<VV> Why no air cooled engines, was: Not expected to last

[Mark Corbin]

Actually, the official word from Porsche at the time (as published in the
trade newspapers) was that because of the wider operating temperatures
present in air cooled engines, it was more difficult to control emissions
that a water-cooled  engine. Bottom line is that emission standards simply
got too restrictive for practical controls to handle.

It was decidedly NOT because of noise, milage, or cost of build. None of
those are insurmountable issues. Besides, when have they been an issue for
a Porsche buyer anyway?

-Mark


> [Original Message]
> From: <jvhroberts at aol.com>
> Subject: Re: <VV> Not expected to last
>
>  The reason you stated is NOT why Porsche stopped with air cooled
engines. The reason? Too hard to cool air cooled 4 valve heads, and with
power levels ever rising, they kept running into cooling limitations. Also,
the wet engines are quieter, get better fuel mileage, and are less
expensive to build.