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This 1970 Porsche 914-6 is often referred to as a Volkswagen-Porsche. The two companies teamed up on creating this chassis and in Europe the four cylinder was badged VW with the six bearing the Porsche nameplate. In North America both engine models were sold by Porsche. The 914-6 was expensive to produce, had low sales numbers so the production numbers halted with about 3000 units being built. Thus the 914-6 is now a sought after car!
The flare kit is, John believes, a steel aftermarket system that mimics the Porsche factory race 914-6's of the era. Neither the 914 nor the 914-6 came from the factory like this – apart from the dedicated GT track cars that were not available to the public. Although, if you were lucky you could purchase a GT kit from a Porsche dealer and have it installed on your street car. Unfortunately, John does not believe that is the case with this Porsche. As a race car it dominated the track for it's class. Porsche did not have the interest in seeing how far they could develop the car for the track, as the 914's class wins were eclipsed by the 917's overall wins. With the development funds and race budgets going to the 917.
These light mid-engined cars were Porsche's budget car, however, they had a short lived lifespan as they became so expensive to build that it simply was not practical. This 1970 model has had the engine upgraded to a 2.8 litre that is built on a 1965 aluminum case. Racers in the 70's are no different than today – lighter and stronger is better. Thus these rare aluminum engines were highly sought after for race cars. John has raced this 914-6 at Watkins Glen where he has put down 2:12's.