intake grille was doubled in size. An inlet in the front bumper admitted air to a new supplementary oil cooler in the nose. The car's nose compartment was nearly filled by a fuel tank. The car weighed ready to race.
The engine remained at 2.0 litres displacement with Weber Carburetor induction, but was extensively upgraded otherwise. New cylinder heads with larger valves topped aluminum cylinder barrels with chrome-plated bores. A dual-ignition system fired two spark plugs per cylinder. High compression pistons and forged steel piston rods were borrowed from the 911S. A special crankshaft was added. Camshafts and rocker arms came from the 901/20 in the Carrera 6. Power output was up to at 8000 rpm.
Although the factory campaigned the car in rallying, it was more successful in road racing.
In the United States the Porsche+Audi distributor called the car the 914/6R.
M471, kits To qualify for SCCA homologation, 500 copies of a car had to be built. It is estimated that Porsche built fewer than 40 GTs with the full race engine. To add to the total, an additional 11 cars were equipped with the Competition Option Group M471 package that included the GT's steel fender flares, rocker panels and nose piece as well as wheel spacers, a set of 6-inch wide Fuchs wheels, and 185/70VR15 tires, but did not include the enhanced engine from the GT. Similar appearance-only kits were also supplied to dealers, totaling about 400 units.
Porsche's application for homologation was successful, but instead of being added to the C Production class, the SCCA put the 914/6 GT into the more competitive B Production class.
914/8