This Is Porsche’s Secret V8-powered 911 Prototype from the 80s

During that time, Porsche was working to develop the second-generation of the 911, called 964. Throughout the two decades of production for the first generation, the Germans had manifested quite a lot of their mechanical fetishes, but they wanted to take the game to a whole new level.

What they did was to grab a 964 and a 959, borrowed a V8 engine from Audi and mixed them all together. The result was to be called 965.

What Porsche actually wanted to do was build a successor for the 959. Something that borrowed the latter’s high-IQ all-wheel drive and active suspensions, but came as a more affordable proposition. The automaker only used the Audi V8 for testing purposes, the potential production model would’ve had an engine built for it. A V8, of course.

Ironically, the business case for the project looked nothing like a reliable proposal, so the production part of the story never happened. In case you were curious, the decision was made by Dr. Ulrich Bez - younger readers may know Dr. Bez for his Aston Martin CEO position (a story that ended in December last year), but, back in the day, he led Porsche’s R&D efforts.

It is interesting to see Porsche bringing up such a subject now, when talks about a four-cylinder 911 are making the headlines. Speaking of this, we’d like to remind those raising an eyebrow that the 1960s Porsche 912 was just that, a 911 with a four-banger.