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Subbee makes "H" blocks for Porche ?


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VW air-cooled and Subaru engines are virtually the only horizontally opposed engines for mainstream cars. That's why if the exhaust is bad you can't tell which car it is (but it's getting easier as the old VW"s die off and are restored so they have no exhaust noise)

 

I believe the similarities ends there.

 

Porche and VW have worked together for many, many years.

 

Japanese and Germans don't cross polinate well on production items like this in my experience.

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I have never heard that before, but I don't think so. Seems to be very little cooperation between German and Japanese car makers. In fact, I can't think of any.

 

I can. Way way back in the day, a fledgling Japanese auto manufacturer was looking for a name for their new company. When they ran out of good ideas, they called a German consultant firm for advise. When the Germans said they would be glad to help, they then asked the Japanese firm when they would need the name? When the Japanese replied "we need it by tomorrow", the Germans said "oh, dat-soon"??? :)

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Beyond the "Dat-soon"(!) there were some rather oblique Japanese/German connections with our very own Subaru marque.

 

The Subie H-4 engine was derived, not from VW but from a 1950s design by Borgward, makers of Lloyd, Hansa, Goliath and Borgward cars.

 

And in the 1990s when Subaru wanted more modern styling for the Legacy

they hired a freelancer, Olivier Boulet, who had been a designer at Mercedes-Benz.

 

Ah, the web of intrigue continues.

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It all goes back to WWII

 

Remember what the Japanese got in return for supporting Hitler?

 

Industrial trade secrets and mechanical designs fromt he German Auto and Airplane companies.

 

Almost every Japanese car maker can trace it roots to production of war machines in WWII. And there earliest designs are knockoffs of german engineering.

 

I read an article on the Descision by Fuji to go full scale into the car business in the 60's. the most common car in the world at that time (and for a long time later) was the VW beetle. Subru used that as a starting point ot dsign from, and even into the EA series....things like the rear suspension are still very, very similar to VW rear ends.

 

And of course the horizontal opposed engine and the Diff/Trans combination which is obviously inspired by the VW drivetrain.

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You make some good points there.

And FHI was part of the biggest production company in Japan.

It would make sense that they used the secrets given them in WWII.

But I doubt those ties have lasted 60 years+ and the dividing up of the company into the different entities.

 

And hiring a Benz designer is just smart.

Hire the guy who designs the "best looking" cars in the world.

 

Twitch

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Almost every Japanese car maker can trace it roots to production of war machines in WWII. And there earliest designs are knockoffs of german engineering.

 

Not all german... the 60 and 70's landcruiser engines are very very similar to the 30'a and 40's chevy engines. And most japanese pickup trucks use the same 6 bolt pattern as chevy trucks.

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I'm surprised nobody mentioned the Subaru Legacy Blitzen (considering where the thread is going), which was a collaboration between Porsche engineers (I think) and Subaru Tecnica International.

 

http://www.subaru-sti.co.jp/blitzen/voice/voice_f.htm

http://www.subaru-sti.co.jp/blitzen/top/top_f.htm

 

only in Japanese, but you can translate it via Google.

 

\/\/\/ Here's the translated page, not the best, but enough to understand it \/\/\/

 

http://translate.google.com/translate?js=y&prev=_t&hl=en&ie=UTF-8&layout=1&eotf=1&u=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.subaru-sti.co.jp%2Fblitzen%2Fvoice%2Fvoice_f.htm&sl=ja&tl=en

Edited by AWDfreak
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I can. Way way back in the day, a fledgling Japanese auto manufacturer was looking for a name for their new company. When they ran out of good ideas, they called a German consultant firm for advise. When the Germans said they would be glad to help, they then asked the Japanese firm when they would need the name? When the Japanese replied "we need it by tomorrow", the Germans said "oh, dat-soon"??? :)

 

O, so cute........chuckle, chuckle, LOL, LOL!!

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Funny to see how Nissan got their name. Good Subaru is a constellation!!!!

 

Nope for sure subaru is not producing boxer blocks for porsche. However porsche is very interesting in the diesel boxer because 60% of european cars are diesels. Nowadays all porsche boxers are watercooled as subaru. Only BMW still uses aircooled boxers for motor bikes.

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I can. Way way back in the day, a fledgling Japanese auto manufacturer was looking for a name for their new company. When they ran out of good ideas, they called a German consultant firm for advise. When the Germans said they would be glad to help, they then asked the Japanese firm when they would need the name? When the Japanese replied "we need it by tomorrow", the Germans said "oh, dat-soon"??? :)

 

That's bad man.:clap:

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