One of the US's leading concours is planning to bury long-running snobbery regarding the VW-Porsche 914 by celebrating the model in all its glory.
The Amelia Island Concours d'Elegance will welcome all variants of the model for its 20th running in March 2015. In outlining its pedigree, it highlights the fact that the budget Porsche was masterminded by Ferdinand Piech at the same time was bringing the awesome 917 to the world, outsold the 911 in period, and in 914/6 form was a force to be reckoned with in competition.
Bill Warner, Founder and Chairman of the Amelia Concours d’Elegance, said: "It was fashionable with some self-proclaimed Porsche purists to consider the 914 an ‘ugly duckling.
"That changed very quickly. Here in north Florida the Porsche 914 found a home and willing customers through the racing exploits of Peter Gregg, Hurley Haywood and Brumos Porsche who took the 914/6 GT to victory in the first IMSA GT race in history on the way to winning the first IMSA GT Championship title in 1971.”
Five-time 24 Hours of Daytona winner Hurley Haywood added: "The 914/6 GT was my first real race car. Peter Gregg and I shared the Championship in 1971 in my first year of professional racing. The 914 was really fun to drive and we would kill the big block Chevys and Fords in IMSA. We still have that car in our collection and use it often to give rides to our Porsche driving school customers.”
