[wayner]

The weak currencies of north america istarting in the early 1970s didn’t help compared to that of Germany

It’s why the mid year cars tend to be de-contented (standard items became add on packages) and money was taken out of the design (smaller cv joints for example)

Items like these were the best they could be by 1973, but in 74 they were now weaker cars component wise until they re-introduced the upsized components again towards the 80s

Most people do t realize that about mid years but that’s originally why they were less desirable as a used car

The economy also contributed the the cancellation of the 914 which had become too expensive in that lower market

By the 80s money and prestige we’re back but by the late 80s the factory was in trouble again and the risk of bankruptcy loomed on the horizon

Basically the cars were over engineered, hand made and took too many steps to assemble. The engines are particularly labour intensive

That’s why with the 996 they split the engine line into a street casting and a race casting