WEIRD AND WONDERFUL

Once upon a time Porsche made a motorcycle.

Ferdinand Porsche is famous for the VW Beetle, world-beating Auto Union racing cars, and those rear-engined automobiles that bear his name. He was also pals with a certain Mr Hitler and worked on tanks, self-propelled guns and flying bombs during WWII. Less well known is Ferdinand’s interest in bikes. He got a licence at 18, rode a BMW R42, and worked on the (Nazi-backed) BMW streamliner that set a speed record of 173.67mph on a German Autobahn in 1937. Forty years later the company bearing his moniker revived its interest in two wheels. This is the Porsche ‘Alternative Motorrad Konzept’ or AMK, which roughly translates as ‘Whacky Future Bike’. The work of their Austrian design studio, the idea was a crossover to entice car drivers nervous about a vehicle you actually engage with. The AMK’S riding position replicated a car-seat stance, with footboards rather than footpegs and a screen positioned close to the rider, to give the feel of a car windshield. Covered hands and fully-enclosed wheels ensured one’s string-backed driving gloves and suede loafers weren’t subjected to grubbiness, as did the enclosing fairing with slots for the front forks. The headlight seemed to employ a Griffin Clubman visor. Bike technology took huge strides in the ’70s, giving Porsche access to liquid cooling, inline fours and lightweight cast wheels. So under the AMK’S futuristic look was obviously a Yamaha SR500, the air-cooled two-valve single that was Japan’s first retro – its designer took influence from the XS650 of the late 1960s and traditional British thudders. Some elements of the AMK were neat. Seat height was adjustable, for example. Other features highlighted that it was the work of non-bikers: the enclosed wheels ensured sidewind chaos, and they overlooked that the SR used chain final drive and so would need a final drive chain. The AMK was shown on Yamaha’s stand at the Earls Court show in August 1980, where it was presented by Barry Sheene. It vanished shortly after, its out-there design a bit too… Yet the wonderful Porsche surely had an influence, just look at the faired-in Hondas and Kawasakis we lapped up over the next decade.