Does your 911 have 4 doors??

tight as a bull's ass · tight as a bull's ass's Garage

Did Porsche really consider building a 4 door 911? How scary is that? A water-cooled 4 door sports car....how un-Porsche!
hell, why not just put the motor in the front too, the icing on the
tombstone.

http://911porsche.cjb.net/

howie944 · 12-31-2001, 10:46 PM

Hell they already did consider putting the motor in the front if ya think about the 928 which was supposed to replace the 911...Was touted to be the flagship of the line. Thank god our predecessor purists killed that idea!

kstar · 11:15 PM

In the early days when some folks built drive-trains and another group of folks built the "coachwork", there were some early 911s (they called them "356" back then!

) built by the Swiss brothers named 'Beutler'.

I think there may be only three 4-door Beutler Porsches that have survived (although I think five may have been built). These cars were built on the '58-'59 356 platform and one was a cabriolet. I think that most were built on the 356A, while there was one built on a 356B chassis.

From my understanding, these cars were not produced due to the higher price . . . and some 'disagreements' between Porsche and the Beutler brothers.

I wish I knew the English translation of Grüsse!

Best to all in 2002!

Kurt

kstar · 12-31-2001, 11:13 PM

Here are some scanned photos of the Beutler 4-door 356 Porsches from the San Diego PCA "Windblown Witness" monthly publication (December 2001 issue):

Early_S_Man · 12-31-2001, 11:30 PM

Those look more like outgrowths of the joint development work done with VW on the Type 3 ... than anythiing related to a sports car development off the 356 line!

jwetering · jwetering's Garage

I'm not German...but I am Dutch and in our Language "groete" means greetings. I assumed that "Grusse" means the same.

Groete

Roland Kunz · 01-06-2002, 11:23 PM

Hello

A american built a long wheelbase longnose 4 door 911 in the mid 70´s.

AFIK Beutler never built a 4 door Porsche ( I ´ll ask him the next time )

The shown car is the 989 and was ready to be launched / tooling and engeneering finished ) but stoped after w. Schultz had to leave. It was basically the 928 followup using a new V8 based on the TAG race engine ( Maybe we´ll get it now ) and with the transaxle setup. The big 928 V( was skiped for the lighter new V8. Beside the 4 door a 2 door coupe was on the way. And rumors for a Cab and a Estate as well.

The 4 door car was looking very nice proportinatet and had a very classy interiour.

The car was engeneered from Bott and a marvel but to expensive to be a moneymaker. ( And sold in the upper pricelevel as well ) Porsche then shiftet to the more profitable to produce 993 and the 9x6 generations.

The rearaxle from the 989 was modified to fit in the 993. The body got a redesigned middle but front and back are very close to the 996 look.

From my view the car would have been right in time on the marked and would had have the potential to become a good hit.
I think 2 prototypes survived. Both in final runing condition. The rest was turned into new Fiats

. The white Prototype was showed to the press ( Auto, Motor & Sport )

Piech used the gap to fill in his Audi V8 and Mercedes used the gap as well. Even Jaguar, Lexus and BMW where lucky.

Grüsse

TJM Carguy · 01-07-2002, 01:51 PM

WHERE ARE THE 989 PROTOTYPES NOW? Did Auto Motor und Sport ever publish pictures of the 989 they saw?

Mrdi · Mrdi's Garage

There is in fact a 4 door Porsche running around in So. Cal. I think it was someone's idea of the ultimate limousine... only in Hollywood.
Wasn't Seinfield however.

Roland Kunz · 01-08-2002, 06:12 AM

Hello

WHERE ARE THE 989 PROTOTYPES NOW?

Must ask Mr. Bischof

Did Auto Motor und Sport ever publish pictures of the 989 they saw?

Yes I think in 1988 or 1989 was a short feature. In 1990 or 91 was a 4 page article with pictures from all except the engine.
I think the car was white or silver.

The car I had seen was a bodymock/prototype without working drivedrain.

Grüsse

Z-man · Z-man's Garage

Quote:

Originally posted by Roland Kunz
Hello
A american built a long wheelbase longnose 4 door 911 in the mid 70´s.

Here's a little more info on this one-off: (See Dean Batchelor's (sp?) Porsche Buying Guide for pics). It was specially made for a Porsche dealer's wife in Texas, I believe. The wheelbase was lengthened, and two suicide doors were attached in the back. Not sure if it was a 911T, E or S, but I suspect it was an S.

And regarding the possibility of a 4 door 911: I'd rather Porsche make something like that, than the current 'new model:' the Pepper-vagon.

-Zoltan.