Stuttgart's Rocketship - Porsche 914/8

What have we here, then? Just another 4-cylinder Porsche? High-performance Beetle? A lot more than that, once you get under the skin. What you’re feasting your eyes upon right now, is the 914/8, a poorly received special edition, which came about via the conception of an entry-level, underpowered sports car and a Le Mans racecar. A jet-powered jellybean on bicycle tyres. A deathtrap. You may call it one of these things, but I, personally, call it a masterpiece.

First, a little background on the 914. It was the mid 60s. Volkswagen had their aging, tired old Karmann Ghia with its impressively limp 4-cylinder engine, and Porsche had their cheapest model, the 912, which used a very similar engine indeed. Both cars were getting on a bit and were in need of replacement, so the two companies joined forces for one last time (the final project to fulfill VW’s contract with Porsche) to produce a fun, yet somewhat cheap sports car to be sold to the public. In 1968, the first prototype was revealed, with two engine options.

The first was a 79HP VW 1.7l flat-four, which was originally to be sold as a Volkswagen in America, and then the top of the range 914/6, receiving its punch from a 2.0l, 110HP Porsche flat-six, other applications being the boggo 911, the 911T. The unique body was built by Karmann, then shipped to Porsche factories for final production of six-cylinder models and kept for assembly of base four-cylinders in-house at Volkswagen.

A 4-cylinder 914 (distinguished by the wheels) with the boot open, highlighting the rather un-Porsche like MR layout.

However, things would become complicated for the poor thing. As the chairman of VW at the time passed away and a new one stepped up to fill the spot, agreements fell apart. Whilst the new chair, Kurt Lotz, believed VW had the right to sell the cars under their name as well, the decision was made to have all cars sold in North America as Porsches, and all in Europe as VW-Porsches. Whilst this may seem less glum than what you were perhaps expecting, there is a bad side to the fall out; production prices went up. A lot. Because of this, 914/6 models were only just cheaper than the powerplant-donating 911T, leading sales downwards. Only 3,332 /6s were sold, critically few compared to the 115,000+ /4s. The 4 cylinder variants were also praised for superior handling, owing much of this to their incredibly light weight, tipping the scales at just 962kg, and that the heavier 2-litre 6-cylinder cars used the exact same suspension setup. The poor response to the much pricier 6 cylinder cars lead to the demise of it, being axed just 3 years into production, in 1972, leaving just the 4-cylinder car to sing for its supper. In 1973, in an attempt to up the performance of the only remaining model, a new 1.8 litre flat-four was the partypiece to replace the original 1.7. The new engine utilised Bosch fuel injection which, in addition to the larger displacement, upped the power to 84HP. More than the original. Only 5 extra horses, but more nonetheless.

Whilst the roadcar had a reputation for being dysmally slow thanks to the rarity of the higher performance cars, racing efforts were far from. Multiple 914/6 GTs (a factory optional kit, distinguished externally by the exaggerated wheel arches) were entered for prestigious racing events such as the Le Mans 24 hour endurance race over a couple of years, with the cars having great success, largely thanks to the improvements made such as front brakes from the firm’s own 908 race car. The car above, the #69 Max Moritz Racing 914/6 GT driven by Gerd Quist and Dietrich Krumm had an unsuccessful beginning, though came back strong, finishing first in class at the 1971 1000km of Hockenheim and then again at the Nurburgring. Unfortunately there isn’t a lot about these 914s online, though there are a number of publishings about them, such as ‘The Racing 914s’.

Now though, back to the topic. The 914/8 was commonly seen as the hotrod of Stuttgart, coming from the classic American principle of ‘stick a huge engine in a tiny car’. That, they most certainly did. The car was a gift to Ferry Porsche for his 60th birthday, though he wasn’t a big fan of it. As you might have guessed by now, the /8 naming followed the previous models, and the car truly did have a flat-8 powerplant concealed beneath the unassuming surface. The engine in question is a detuned 908 engine, with the carburetted lump producing 300HP, which would be a lot nowadays, let alone in the early ‘70s. Needless to say, this car flew.

Alongside its rather major heart transplant, a couple of minor appearance tweaks were made. The popup headlight housings now held two lamps, and the wing mirrors were shaped for better airflow. Why these particular changed were decided upon, is a mystery to me, though an obvious one is the gaping hole in the front bumper, which sucked in air to cool the mid-mounted 3-litre nuclear reactor. Neither of the two cars produced ever witnessed track action, besides rare testing of the vehicles. The cars were not registered as road-legal models, so were consigned to a life of privacy, and both now rest in the official Porsche museum.

Another unheard of rarity in the 914 story is the 916 concept. Developed midway through the 914’s production, the eventually cancelled 916 was a huge step up performance wise, bringing 2.4 and 2.7 litre flat-sixes to the playing field, from the 911S and Carrera respectively. Alongside the big boost in power from the 914 (178/210 from 110 in the 914/6) the 916 prototypes brought a new, conventional H-pattern 5-speed manual transmission with codename ‘915’, four-wheel vented disc brakes and a fixed roof and aerodynamic bumpers for lower frontal area and drag. 11 prototypes of the 916 were made, before the model was cancelled for unknown reasons.

So there you have it, the brief history of the 914 and its fiery different variants. I always loved the 914, so decided to shed a little light on one of my favourite cars of the past century. Thanks for reading!