Four-cam 914... Options

[KSCarrera]

(IMG:http://www.914world.com/bbs2/uploads_offsite/i.postimg.cc-22846-1771511459.1.jpg)

Probably the only Carrera four-cam engined 914 ever built (and raced). Yes, as in 356 Carrera four-cam...

Engine was eventually blown up and has long since disappeared.

[krazykonrad]

There's gotta be a great backstory on that! (IMG:style_emoticons/default/popcorn[1].gif)

[stownsen914]

Back when 4 cam motors were cheap, apparently

[GregAmy]

Back when 4 cam motors were cheap, apparently

I was a VW parts guy when VW and Porsche split circa 1985? To clear out their parts warehouses of Porsche parts, VW sent out a list of all Porsche parts still in their warehouses, offering them to dealerships at cut-rate prices.

I was browsing through all the assemblies (engines, transaxles, etc) and spotted a part number that caught my eye, I wish I remember what that number was: a factory-brand-new Carrera 4-cam engine longblock with accessories, ready to bolt into whatever you got, for...well, $1800 as I recall.

$1800 in 1985 was a lot of coin for a university student on basically minimum wage so I walked over the dealer principals' office with the list and basically begged him to buy that engine, noting its significance and how much of a bargain it was. I even offered to sign a loan for it to buy myself over time. Couldn't talk him into it.

Eventually I think all the leftover Porsche parts were trucked to Porsche's Reno warehouses.

I've often wondered what happened to that engine.

[Unobtanium-inc]

Another one is coming...

[SKL1]

There was just one of the last 4 cams, a 2L 356C on BAT that closed a few days ago... sold for $550,000.
Too bad you didn't talk your boss into that engine!!

[wonkipop]

(IMG:http://www.914world.com/bbs2/uploads_offsite/i.postimg.cc-22846-1771511459.1.jpg)

Probably the only Carrera four-cam engined 914 ever built (and raced). Yes, as in 356 Carrera four-cam...

Engine was eventually blown up and has long since disappeared.

that car is legendary.
i recall distinctly reading about it down here in far off north antartica as a 20+ year old in the early 1980s.

and now at last an image of the car.

thank you very much for posting that. (IMG:style_emoticons/default/beerchug.gif) (IMG:style_emoticons/default/beerchug.gif) (IMG:style_emoticons/default/beerchug.gif)

he used it as a kind of rally cross machine - or something like that?
dirt tracks? i'm going off hazy hazy memories.
my old mate who passed away and had the crayfords 914 used to talk about it.

[KSCarrera]

The car was built to use in autocross, a precursor to rallycross - racing on a grass/dirt course and very popular in the UK in the '60s and '70s. Prior to this, Griff drove a Beetle with the four-cam in it. Sadly he drowned in a boating accident on the river Thames.

The engine came from a rusty 356 A Carrera which ultimately ended up in the hands (minus engine) of a good friend of mine. He sold it many years later to a German dealer for the equivalent of about $9000 having never touched it.

Wind forward about 15 years and while we were at the Techno Classica show in Essen, Germany, my friend spotted the fully-restored car on a dealer's display. He couldn't bring himself to look at it, so I went over to speak to the dealer and asked about the fact he was advertising it as 'numbers matching' etc. 'Oh yes, it has the original engine and gearbox...' came the reply, at which I pointed out the original engine had been removed about forty years ago, ended up in a 914, was blown up, etc, etc... 'Ah yes' came the reply, 'I bought a new unstamped case and sent it to Porsche who were happy to stamp the original engine number on it once I showed I had the car and paperwork...'. So there you go, a numbers matching Carrera with a new 'original' engine... How many more 'original' cars like that are out there...

[wonkipop]

The car was built to use in autocross, a precursor to rallycross - racing on a grass/dirt course and very popular in the UK in the '60s and '70s. Prior to this, Griff drove a Beetle with the four-cam in it. Sadly he drowned in a boating accident on the river Thames.

The engine came from a rusty 356 A Carrera which ultimately ended up in the hands (minus engine) of a good friend of mine. He sold it many years later to a German dealer for the equivalent of about $9000 having never touched it.

Wind forward about 15 years and while we were at the Techno Classica show in Essen, Germany, my friend spotted the fully-restored car on a dealer's display. He couldn't bring himself to look at it, so I went over to speak to the dealer and asked about the fact he was advertising it as 'numbers matching' etc. 'Oh yes, it has the original engine and gearbox...' came the reply, at which I pointed out the original engine had been removed about forty years ago, ended up in a 914, was blown up, etc, etc... 'Ah yes' came the reply, 'I bought a new unstamped case and sent it to Porsche who were happy to stamp the original engine number on it once I showed I had the car and paperwork...'. So there you go, a numbers matching Carrera with a new 'original' engine... How many more 'original' cars like that are out there...

(IMG:style_emoticons/default/beerchug.gif)

[73-914]

The car was built to use in autocross, a precursor to rallycross - racing on a grass/dirt course and very popular in the UK in the '60s and '70s. Prior to this, Griff drove a Beetle with the four-cam in it. Sadly he drowned in a boating accident on the river Thames.

The engine came from a rusty 356 A Carrera which ultimately ended up in the hands (minus engine) of a good friend of mine. He sold it many years later to a German dealer for the equivalent of about $9000 having never touched it.

Wind forward about 15 years and while we were at the Techno Classica show in Essen, Germany, my friend spotted the fully-restored car on a dealer's display. He couldn't bring himself to look at it, so I went over to speak to the dealer and asked about the fact he was advertising it as 'numbers matching' etc. 'Oh yes, it has the original engine and gearbox...' came the reply, at which I pointed out the original engine had been removed about forty years ago, ended up in a 914, was blown up, etc, etc... 'Ah yes' came the reply, 'I bought a new unstamped case and sent it to Porsche who were happy to stamp the original engine number on it once I showed I had the car and paperwork...'. So there you go, a numbers matching Carrera with a new 'original' engine... How many more 'original' cars like that are out there...

(IMG:style_emoticons/default/beerchug.gif)

(IMG:style_emoticons/default/stirthepot.gif) amazing story, goes to prove the number of SCAM "Original number matching " rebuilds that get sold as "Factory" LOL (IMG:style_emoticons/default/av-943.gif) (IMG:style_emoticons/default/lol-2.gif) (IMG:style_emoticons/default/stirthepot.gif)

[SKL1]

I've got a super 8 movie somewhere of a good friend of mine doing an "autocross" in a farm field near my hometown in Iowa in his Carrera Speedster. This was in the late '60's or early '70's.
He had removed the 4 cam engine and had a hot-rodded pushrod engine as it was difficult to keep that original engine running properly, and he was a very good certified Porsche mechanic!
The engine unfortunately got separated from the car. When getting restored they found the engine on the east coast but they wouldn't sell it. Found an 4 cam engine a few numbers off- car ended up in Italy...