Rupicabra
The 914 Porsche Can Am model prototype development effort focused on the VW-Porsche 914 GT for European markets, as all but one of the 914 Can Am cars were in European fitment. As is described within the other webpages on this website, we know quite a lot about the USA 914 Limited Edition cars, largely from the few documented examples of original cars surviving for verification. But the VW-Porsche 914 GT car is more elusive and mysterious. Photos of only three 914 GT vehicles have been located, two Bumblebees and a Creamsicle. From the records we do have, the 914 GT was intended to be manufactured and distributed in Europe, for at least a brief period even after the Porsche-Can Am fall-out. But the timing and circumstances are not recorded as to why the 914 GT never made it to a broader market. Therefore, even though a few examples are beleived to have been built, we should consider the 914 GT as nothing more than a prototype, a car that could have been, but was not…effectively a myth.
Lets explore for a moment, what the 914 GT was intended to be. One would anticipate that the USA and European 914 cars would be largely identical except for specific safety equipment requirements of the various countries and subtle badging differences reflecting VW-Porsche 914 marketing policy. Since the 914 was considered to be a Volkswagen in Europe, we know that the side stripes for a European car did not have the PORSCHE script, and that the European cars would be equipped with European safety equipment such as specific turn signal lights and driving lights, and without side marker lights.
914 GT Details
Look carefully and note that the Mahle wheels are also fully painted in these photos and on the poster, including their outer lips, a feature in contradiction of how a USA 914 LE car is detailed. Observe that the front bumper blade is a USA front bumper blade (on a European poster car?), evidenced by the bumper having mounting holes where USA bumper guards would have been mounted, which are merely left as open holes. Note also the Targa bar vinyl covering which would have differentiated the 914 GT from standard 1974 VW-Porsche 914 cars which were not equipped Targa bar vinyl.
The VW-Porsche 914 GT Creamsicle
The following two photos are from the archives of a German 914 club website, of what appears to be an authentic VW-Porsche 914 GT Creamsicle car. They are candid photos of a car in a parking lot, not staged factory marketing pieces and therefore seem very credible. I know absolutely nothing about this car other than what can be observed from the photos. This vehicles originality and authenticity, the date the photos were taken or anything else cannot be confirmed, but it is interesting to study. First of all, on the assumption that this car is an authentic VW-Porsche 914 GT, note that it is a Light Ivory/Phoenix Red color scheme, so at least this one car, in this color scheme did exist. Also note that the front bumper blade does not have the bumper guard mounting holes as in the Bumblebee poster car. This 914 GT Creamsicle is also identified as a prototype for the previously stated reasons.
More 914 GT Trivia
Validating the accuracy of the poster 914 GT, this VW-Porsche 914 GT has the correct 914 GT side stripes, vinyl Targa bar covering, and Mahle wheels with painted accent color centers. It also has no rear bumper guard mounting holes and an accent color (not black) towing eye hole cover plug. The most noticeable difference between this Creamsicle 914 GT and of the poster Bumblebee 914 GT is that this car has bright finished Targa bar trim and unpainted wheel lips. The trim on this Creamsicle 914 GT could have been original from the factory or an owner replacement, we may never know, but considering that all USA 914 Limited Edition cars and the VW-Porsche 914 GT Bumblebee poster have black Targa bar trim, its reasonable to think this car is either an anomaly in this respect or the Targa bar trim was replaced after original fabrication.
The authoritative 914 reference source Das Große VW Porsche Buch, also includes the very first topmost photo on this webpage and identifies the photo of the car as a VW-Porsche 914 GT. Bewilderingly though, according to the translated text of Das Große, “after the several 914 Can Am prototypes were completed, ultimately the 914 GT was to receive no Targa bar vinyl covering, simple linear racing side stripes without lettering and Fuchs wheels, with wheel centers painted in the body accent color”, a car which is solely described by this single text. There are no known photos of this described car, just the text description in Das Große. Therefore, within this same Das Große book, the text description conflicts with the photos it includes, of what a VW-Porsche 914 GT was to have been, so in either Brian Longs book or in Das Große, the text, the photos, or both, must be at least partially inaccurate in representing an authentic 914 GT. However, we can be certain that the USA 914 Limited Edition cars do not have Targa bar vinyl and that their Mahle wheel lips are not painted.
