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The Porsche Tapiro – A Giugiaro Design That Inspired the DMC DeLorean, and Killed Itself

Imagine you go for a walk, and you overhear someone saying: "I've never seen a Porsche like that!" If you're at least remotely interested in cars, you look around to see the unmistakable symbolic shape of the German brand. But instead of the familiar fluid lines and sleek looks, a wedge of glass and metal stabs your vision: the Porsche Tapiro.
1970 Porsche Tapiro Prototype 28 photos
Photo: en.escuderia.com
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The above description is purely fictional, as there is no such thing as a Porsche Tapiro on the roads. Not anymore, anyway, but in 1970, this car was as real as ever. Envisioned by a young Italian designer named Giorgio Giugiaro, the prototype was a joint Volkswagen/Porsche project for the Turin Motors Show of that year.

The Tapiro (by the way, in Italian, the word means "tapir" – the horse-related pig-looking wild animal of Asia and South America) drew its lineage from the much more conventional-looking VW Porsche 914. The Giugiaro experiment carried the platform, but the similarities ended there. Apart from the four wheels and two seats, nothing else on the Tapiro reminded onlookers of the tiny 914 roadsters.

The Italian "dream car" had bold, sharp edges that emerged on the DeTomaso Mangusta a year earlier and would continue to influence car design through the 80s (think of the Lamborghini Countach and DMC DeLorean, amongst others. Look closely and the Tapiro influence on the Delorean becomes apparent - the photo gallery might help you see it faster).

Gullwing doors had been around for 15 years when the Tapiro took shape, but Giugiaro carried that idea further. It would make the cabin accessible via the flapping wing doors, and the trunk and engine bay would benefit from the same design.

1970 Porsche Tapiro Prototype
Photo: italdesign.it
The Tapiro had four gullwing doors, and the massive glass surfaces on the roof and sides only accentuated the already sporty demeanor of the car. The out-of-the-ordinary looks of the Porsche one-off doors imposed a technical challenge for the structural strength of the body. The solution adopted by Giugiaro was a cross-central structure where the longitudinal truss would hold the door hinges while the transversal beam doubled as a roll bar.

Having solved that issue, the designer decided that the high-speed-looking car needed to be a high-speed car. Thus, the engine got not one but two significant upgrades. First, the two-liter flat-six Porsche mill paid a visit to the boring machine and returned with a more substantial displacement – 2.4 liters.

Secondly – and crucially - tuner Ennio Bonomelli took that engine and fiddled with it until the power output reached a respectable 220 bhp (223 PS) at 7,800 RPM. A fine mechanical achievement, considering that the original boxer engine only squeezed 110 bhp from its two-liter displacement.

Porsche cars were associated with speed and agility, and the Tapiro had both, with a maximum speed of 152 mph (245 kph) thanks to the five-speed manual gearbox and rear-wheel-drive. The pop-up headlights were another futuristic trait of the Tapiro, and so was the air intake at the top of the windshield – a design feature aimed to put the cool factor on the interior since the large glass surfaces easily overheated the cabin.

1970 Porsche Tapiro Prototype
Photo: italdesign.it
Created as a daily driver (of all things!), the two-seater mid-engine Porsche prototype wasn't a solution to practical matters, with the spare wheel taking up most of the already small front trunk space.

Still, the single example of the Tapiro had a real – albeit short - road life. A local businessman purchased the automobile during a 1973 car show in Barcelona, Spain. To make things clear, from 1970 until 1973, the Porsche Tapiro was a show car only. After a short while, the car changed hands and ended up with an Argentinian musician based in Madrid.

A man of refined taste, the artist used the Tapiro as it had been intended and drove it daily. However, while undeniably striking in apparel, the car had one fatal mechanical flaw. As fiery as it was on the road, the flat-six bore other flaming habits, too: the twin triple-body carburetors would occasionally overflow – an instance that repeatedly occurred with the 914/6 Porsche.

That was the case for the Tapiro, which caught fire while driving sometime in 1974. The car was totaled and never restored, but the wreck found its way back to Giugiaro some two decades after the Italian first sketched it. And the cremated remains of the Tapiro still endure in the design office's museum to this day.
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About the author: Razvan Calin
Razvan Calin profile photo

After nearly two decades in news television, Răzvan turned to a different medium. He’s been a field journalist, a TV producer, and a seafarer but found that he feels right at home among petrolheads.
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