GT Porsche Magazine December 15 Back Issue

Classic Porsches are hot property these days, but there’s one particular model that has only relatively recently begun to increase in the desirability stakes: the 912. The four-cylinder version of the 911 was popular at birth but it has since been through a period of being maligned by many, and often shunned (rather unfairly) for its six-cylinder cousins… until recently. Celebrating its 50th birthday this year, the 912 is once again becoming a popular and affordable entry into classic Porsche ownership, so it seemed the perfect time to get a couple of examples together to see how they feel today. We’ve also gathered the experts’ opinions on the 912 and, in particular, we’ve got to the root of exactly what is involved in restoring one in this issue.

It’s rather apt that the 912 is enjoying something of a renaissance five decades after it was first conceived, especially given that its mechanical arrangement represents a route that Porsche is once again travelling down. The downsizing of engines from six- to four-cylinders in the Boxster and Cayman is soon to occur, which is akin to the concept the 912 pioneered. As we now know, the 911 has escaped that fate; instead we have been treated to a turbocharged Carrera in the second-generation 991, designed to satisfy the need for reduced engine capacities. For sure it’s the end of an era for the Carrera, and to mark that we’ve brought together the three generations of water-cooled naturally aspirated versions: the 996, 997 and 991 for one last hurrah.