The Das Große text description of a VW-Porsche 914 GT, having Fuchs with painted wheel centers and without vinyl Targa bar covering, seems to be a more refined 914 GT scheme as it would be identical to the USA 914 Limited Edition except for the Fuchs wheels. This description would make the 914 GT essentially identical to the G-Pack car (914 Can Am Prototype Car 4) plus the addition of European side stripes. However, the preponderance of evidence available to date including the factory-issued 914 GT Bumblebee poster and the 914 GT Creamsicle car photos, support the description found in Brian Longs book and therefore discredit the Das Große description.
The factory has scarcely any details available about the VW-Porsche 914 GT, and does not have production records available to verify the number of actual VW-Porsche 914 GT cars produced. One 914 GT that has been located has a commemorative medallion on the dashboard with No. 27 indicated, so it appears that there were at least 27 914 GT cars manufactured. Long-time 914 enthusiasts that I have contacted in Europe have never seen an authentic VW-Porsche 914 GT, and most are not even aware that it ever existed, they immediately think of the 914/6 GT. Not on the internet, not at European 914 car clubs or shows, and not known by anyone I have located, to be in their private ownership. But the photos and poster of the Bumblebee and Creamsicle 914 GT cars speak for themselves as evidence that at least a few VW-Porsche 914 GT cars existed at some time in history. One these 914 GT prototypes, VIN 16276, has been located in Germany and survives today, see the 914 LE Registry for details.
:f)What caused the demise of the 914 GT? We can only speculate because no official rationale has been published.
One While the association with Can Am racing may have been influential to certain North American Porsche 914 buyers because it was a North American racing series, it would not have been as important to a European buyer. Remember that the Porsche 917 cars left the European racing circuit to compete in North America, an embarrassment to most Europeans about a car manufacturer that is part of their national pride and heritage. The Porsche-Can Am fallout was the death knell, making the VW-Porsche 914 GT a product without a market in Europe.
Two At least there was some degree of mass production economy realized in the quantity of 914 Limited Edition cars needed for the USA market, but the European markets were so small, specialized and fragmented. The 914 GT poster suggests by its silence that the 914 GT Grasshoppers were not produced by its deliberate exclusion in describing the white/green cars, limiting the 914 GT to just two variants, a Bumblebee and a Creamsicle. But even for Porsche to have produced a few hundred of the 1000 Porsche 914 Can Am cars for the entire European market in only two color schemes, with multiple unique country equipment variations may not have been financially justifiable or fully-served their business goals. This was during the time in Europe when popularity of the 914 VW-Porsche was waning and dealers were making great deals to sell any 914s.
Three authoritative sources state that the VW-Porsche 914 GT was never delivered to Europe
The current
www.porsche.com website in their classics section on the 1974 Porsche 914, says “The IAA [Frankfurt, September 1973] was followed in October by the Paris Salon where the company Karmann showed two particularly striking 914s. From these emerged the custom version 914 GT which was marketed in the USA as a limited edition.” Note the silence on any 914 GT being offered in Europe.
In presenting the 914 Porsche Can Am cars, the Das Große book makes the following translated statement, “Today originals of these GT special series, which in 1974 were exclusively delivered to the USA, are extremely rare”. This statement explicitly states that the only 914 Porsche Can Am cars produced and delivered, were the 1974 914 Limited Editions destined for USA markets, and that the VW-Porsche 914 GT intended for the rest of the world were never delivered to Europe.
And finally, in May 2003 fellow 914 LE owner Craig Stewart forwarded me a copy of a letter on official Porsche factory letterhead, which removes all doubt about the fate of the 914 GT. It says “The Can Am edition was built only for the U.S. in 1974, to celebrate the victory of Porsche winning the Can Am series in 1973.”
80cv´s, 190km/h y 4 cilindros
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