Under The Hood- Porsche 912

I'm sure all of my readers know what the Porsche 911 is. I've done a Under the Hood on one, I've taken many pictures of them and I love the new 911 GT3. But, what about the 912? The 912 looks like a first generation 911, sure. The 912 is a Porsche, so it feels similar. But the 912 has a 2.0L 4-cylinder engine. Why? We have to look at Porsche's product lineup in 1965 to see why- of 911 and nothing. The 911 didn't bring in as much money as the outgoing 356 and they desperately needed a entry level model. So they added a 2-litre engine to the 911 and voila, entry level model. It was named 912.

30000 were produced over five years. They include coupe, convertible and targa versions, as well as a few targas for the Dutch Police (obviously given their penchant for targa 911s). Interestingly, one of the Dutch Police cars was the 100,000th Porsche ever produced. In 1969, the factory's tooling was changed to the 914's, but the story was not over.

In 1976, the 912 returned for a valiant one year return. The 914 flopped in sales and was discontinued in 1975, and the 924 would not be ready until 1977, so Porsche needed the entry-level model for just one year. Only 2092 were built, but now around two thirds are still on the road, showing the durability of Porsches. This featured car is a first-gen car; I'm not sure what year but it's in excellent condition. The 912 blazed the trail for the 914, 924, 944, 968, Boxster and 718 in the future, and it's a forgotten, but key, car in Porsche's history.