Design History of the 914.
Who do we think?
Misconceptions of the designer responsible.
The History of the Design of the 914 has often been connected to the Designer Hans Gugelot. The Source for the worldwide spread of this misconception is, in retrospect, the Porsche "Bible", Karl Ludvigsens book "Porsche - Geschichte und Technik der Renn- und Sportwagen".
Quote from Ludvigsens book:
"How did a car have to look like that on one hand had to fit into the VW Model-Line and at the same time had to have the signature touch of Ferry Porsche. For marketing reasons the car had to be different from the current Porsche Model-Line. There was no intention to simply copy an existing design ... to solve this without bias, it was decided to outsource the design to the company Gugelot."
Porsche's Stand on the Issue
Inquiries with the Porsche Factory, personal talks with Ferdinand Alexander Porsche, the head of the Porsche Design Studios at the time as well as talks with employees of the Gugelot Company did, however, not verify Ludvigsens theory. Gugelot was never commissioned with the Design of the 914. Furthermore, Porsche did not use the Gugelot-Auto as the base or template of their own Design.
Ferdinand Alexander Porsche:
"Gugelot never did anything to the Car! They had a car that had a few similarities with the 914, that's all. The most one could do is to point out those similarities, but Gugelot had nothing to do with the Car. It's always the same, there's a lot of talk and rumors, like when people say that my grandfather once worked for Renault ..."
Some Background:
In the early 60s, Gugelot together with the Bayer-Werke designed a plastic car that was based on a BMW. Like the 914, this car separated itself from others through its clear-cut lines. The car pictured in Ludvigsens "Bible" and wrongly labeled the "Gugelot-Auto" was in fact a one-off prototype that never made production. In addition, quite a few other Car designs of that era show similarities to the Gugelot-Car and the 914, like the pictured Fiat 2300 with a Chassis Design by Pinifarina.
The Myth of Gugelots involvement in the Design of the 914 is especially wide-spread in the American Literature. David Coleman for example claims that Gugelots "stark" design was influenced by Braun's Toasters of the same Era ..."
Just The Facts..m'aam
How they got the design.
"the first sketches were done in 1964 at the Porsche design-studios. Five different sketches were chosen for the final design choice in early 1966. All 5 sketches were turned into 1:5 size clay models. the (unanimous) vote went to a model designed by Heinrich Klie, then head of the Porsche design-studios, who also designed the first Porsche formula 1 racecar and the Carrera 6." Later on there were many design-studies and prototypes that were *based* on the 914, even as early as 1969. But all of those were after the car had already started production.
meet the father of the 914, Heinrich Klie, Head of Porsche Design Studios and creator of the 914-Design
klie's clay model that won the contest ...
The Designer's 914
The Klie 914
The Klie 914 is a 1970 model with first license in 1973. The car was more than two years in the Porsche test department and has many different parts. The side vents in the dash are allegeable with this Information. It also featured an electronic self-diagnostic system. for each circuit, there is a diagnostic light (above the knobs), when you turn on the ignition, the system runs a self test, and if a circuit fails the test, the warning light will stay on ... In the End due to production cost the electronic Check-System was omitted from the production cars.
By Production model standards it's a late '71 ...
- VIN: 471 29 10319
- Engine #: 0080472
The "Klie 914" has the later column-mounted stalk. also note the check light labels above the switches for the check system that never made it to production.
the car has some '73 features, dash side vents, center console. this picture was taken after klie had "updated" the car ...
The first frame you can see the dual-headlight, which was only built once, on what is now Dr. Piech's red 914-8.
the dealer started this maintenance booklet on "03/19/1974", the owner is listed as "Heinrich Klie" .
the Klie model with the original bumper
the following article was created with information from 914world.com