Porsche
Vizcaya 914-6 by Frua

Why it matters

The Vizcaya was a Spanish-German attempt to give the mid-engined Porsche 914/6 a more exotic body. It was styled by Pietro Frua for the Spanish BMW importer Bernard Heiderich and was meant for small-series production, but a dispute over the design rights stopped that. Only the single car that was shown was built.

How rare is it?

Six separate kinds of rarity – never combined into one number.

Each kind of rarity is rated separately and never combined.

Production

Every figure says what it counts.

Independent counts (e.g. engine and colour) are never combined into a calculated figure. Surviving examples are never presented as original production.

History

Heiderich, a Spanish importer of German descent, liked the technology of the Porsche 914/6 but not its body. He first approached Giorgetto Giugiaro, who was busy with other work, and then Pietro Frua, whom he had known since the 1960s. Heiderich wanted gullwing doors in the style of the Mercedes C111; Frua rejected them on grounds of structural rigidity. The car combined ideas from Frua's BMW 2002 GT4 with the C111 and was first shown at the Geneva Motor Show in March 1971.

Heiderich and Javier Garcia Peralta formed the company Hispano-Aleman. The mechanic Antonio Santez enlarged the 914/6 engine to 2.4 litres using pistons and connecting rods derived from the 906 racing car, reaching a stated 225 CV. Frua then claimed the design and production rights although Heiderich had commissioned and paid for the design, and a Swiss court held the car until the case was settled. Heiderich's ownership was confirmed and the car appeared at the Barcelona Motor Show in 1972 as the Hispano-Aleman Vizcaya, but legal action continued until 1976 and the project never reached production.

Technical specifications

Engine

Transmission & drivetrain

Chassis, body & dimensions

Performance

“Not yet verified” means no source has been checked for that value yet. Nothing is estimated to fill a gap.

Identification guide

How to tell an original from a replica or later conversion.

The car is a single prototype, so there is no series of replicas to compare against. The source identifies it by the Frua-designed body on a Porsche 914/6 base (the factory six-cylinder 914/6 was built 1969-1972), with the engine enlarged to 2.4 litres and 906-derived pistons and rods, and a design influenced by the Mercedes C111 but with conventional doors.

Sources

Each number links to the exact facts it supports.

1. 1
   1971 Porsche 914/6 Hispano-Aleman Vizcaya by Frua Level B Luis Alarcos · Undiscovered Classics · 2020-07-24

   • Just the one model shown here ... was built
   • increasing the displacement of the Porsche 914/6 engine to 2.4 liters

   Accessed 2026-11-12
2. 2
   Carrozzieri Italiani – Frua listings Level B

   • 1 one-off

   Accessed 2026-11-11