The 984
 

What might have been...

People :: The 984 was a concept for a smaller Porsche before the Boxster photo :: autoviva gallery :: autoviva.com

Search for Porsche Museum Secrets on Youtube.

Yeah, saw that. Not hugely appealing, if I'm honest. Fairly uninspiring mix of 944 and 928 cues.

llooks like a 928 as an adolescent I'd say it's more 968 ish than 944 ish. I never liked the 968

911 + 968 = unholy abomination. Cats and dogs should never have offspring.

Keep in mind, this car was designed in 1984. Think of how advanced it's styling is. Fixed projector beam headlights, smooth bumpers and lights and flaired fenders.

At the time, the 944 was only 2 years old and it predates the 968 by 8 years. This and the 928 defined the look of the 993 and the 968.

It shows that Porsche had been considering a successor to the 914 long before the Boxster came along.

Most of, if not all of these predate 1984, I don't see how that's terribly relevant in terms of how ugly it is.

BERTONE

it looks like a sperm with wheels !

The shape in and of itself is not so bad, but the wheels are the anti-compliment to its styling...holy Fiero batman.

1. I'd say it barely looks any more advanced than the 928, which came out in, what, 1978?

2. You can pretty much guarantee that Porsche is always considering and building prototypes of all sorts of cars. I'm sure it repeats the process over and over. And when the stars align - the timing is right for the market and the proposition fits just right as it did with the very clever step of building the Boxster and 996 on the same platform - then it happens.

Have little doubt Porsche has several other small prototypes that never made it to production.

Anyway, this thing looks a bit bland and unfinished to my eye.

It's cute for sure, but it has the tires from a Chevy Aveo... Throw some 225's on there and call me back ;)

The 928 had a squared off nose until 1987 and the flush marker lights came with the 968.

Designing concepts and building working prototypes are significantly different things. It takes big $$$ commitment to build a running prototype on a new chassis.

Am I missing where the article says this car was " designed in 1984"? I think you may be confusing the date with the car's model designation, 984. That is a much newer design than 84.

Do the Youtube search.

Blue, I know you're a minimalist when it comes to sports cars, but that thing is just plain ugly. Japanese animated character headlights, wheels resembling a "sports hubcap" ensemble from Big Lots, a windshield / cowl / door body line that looks like mismatched legos.......woooof :eek:

Don't get me wrong, I'm not saying it's good looking. I'm just saying it's significant and cool to see there was a plan for a 914 replacement long before the Boxster and that they clearly used styling cues from this car in products through the rest of the century. This is a concept that I've never seen before, and Porsche is usually very public with their concept cars.

Think you're reading too much into it. Styling cues develop in many different ways. Who's to say the cues on this prototype were original and not derived from other projects we haven't seen or indeed taken from the early development of cars that did later make production.

Honestly think the 928 was quite a bit more innovative in 1978 than this protype was in 1984.