[Moneyguy1]

I have seen (and built) hybrids of all kinds over the years...Olds V8 in a 1932 Chevy 3 window coupe (yeah..with hydraulic brakes as part of the build)..V8 conversion in a Corvair coupe (mid engine..engine winds up in the back seat compartment, Camaro discs in the front). I helped put together an Opel GT that wound up with a 289 in it. These kinds of cars are NOT built with economics in mind. They start as a dream and grow from there. They are a series of technical and engineering problems, demanding a bit of ingenuity to solve. Some are dead ends and never completed. Those that are finished demand to be appreciated for the energy and resources that went into them. The difference between the average individual doing such a project and the factory building "one-off" dream cars is...what? Simply put, the factory has a lot more in the form of resources to put into such a project. The average individual has to work with what's out there unless he or she has access to a number of specialized tools that most of us do not have.

So the "purists" that say the Porsche should have always been rear engined and air cooled, look at the 944, 924, 928, 914 and some of the newer water cooled units as heresey. Small minded, narrow in concept, unwilling to accept anything different unless it fits their preconceived notions.

Three cheers to the innovators. Kudos to those who succeed and even to those who fail. At least they tried. And, if it were not for the factory experiments Porsche would not even exist in any form and if there were not attempts to improve the breed, Porsche would still be a swing axle 4 cylinder car.

As a final observation...after owing "mavericks" for twenty years, I have concluded the rarest of cars is an unmolested Porsche. So much for the purists.