Porsche
 

Was just ruminating this morning. What if the man who designed this would have turned his hand to making a bicycle frame in the early 70's.
http://i1227.photobucket.com/albums/...orsche911C.jpg
But alas, all we have is this;
http://i1227.photobucket.com/albums/...he_bike_rs.jpg
Ferdinand A. Porsche

Same people that brought you the....

http://trialx.com/curetalk/wp-conten..._Cayenne-1.jpg

Not really a Porsche in my mind.

Becareful what you wish for.. I believe Mr Porsche was also instrumental in bringing us this

http://volkswagenbeetle.goyalive.com...gen-beetle.jpg

And who could forget the "Huffy of the Sports Car World"

Personally I would rather have the Ghia

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedi...rmann_Ghia.jpg

That was his grandfather.

Yes. Not all Porsches are created equal, for sure. I understand the guy who was responsible for the 924 got fired for his efforts. But the 911 remains, in my mind, as perhaps the most iconic sports car. Not to mention being beautiful. Of course, it is silly to speculate on such things. Just remembering F.A. Porsche and his wonderful design.

Not likely. Harm Lagaay did leave Porsche in '77, but came back as design chief in '89 and retired in '04. Don't underestimate the success of the 924. It practically saved the company in the 70's.

In my dream garage I'd have a 70's 911 with a split window Beetle parked next to it. Both beautiful in their own way and simplicity at its best. That bike would not make it.

It must've been an urban legend. Still, the 924 , though it may have saved the company, was still a POS. Compared with their other offerings, of course.

A ghia designed by Karmann? Other than the initial pen on the platform, the ghia was a pretty distant descendent of anything Porsche. And the that's the other Ferdinand Porsche- the one that died in 1951.

The one that just died was 76- far too young to have much to do with Hitler and the Kaefer. He was the grandson of Ferdinand and the son of Ferry Porsche.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ferdina...xander_Porsche

E: not singling you out BG, just trying to settle a little confusion on who's who here.

In the mid to late 70's here in Adelaide there was a bike brand named Porsche, founded by a fella that owned a Porsche car. He got away with it for 3 years I think till the real Porsche found out and forced a name change. I only know him as Mr Richardson but he changed the name to Ricardo. I have the last and best Ricardo made.
I also have one of the original Porsche's around our property somewhere.

Porsche 911 Designer Butzi Porsche Dead at 76



By Rory Carroll



By AutoWeek 17 hours ago

http://media-social.s-msn.com/images...%20Porsche.jpghttp://media-social.s-msn.com/images...eek%20Logo.jpg






Ferdinand Alexander “Butzi” Porsche died Thursday morning in Salzburg, Austria. He was 76.



Since 1972, Porsche had led his own industrial design firm, Porsche Design. That firm produced numerous highly regarded, functionalist designs for a wide array of consumer products.



Of course, Butzi Porsche will be most remembered for his role in designing the car that would come to be known as the Porsche 911. The basic shape of that car, which he first sketched in 1959, has remained almost unchanged through 49 years of Porsche 911 production.

I had a one year love affair with a 1989 944 Turbo s. I put 22,000 hair raising miles on that red beauty, until I had to sell her to go back to school.

Other than putting up with some grief from my wife's family for driving a "farmer's Porsche" the car was a joy and pretty much a rocketship.

Gas, oil, and a set of tires in the year I owned the car.

That's it.

This was my second Porsche, as the first was a car I purchased from my dad, a mustard colored 1967 912.

Loved that car as well, and drove it for four years until I got hooked on a string of TR-6s.

My '70 914-6 has a transplanted 3.2 liter '89 911 Carrera engine and goes like a scalded cat.

http://i32.photobucket.com/albums/d7...14-6Proj18.jpg

http://i32.photobucket.com/albums/d7...14-6Proj14.jpg

http://i32.photobucket.com/albums/d7...14-6Proj17.jpg

The 924 was initially designed for Volkswagen. When they declined to use it Porsche decided to produce it. The 924 turbo was actually a decent little performer in it's day but it was really the fact that the 924 served as the seed for the 944 that saved the day. I had an '87 944 turbo for a while and it was simply fabulous. Great power, great handling and great fuel economy. I wish Porsche still made them today.

Yes. This is why I posted this off topic thread. R.I.P.

Yes. The 944 is a whole other story!

Oo-la-la. 6 cylinder 914. :thumb:

"Porsche, there is no substitute!"

Not really off topic, since many people here are interested in both cars and C&V bikes.

The announcement took me by surprise when I read it, but a good long run for "Butzi" and the 911. My condolences.

Eh,, the 924 just needed more development and morphed into the 944.:D

Drool! I've always had a soft spot for 914s:thumb::love:

And not just any Karmann Ghia, but a Type III! :thumb:

Funny to see these: I came very close to buying a Type 3 Ghia (technically a Type 34) as a hobby car many years back. Gave it a pass and found myself with a BMW 1600 TI instead. These are some cars only a mother (or somebody with a sense of humor) can love...but they actually are designed by Italian house of Ghia and build by coachbuilder Karmann, just like the Type 1 (or type 14 if you like) KG. Other funny thing is that the Porsche 914 was designed to replace the KG in VW's line when it was introduced, and provide Porsche with an "economy" product as well...bodies were also built by Karmann...another styling exercise that plenty of the critics found plenty to criticize: I remember the quote that it "looked like the box they shipped it in" was a popular one.

BTW: I wish people could stop scalding cats to establish a benchmark for speed...we have computer models that do this, now. We should reserve our feline mayhem to killing kittens by drewing bicycle frames...this is something computers have yet to accomplish. (joking)