The Porsche Guys Blog

If Porsche had never made the 911 (a scary thought, I know) what production car would be the greatest Porsche ever made?

The obvious choices would be the 959 or Carrera GT for their incredible performance. But, if we take away these super cars as they have very limited sales what would be the greatest?

The Porsche 356 is a good choice as it was the first Porsche and the later models had very good performance for their time. The 912 had the good looks of the 911, but not that incredible performance. The 914 had good handling and good performance, but the styling was controversial.

Of the front engine cars the 928 was supposed to replace the 911 (at least this is what most history books claim, although some claim that the 944 turbo was meant to replace it), but it’s extreme high price held back sales and it lacked a racing pedigree. The Porsche 924 had great handling, but not the best performance (performance was better in the turbo model and the Carrera GT had great performance for the time). The 944 had great handling and good performance (outstanding performance in the S2 and turbo models) and the 968 was even better (plus both had great looks).

More recently the Boxster and Cayman have been added to the lineup. Both cars combine great handling and performance (especially the S models) with incredible looks. The Cayman in particularly is one of the best cars that Porsche has ever made (even as an entry level car).

So, what car would be the greatest Porsche had the 911 never been made? Any car that the company has made could have been the greatest, but I think that the 356, 944, 968, Boxster or Cayman would be the most likely candidates.

So, what car do you think would be the greatest if there was no 911?

The clutch recently went out of Project 944, this is a common problem with cars that have an original clutch. The original clutch on an early 944 has a rubber center that is known to wear quickly, especially if driven hard. The replacement clutches that are available are able to withstand more power and abuse as they have a spring center instead of a rubber one.

To change the clutch in a 944 is a time consuming job, one that will usually take a professional at least 8 hours with a lift. This is due to the fact that quite a bit of the car must be removed before getting to the clutch parts (and once you go through all this work you should put in an entire clutch kit, instead of just replacing one broken part).

Because of the amount of time it takes to fix the clutch, I didn’t have enough time to do it myself. So, I started to call around and it is incredible  how much a shop charges to change it. I had seen another Porsche 944 around town (a turbo model) and we had waved at each other a few times. I happen to pass by where the guy that drove the car worked a few times, so my wife got the idea to call the shop (they make Golf Carts) and ask if they knew who owned the 944 and where he took his car.

After calling I found out that he is the mechanic (he is an ASE certified mechanic) for working on the Golf Carts and that he works on his own car. They gave me his number and I called him and found out that he has worked on a lot of Porsches and that he happened to be the current President of the local chapter of the Porsche Club of America. He came to my house to look at the car and verified that the clutch needed to be replaced.

I bought the needed parts and had the car towed to his house to fix.  We started talking and I told him where I work for my day job (unfortunately, I am not able to do this blog full time yet) and it turns out that I work with his brother. I had to give his brother a hard time for not letting me know that his brother worked on Porsches, even though we had talked about the 944 before.

So, you never know who will be fixing your car.

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The Porsche 914 has been with us for 40 years now and has ofter been considered to not be a “True” Porsche. Even with it’s great handling and good performance (at least in the 2.0 and 914-6 forms). Unfortunately, the car has and perhaps always will be tainted by it’s VW roots (in fact in Europe the car was sold as a VW-Porsche). However, good examples are becoming more rare and this is helping to make them get closer to “True” collector car status.

The price of 914’s has been on the rise over the past 5 years and according to many price guides the prices have about doubled over the past 5 years. With some excellent examples being worth $20,000 or more (I have seen 914-6 examples sell for $50,000).

So, now that the 914 is 40 years old will it start to become a very desirable car? I think in about 10 years as prices continue to raise and good examples are harder to find (especially the 2.0 and 914-6 examples), that the car may become considered very desirable. If you want a fun, mid-engined, air cooled and opened air car then enjoy a 914 and hopefully it will become a very valuable car (but make sure to buy a good rust free example).