Vehicle Description
The initial idea for the 914 project came from Ferry Porsche
himself with the goal of giving young drivers an inexpensive entry
into the world of Porsche. Ferry called upon his grandson Ferdinand
Alexander and his team at the Porsche Design Studio to develop the
styling for the project. Despite visually being a radical departure
from the 911, its form is decidedly Porsche. Its low-slung body and
mid-engine layout draw inspiration from one of the greatest Porsche
models ever produced- the 550 Spyder.
The 914 was sold by both Porsche and Volkswagen, and in two
different configurations. The standard 914 offered with
Volkswagen's 80 horsepower flat-four-engine and the 914/6 powered
by 911T's 2.0-liter, 110 horsepower flat-six. The additional
horsepower and torque of the flat-six earned the 914 a reputation
as a highly capable sports car with outstanding handling, a point
bolstered by the Works-prepared GT versions campaigned at Le Mans,
Daytona, Sebring, and the N�rburgring. Nevertheless, some dismissed
it as not being a "real" Porsche due to the joint collaboration
between Volkswagen and Porsche. The 914/6's price tag also rivaled
that of the standard 911, leading to just 3,300 models sold across
the span of its short three-year production run.?
In September of 1986, Bruce Pickering was in the process of
completing his dream garage, and on a beautiful sunny but breezy
day, he was in the process of installing the rebuilt engine in his
daughter Amy's 914/4. A spark from a nearby extension cord ignited
some spilled gasoline and the breeze helped to fuel the fire,
eventually consuming all anything that could be burned inside the
garage, including the 914/4 minus a pile of stainless steel parts.
He immediately began searching for a replacement car, and came upon
this 914/6 for sale in Medford, Oregon in the classified section of
a newly arrived Panorama issue. It was owned by an elderly man
whose waning eyesight led him to store the car in a barn for
several years as he could no longer drive it. A local PCA member
inspected the car for Bruce and vouched for the vehicle's
condition, and before long the 914/6 was on its way across the
country. Shortly after the car's arrival, Amy was diagnosed with
bone cancer but despite the grim diagnosis, she persevered through
the treatments and found time to compete in enough autocross
competitions to win her class in her region's 1987 SCCA class
championship and Rookie of the Year awards. After graduating from
high school in 1988, Amy succumbed to the disease, and the 914/6
only left the garage to be displayed at PCA Concours and Arthritis
Foundation car shows where it received awards for its outstanding
condition.
Since then, it has changed hands to a short list of subsequent
owners, each of which preserved the 914/6 in the excellent
mechanical and aesthetic condition it is in today.
