The Porsche 914/6 was the six-cylinder version of the mid-engined 914, and Porsche built only about 3,300 of them between 1969 and 1972. That is a small number next to the four-cylinder car, which sold in the six figures. Yet one of those six-cylinder cars won its class at Le Mans in 1970.
The story starts with a deal between two companies. Volkswagen gave Porsche a development order in 1966, and the result was a small two-seater with the engine behind the cabin. Porsche then began work on the six-cylinder car in 1969 as a second model series of its own.
So the 914/6 sits in an odd spot in Porsche history. It replaced the four-cylinder 912 as the entry Porsche, but it never sold like one. Meanwhile, its racing record ran well ahead of its sales.
Why the Porsche 914/6 cost so much
Building one took three stops. Karmann built the bodies in Osnabrück, and final assembly took place at Porsche’s Zuffenhausen plant in Stuttgart, according to the Autostadt ZeitHaus museum, which keeps one in its collection. The list price in Germany was 19,980 Deutschmarks.
That price was the problem. Hagerty notes that logistics and royalties made the Porsche-enhanced versions so expensive that sales stayed low. By comparison, the four-cylinder 914 reached 115,631 units by 1976. The six-cylinder car stopped in 1972 after 3,338, according to the Hagerty history of the 914.
The sources differ slightly on that total. Porsche’s own heritage page also gives 3,338, while the Autostadt museum counts 3,332. Either way, it works out to about 3,300 cars.
A 911 engine in the middle
Instead of a Volkswagen four, the 914/6 used the 2.0-litre flat six from the 911 T. It displaced 1,991 cc and made 110 hp, which was 20 hp more than the 912 it replaced. Porsche lists a 201 km/h top speed and 0 to 100 km/h in 9.9 seconds for the 1970 model year.
The car weighed 940 kg, according to the Porsche heritage page in its Boxster press kit. In fact, Porsche treats the 914/6 as a forebear of the Boxster. Also, with the engine ahead of the rear axle, the car felt at home on twisty roads, the company says.
Together with the 914, it was also the first mid-engined sports car to reach six-figure production, the Autostadt museum says. That count includes the far more common four-cylinder cars, of course.
Le Mans 1970 and the 96-hour Nürburgring
Porsche then turned the car into a racer. The 914/6 GT was developed at the Targa Florio and homologated for Group 4 GT racing and rallying, Hagerty reports. Later, Brumos won the very first IMSA GT Championship with one of the eleven original factory 914/6 GTs.
At Le Mans in 1970, a 914/6 GT started 45th on the grid. However, it finished sixth overall and won the 2.0-litre GT class, according to RM Sotheby’s history of the model. Porsche’s heritage page records the result as a win in the GT category.
Porsche calls a different race the car’s greatest triumph, though. In the 96-hour race at the Nürburgring, three six-cylinder 914s finished first, second and third. Even in 1973, Herbert Linge used a 914/6 as his ONS track safety car at the Nürburgring, Hagerty notes.
Eight cylinders and the 916
The six was not the end of the idea. In the first year of production, Porsche built two one-off cars with eight-cylinder racing engines. One of them, with 260 hp, went to Ferry Porsche as a present for his 60th birthday.
Then, in 1971, Porsche built 11 cars it called the 916. These had six-cylinder engines with 190 or 210 hp and a welded steel roof. Still, Porsche’s heritage page lists just those 11, so the 916 remained a tiny side branch of the family.
What a Porsche 914/6 is worth now
For years the 914/6 traded in the shadow of the 911. Its values tell a different story now. Most 914s ended up in the United States, Hagerty notes, and that is where many of the six-cylinder cars live today.
In its 50th-anniversary look at the 914, Hagerty reported that the median price guide value for a 914/6 in #2 (Excellent) condition had climbed from $32,100 to $82,000 since September 2006.
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