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History:
Beginning in the spring of 1968, Porsche build several 914 prototypes, which served various purposes
ranging from exploring different chassis details to crash testing.
Most early Prototypes were never meant to be driven, they were merely used as design studies.
We know of one car (914103) which never had a suspension mounted and was used to design the rear engine-lid
and trunk lid as well as the dual-headlight setup that was only put to use once, on Dr. Piech's red 914-8 (914111).
Our inquiries with Porsche, both in Stuttgart and in Weissach, revealed that there were 20 hand-built prototype cars
that were delivered to Weissach from Karmann (as bare shells) in 3 separate shipments during spring/summer/fall of 1968.
Besides those 20 shells shipped to Weissach, Karmann also build 48 914/4 prototypes in 1969, which were used for
type acceptance, crash testing, etc.
All prototypes were pre-production cars and were never intended to be sold to the public. In fact, according to
a internal memo, all 914 prototypes were to be destroyed once the production run had started.
Luckily for us, a few examples managed to avoid the crusher!
| Known surviving 914 prototypes |
Internal
Project # |
VIN # |
Engine |
Color |
Owner |
| 914/10 |
914111 |
8-Cyl. 908 Racing Engine, 3.0L, Bosch MFI |
Red |
Dr. Ferdinand Piech |
|
| 914/11 |
914114 |
6-Cyl. 911T Engine, 2.0L, Weber carburetors |
Yellow/Purple |
Sam Charters |
|
| ??? |
914120 |
6-Cyl. 911T Engine, 2.0L, sportomatic transmission |
Red |
??? |
|
| 914/21 |
914006 |
8-Cyl. 908 Racing Engine, 3.0L, Weber carburetors |
Silver |
Prof. Ferry Porsche |
Porsche used a internal numbering system (Project Number) for their Prototype Cars which was later expanded
to the factory build and factory raced GT-Racecars.
The earliest known factory GT Car is 914/31, an Irish Green GT-Prototype from 1970.
914111
The first of the two 914/8s was build for Dr. Ferdinand Piech and even though this car officially wasn't street legal,
in it's early days, it could be spotted on the autobahn quite regularly. Most distinguishing features on this car were
the smooth front bumper, bigger turn signals and wider headlights. The fenders were slightly widened to fit a larger
wheel/tire combo.
 
914114
The car surfaced in southern california in the late 1990s. The current owner acquired it through a storage lien sale
(without knowing the content of the storage unit) for $70. After having sat outside for years, the car has some serious (terminal?)
rust issues. The chassis is completely hand-welded and does not utilize any production panels. Most of the parts used on the car
are one-off, handcrafted parts. It also sports the larger turn signals used on 914111.
 
914120
This car is currently located in germany. It has been for sale for over 10 years (through a dealership, although the car is privately owned).
It is the only know prototype equipped with a sportomatic transmission. The car is in rough shape, but appears to be solid otherwise.
The overall look is very close to a regular 914/6.
 
914006
This second 914-8 was a gift for Prof. Ferry Porsche's 60th birthday.
This car was street legal and Ferry Porsche drove the car for about 7,000 miles before it was given a place in the Porsche-museum.
Apart from the fixed steel roof (with sliding sunroof) and the fuel-door in the front hood, the overall look appears very close to a
regular 914/6.
 
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