A brief history of the Porsche 914
The Porsche 914 was a joint project with Volkswagen. Porsche wanted to have an affordable entry level car, and VW wanted a sports car. The car's basic body design was created by a German industrial design company, later to be modified for mid-engine use by Porsche, and it was built by the German company Karmann. The engines would be 1.7 liter, four cylinder, VW units from the 411 sedan or 2.0 liter, six cylinder, Porsche units from the 911. The car was introduced in late 1969. Porsche made a few prototype 916s which were 914-6s with the Carrera 2.7L engine. The interior was made more upscale and the rest of he car was lightened. Unfortunately, the 916 plan never went into production. A 914-6 won it's class in the 1970 Le Mans race and finished 6th overall. 914s also had limited success in rallying. However, the 914-6 was very successful in SCCA C Production class. The 914-6 was only built until late 1971 and it was replaced by the 2.0 liter four cylinder in 1973. The 2.0 four is a modified VW unit. Many consider the 2.0 to be the best of all the 914s. The base model 914 went from 1.7 to 1.8 liters for the '73 model year. There were special edition cars made in 1974 with paint schemes that could have only come from the 1970s. The 1975 model year brought big black impact bumpers which added quite a bit of weight. After drops in power due to emissions standards and also a high price, the 914 ended production in 1976.