Porsche 912 (1967) – Into the Wild

Credit where credit is due: the fact that we can show this beautiful Porsche 912 is thanks to AutoWeek reader Bruno Ruiterman. He spotted this 912 and, in his own words, was a bit surprised when he saw in the license plate data that this Porsche is only 90 hp strong and has four cylinders. We can imagine that, because you do not expect such figures from a Porsche. We are only dealing here with a 56-year-old Porsche and then also the most modest model of that time, the 912.

The 912 arose from Porsche’s fear that it would lose customers, because the 911 with its six-cylinder boxer engine was quite a step higher in the market than its predecessor, the four-cylinder 356. So a more accessible model was needed and Porsche solved that quite easily by hanging the 1.6 four-cylinder from the 356 SC in the 911. The result was the Porsche 912, which joined the ranks a year after the first 911. It turned out not to be a bad move, because the 912 was initially more popular than the 911. Here in the Netherlands, too, you had a better chance of spotting the 912 on public roads than the 911, partly because the National Police had several 912 Targa in its fleet. .

With the 90 hp version of the ‘type 616’ in the back, the 912 had less power than the 911 (which initially delivered 130 hp and then the ‘entry-level’ 911 T 110 hp), but it was a lighter block. In terms of performance, the 912 did not focus very much on the 911 at all, and it also made a difference in handling that the 912 had a somewhat lighter butt. Even so, with the arrival of the aforementioned 911 T in 1967, the right to exist of the 912 began to come into question and eventually Porsche would start serving the more modest customer from 1969 with a completely different model, the 914 developed together with Volkswagen. So it ended for the 912 after about four years. Later, a 912 (the 912E) was introduced in the US for a very short time, again a 911 with a four-cylinder, now a 2.0 from the Volkswagen 411.

Porsche 912.

The Porsche 912 that we have before us dates from 1967 and therefore from the year that it already had some internal competition from the 911 T. It took a long time before it got a Dutch license plate for the first time, because this copy is in our country for just under five years. It is a handsome copy and such a 912 is still a lot cheaper than a 911 from that time, so we can understand the owner in his choice for this classic. Only this parking action, so far from the curb and in a place intended for EVs, doesn’t quite deserve the beauty prize, but oh well. We are always happy to see a 912 again!