Porsche 911s have always been associated with flat-six engines, but that didn’t prevent the company’s engineers from experimenting with other types of powertrains as well.
In a new Porsche video, Dieter Landenberger, chief of archive at the Porsche Museum, brings to our attention a unique 911 prototype fitted with a water-cooled V8 engine sourced from Audi’s flagship V8 limousine. Known internally as the Type 965, this unique prototype was originally intended as a cheaper successor to the 959.
The one-off prototype still wears the original camouflage from the time it was tested on public roads. The car never reached series production, though, so we’ll never know how good it would have been.
However, judging from the fact that Landenberger looks thrilled that the car wasn’t produced, we can assume it wasn’t worthy of succeeding the Porsche 959. Scroll down to find out more about it.
By Dan Mihalascu
VIDEO