Porsche 914: Spotted
Mark finds a perfect way of keeping up with the Joneses with this 914/4
They're not the only ones led astray by a label, of course. Quite a few of those people either drive, or would aspire to drive, Porsches, and, such is the high regard for which the firm's products are now held, they're willing to drive almost anything that wears the badge - how else to explain the popularity of those early Cayennes?
Unfortunately, some thought it tainted by its associations with the lowly VW badge, in those days a firm known more for the old Beetle than for Golf GTIs and such. The spectre of the 911 hung over the 914, too, immensely popular even then despite its erratic behaviour, this being before it became the triumph of evolution over design it now is.
This one, up for a rather overly ambitious £24,995, is a 1971 VW-engined car, imported from the US of A. It appears in good condition, if a little too white, and with a fair amount of history behind it. We think there should be scope for negotiation on that price, although the Porsche-engined cars can easily make twice as much.
Oh, and if you are put off by the VW-Porsche bit, can I suggest you just tell your friends it's a very early Boxster?
Mark Pearson
PORSCHE 914/4
Engine: 1,679cc, flat-four
Transmission: 5-speed manual, rear-wheel drive
Power (hp): 80@4,900rpm
Torque (lb ft): 98@2,700rpm
MPG: N/A
CO2: N/A
First registered: 1971
Recorded mileage: 55,000 miles
Yours for: £24,995
See the original advert here
Even if the engine is an air cooled flat 4 from a VW transporter.
Many have been re-powered with 3.0 SC engines, which could be a lot of fun but, again, the running costs have sky rocketed in recent years on the back of the early cars prices.
- All originally built left hand drive so very rare in UK
- I'd prefer a 6-pot but only a small number were built, mainly due to high price
The least desirable 2 door Porsche? I can't personally think of one I covert less, but I do like all things Pork, so it's in difficult company.
Probably tricky to find a good example these days, but with 25000 burning a hole in my pocket, I'd be more inclined to go for this (very not white) example with 170 bhp from a Lancia 2-litre.
What they should have done was badge it as a VW, give it a 2200 cc VW flat four from the start, and mass produce it in VW's factory, bringing costs right down. Oh, and they should have rust proofed it.
Porsche should launch a sub brand, and design a genuinely tiny, lightweight, flickable little fun sports coupe/convertible. A cheap, simple design, it would be front engined, RWD, very short, very narrow, 1000kg or less, and enough grunt to make it moderately quick only, with very low manual gearing. Grin factor ten on the public roads at speeds you can tell a policeman about, not an inaccessible track day warrior. As I think I said in another post somewhere on here, today's Boxster/Cayman shares similarities with the 911's platform, and as such is actually very long. A GT86 is shorter, despite having four useable seats, and an Elise is MUCH shorter. There's a gap in the market here Porsche, jump in.
Looked into them earlier in the year after crawling all over one at the Silverstone Classic. Conclusion was as repeated a lot in this thread already: "affordable" 914s are usually with the VW engine, and 80bhp is just doesn't cut it as something you can occasionally drive and enjoy - plus running costs high.
914/6s look much more interesting... but much much more expensive.
Gassing Station | General Gassing | Top of Page | What's New | My Stuff