Model Collector – August 2019

(Barré) #1
august 2019 | http://www.modelcollector.com 47

American excursion (and sales
success) was that increasing
safety compliance legislation
resulted in the overall look of
914 design being totally spoilt
by increasingly visually
dominant bumpers – a fate
that afflicted many other
contemporary European sports
models sold in that market.
In terms of automotive
production history,
a retrospective look at the
914 places it at the very centre
of the most vibrant era of
Karmann production,
available in an eye-catching
range of paint colours and
options packages. The launch
model 914/4 came with
standard V W 4-bolt steel
wheels. A few 916/6s sported
Porsche standard 5-bolt steel
wheels, but the majority were
shod the charismatic five-
spoke Fuchs wheels from the
911 series. Factory options
included steel 4-bolt Lemmerz
GT wheels that looked

exhibited one at the 1970
Earl’s Court Motor Show. The
conversion, though, pushed
the price even higher in an era
when the £-DM exchange rate
made buying a German car
distinctly unattractive here
in the UK. As CAR magazine
pointed out at the time, you
could buy two Lotus Europas
for the price of a 914/6 in 1970!
With marketing in Europe
channelled through the joint
company, 914/4 sales were
handled by V W dealerships
and 914/6s via Porsche
concessionaires. UK sales
were all via the Porsche
concessionaires. While
technically very well received
as an excellently performing
driver’s car, the range
suffered from a fair degree of
identity uncertainty in the
eyes of many motoring
journalists, and indeed the
buying public. Far clearer was
its identity in North America,
where it was sold badged only

engine with Bosch electronic
fuel injection from the V W 411E
introduced the year previously;
the 914/6 having a 2.0l six-
cylinder engine carried over
from the 911 T 2.0. The 914
model designation followed
Porsche tradition by using
the vehicle’s project number.
During the car’s six year
production run all the
bodies were manufactured
at Wilhelm Karmann GmbH.
The 914/4 was fully finished
at Karmann, while the 914/6
trimmed bodies were shipped
off to Porsche’s Zuffenhausen
plant for completion with
engine and associated
mechanicals. Rationalisation
saw the 914/6 being dropped
fairly quickly, with a myriad
of detail changes, including
engine options, introduced
year by year. Only ever
produced in LHD, a handful
of cars were converted to RHD
in the UK by Crayford, who


as Porsche and imported
through the US Porsche-
Audi organisation.
The 914 had a very brief
but dramatically successful
period in motor racing, at
the time when Porsche was
still on riding high on the
successes of the 911 and 917.
So well balanced, though,
was the mid-engined layout
that the 911, with its
predictable tail-sliding
tractability in ice and snow,
was preferred by the majority
of Porsche’s drivers for
competition use. Nevertheless,
some of the most dramatic
rally photos of the era feature
914s, generally in their
distinctive orange paintwork.
Competition use prompted the
development of wider wings
as a factory option, resulting
in the informally named 914
GT. This was an option order-
able on street use models if
the purchaser so wished. The
down side of the 914’s North

Karmann also actively promoted its
own product range

Karmann’s paint/trim colours and US Porsche advertising of the mid ’70s ...
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