Comments by "John Luetjen" (@jehl1963) on "1970 Porsche 914-6 - The Mid-Engine Flat 6 You Need to Drive (POV Binaural Audio)" video.

  1. To answer the question -- the gearbox was called a 914 gearbox. ~98% of the parts are common with the 901, except that the final drive is assembled on the opposite side of the case so that the output is "backwards" compared to a 901 gearbox, and the case is machined slightly different with the vents located in a different location so that they won't overflow during normal use. Of course the linkage is different too. If the engine is stock spec, the drivability difference to the E that you mentioned is down to the milder cams. The T's peak torque was from 3500 RPM to 4500 RPM, the E's peak torque was from 4000 RPM to 5000 RPM, and the S's peak torque was from 5000 RPM to 6000 RPM.
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  2. Indirectly true -- but most likely not the way that you think. Throughout the life of the Porsche 356, Porsche had the bodies made by a few firms, and then shipped in to Zuffenhausen to be finished. The companies were Reutter (Wilhelm Reutter as Stuttgarter Carosserie und Radfabrik), Karmann and occasionally Abarth. Being independant companies, they did business with Porsche, and also other makers like VW, Opel, etc. Reutter also patented a reclining seat mechanism. By the time that 1963 rolled around Porsche was doing so much business with Reutter (and vice versa) that Porsche bought the coach-building factory, which than became a captive body shop for Porsche. But the original owners of Reutter kept the seating portion of the business which became Recaro (REutter-CAROsserie).
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