13 replies to this topic

[tonicco]

I've just seen a picture of Jody Scheckter driving a Porche 917/10 TC at the Can-Am race held at Road Atlanta in '73.

And my question is: Why does the car carry an Audi logo, just under the bigger Porsche sticker?

I'm not sure, but I think that all the 917 used this Audi logo...

And while on the Can-Am Porsche 917 subject, does anyone knows why the first 917, driven by Jo Siffert, was named "917 PA"? What does the "PA" means? Prototype? or Porsche-Audi?

Thanks in advance

[cjpani]

Tonicco: When Porsche left the World Championship of Makes at the end of 1971, and decided to join Can-Am (instead of F1 ) Audi was some sort of partner with porsche, but that didn´t happen until the can am series, hence not all 917´s carried such logo.

PA stands for porsche-audi, and it was a spyder version of the 917K, not the first 917.

I hope someone else can help out and figure out the partnership between porsche and audi in the can am series.

Dont forget to visit www.porsche917.com.ar

Cheers
cj

[cabianca]

Fairly simple answer. When Audi was introduced in the US, it was carried by Porsche dealers. They couldn't make enough money just selling Porsches to exist. Most also had Volkswagen dealerships. The idea was to separate the lowly Volks from the Porsche. The logo chosen was the stupid Porsche + Audi one and that's what appeared on some Can Am cars. The Seiffert 917 PA, as already mentioned, was another reference to this, less the plus sign.

[Jim Thurman]

Scheckter's car owner was Vasek Polak, not "officially" a works entry, so he advertised his car dealership, Vasek Polak Porsche/Audi.


Jim Thurman

[fines]

Is there a realtionship between Vasek Polak and Indycar owner Russel Polak?

[Jhope]

Porsche are under the VAG (Volkswagen Automotive Group) along with Audi, Skoda, Bugatti and Lamborghini. It's been that wayt for a while. Notice how the early Beetle looks alot like an old Porsche?

[Vitesse2]

Originally posted by Jhope
Notice how the early Beetle looks alot like an old Porsche?

Unsurprising, as they were designed by the same man!! Compare the WW2 Kuebelwagen and the Cisitalia 360 GP car ....

[Rainer Nyberg]

According to Paul Frère, the entrants of the Porsche Can-Am programme was "Porsche-Audi Inc" of USA. As already mentioned they were the importers of Porsche and Audi cars in the USA.

The opportunity was therefore taken to promote also the then slow-selling Audi sedans...

[Roger Clark]

Originally posted by Jhope
Porsche are under the VAG (Volkswagen Automotive Group) along with Audi, Skoda, Bugatti and Lamborghini. It's been that wayt for a while. Notice how the early Beetle looks alot like an old Porsche?

As Vitesse says, the original 356 Porsche was a development of te Beetle, which was designed by Prof. Porsche. For many years, the Porsche comppany's fortunes were founded on engineering consultance for VW. There is a family relationship in that Ferdinand Piech, the Chairman of VAG, is a grandson of Prof. Porsche, and a former chief engineer of Porsche.

However, it is not true that Porsche are part of the Volkswagen Group.

[MONTOYASPEED]

When I saw the title of this thread I already knew that cjpani was going to be here ;)

[ray b]

my euro spec 914 said VW-porsche on it
924 used audi motors at first.

[Michael Müller]

Porsche was never part of the Volkswagen Group financially, but from the very early beginnings they used the VW sales and maintenance network, because they had been too small to build up an own one. This joint-venture is valid principally still today, although Porsche showrooms are somewhat separated from the VW's, dealer ownership very often is the same. The Audi system is somewhat different, when Volkswagen acquired Audi from Daimler-Benz in the 60s, sales & service had been integrated into the VW network. Only in later years, when they tried to position Audi in a higher market segment, they separated it also somewhat from VW, e.g. by splitted showrooms. Obviously this separation happened earlier already in the US, by combining the marketing of Audi with that of Porsche.

The 914 was a joint project between Porsche and VW, trying to introduce a cheap sports car by using as much as possible VW parts, but manufactured by Porsche. The whole thing was officially named VW-Porsche, but unfortunately it was never adopted by the market as real Porsche, only as Volkswagen. With the 924 they avoided this mistake, although mainly based on Audi components, the 924 was always sold as Porsche, and not as Audi-Porsche.

[Jhope]

wasn't the 940 or the 928 the first Porsche in the modern era to be designed and constructed with no funding whatsoever from VAG?

About 10 minutes from my home, there is a joint dealership. All three of these BRANDS are sold within the same showroom. This is something I have never seen anywhere else. Mind you, i'm a little naive when it comes to other cities, as I have not traveled that much.

The Audi venture is a little different I find. especially with modern products. Here's why. All the chassis/frames are the same. all the wheel bases are the same. all the car heights and widths are the same.


Audi A3 --> VW Golf
Audi A4 --> VW Jetta/Bora
Audi A6 --> VW Passat

The only chassis' that are not shared, are the Beetle (thank god!) and the Audi A8. Going way off topic here, I think, VW would make a great beast using the A8 chassis as a base for a competitor to the BMW 7 Series.

[Jim Thurman]

Originally posted by fines
Is there a realtionship between Vasek Polak and Indycar owner Russel Polak?

To be completely honest with you fines, I had no idea. I wasn't familiar with Russel Polak (you have to remember the absolute lack of coverage on the smaller, backmarker teams over here...which, excepting CART, is somehow even worse now)...

But, upon looking up Russel Polak...I would say not likely he was related to Vasek.

Jim Thurman