(First Posted August 31, 2013) On any street, I’d be hard pressed to miss this red 928. The swoopy body and “arrest me red” color choice catches my enthusiast eye, and draws me to the car in search of automotive perfection. However, closer examination tells an all too familar story…
A walkaround shows a dulling finish, and spots of thinning paint. No trailer queen, this 928 has led a rough life, and currently resides on the downhill side of entropy.
Both scientists and car owners have noted that nature tends to move all things from a state of order to a state of chaos, a principle known as entropy. Sun, rain and wind all work tirelessly to remove paint from sheetmetal, and gravity provides a constant downward pull on tires and springs. Ozone attacks rubber without surcease, and other forces beyond control eat away at every corner.
Taking a closer look, I searched for a sign of hope, some promise of redemption. Alas, all I found were scratches and stains brought forth by the ravages of time.
A look inside showed discolored panels, a lifting edge below the door arm rest, and center console cracking. So far, my closer look has not inspired confidence.
However, this final picture tells us all is not lost. Despite the body rust and sun faded trim, a ray of hope exists in the form of a black tablet laid under the back glass.
The only tool man has to fight entropy is energy. Adding energy to any system provides a restorative cure, and this Porsche includes that source of energy. The black panel is a solar battery tender that maintains the car’s 12 volt battery. While it only provides a trickle of power, this simple device guarantees that the engine will start even after weeks of neglect.
This indicates the owner understands the battle between man and entropy. We can only hope he adds further energy into his 928, energy that reverses the environmental damage, drives away chaos, and restores order to this 928.
Always wanted one of these but its easier to just burn your money in a fireplace. They sound and look great but cost ya to maintain.
Its an exotic, not a Miata. However, it’s amazingly rational for an exotic.
Came close to buying a ten year old one back in 1993. Test drove it, absolutely loved the car even though it had the inevitable automatic. Fast, smooth, probably the perfect GT. Price was doable, condition was decent, the only downside was a dearth of Porsche-experienced mechanics in Johnstown, PA. And I got scare off by a internet comment “If you’re going to pay Ferrari prices for service, at least get a real Ferrari.”
By the time rational thought had returned (it may be as expensive as a Ferrari to fix, but you don’t have to fix them nearly as often) the car was sold.
I love the front engined Porsches, way more than the 911’s. A bit over ten years later I ended up with my 924S. Yeah, half the cylinders, but there was still that same feel to the car, only smaller and lighter. And when I finally decided that I had to finally get that first roadster, its only because the 968 I drove was an automatic (when you’re used to the five speed, the autobox kills the car), and anything in an available Boxster was out of my price range that I (temporarily) settled on the Solstice.
I’m going to have another front engined Porsche yet. And I’ll make room for one of those rear engined jobs, too.
I also was fascinated by the direction Porsche seemed to be going when they introduced this car. On paper, it made sense, and all the fundamentals seemed sound for ongoing development into a better and better car. The S4 variant (?) was to be the highlight, though, and as they aged the flaws became horribly evident and even more expensive than the normal mark exponent. An old 911 can be ratty and yet still have a modicum of class, while these just seem to be old used-up cars with very few maintained examples seen in public. It’s still the only Porsche model I’ve ever seen in the “free” category of Craigslist – a blown-engined, broken-windowed example with moss growing everywhere sitting in a field near Cloverdale, Oregon about 10 years ago. I only had to drive about 20 miles, so I couldn’t resist going to see if it was in any way viable. The hole with a connecting rod poking though the block disabused me of any notion of it coming to my house. I must admit that I still think a well taken care of one is an attractive car, but my brain freeze’s quickly thinking of the ongoing cash outflow to keep one driving. One of the very few mis-steps of this company’s management.
Visit an old money neighborhood in any larger city and you’ll see some decent 928s. Typically parked next to an aging-but-maintained W126 in the garage.
That solar panel trickle charges the battery there is no guarentee it will start, only crank.
Nice car though and one that obviously isnt in daily use a little sun fade and paint wear isnt a problem the cosmetics are not crucial to driving it and if its in resonable order should go as well as it ever did the ones that were going to blow have already done so and only the enthusiastic owners are left. I certainly prefer these to the rear engined variety
Red paint fades so badly in the sun,even in the UK and it’s a bear to match up.There’s something about Porsches that makes you want to have one and then there’s eye watering bills to make you think better to look at than own
Ditto red paint in New Zealand. Especially the red Ford used on Sierras (oddly the red Mk V Cortinas were fine). My old ’84 Sierra had about 12 different shades of red on it…
The rule of thumb I’ve heard about the 928 is that one just drives them until the engine needs major work, then the car isn’t worth the price of the repairs.
Pretty much so, you can budget about $2000 per cylinder for repair. If you could afford to buy one new, you can afford to run and repair it in the style it deserves. Otherwise something vital blows and its off to the crusher. I just don’t understand why these wonderful cars don’t hold their value better!
I like 928’s, I’ve always had a thing for them, it was one of the auto show brochures that I cherished most as kid, besides the Cadillac and Buick ones of course, I like the early “phone dial” wheeled ones, they usually seemed to be the cheapest ones available, I guess not everyone goes nuts for a root beer brown Porsche 928 with a crazy checkerboard interior.
The 928 was supercar of its era, as someone pointed out once, every 928 was once owned by someone wealthy and important at one time in their existence, they were almost as much as a Ferrari when new, around $30,000, when a loaded Cadillac would struggle to crack $20K, Porsche poured everything into the 928, its sad that so many of them end up in shabby shape
Yowza!
Reminds me of my friend’s 70’ish Valiant that we painted years ago. It was a sort of puke-brown color. We put diagonal strips of duct tape down and then spray painted black and white krylon alternatively. And then pulled the tape off. It was a nightmare clowncar of sorts. Wish we had cameras back then.
Love those op-art seats! Alas all of the 928s I’ve seen in person have had the boring old cracking leather 🙁
God, Carmine, I’ll fight you for it! Bronze, op-art seat fabric and phone dial wheel, it’s the only Porsche I’ve ever wanted.
Perhaps no better candidate for a LSx or, better yet, Coyote swap than one of these. Keep the V8 rumble, make even more power and say goodbye to the daunting maintenance nightmares forever.
Despite my general belief that Porsche = rear engine boxer, I do admire the 928 greatly. So much so that I could even accept it as a 911 replacement. The design is just stunning and very unique in that classic Porsche sort of way. It’s AMC pacer meets Lamborghini Miura look is something only a company who turned the Beetle into a sleek sports car could come up with, and nobody would dare copy it.
The 928 along with 924, 944 and 968 seem to be unloved and one can get one of them in good condition for a low price. Compared to the type 911, there does not seem to be a big market for them. it is as been said, most people buy a cheap 928 and drive it till it has a break down and then dumps it.
The reality is that labor is the biggest cost on these cars and parts are as bad as stories make them out. If you have mechanical aptitude, a decent set of tools and the mindset to keep the car, then one of these makes a good car to own and drive
As much as I like the 928, I like the 944 the best(the 924 is to plain and the 968 loses the pop up headlights) due to the body kit and the hidden pop up headlights. I don’t like the 928’s exposed pop up lights and like the 1981-1983 3rd gen Celica(which shares the same concept) I feel it ruins the fluidity of the body design and when they are popped up the lights resemble something that should ve attached to a Ford Model A (though in the case of the Celica the mid 3rd gen restyle in 1984 corrected that and made the 84-85 Celica the best looking of that generation in my eyes)
My ex Father-in-law bought one of the first 928s to be imported into Los Angeles. It was black with the checkerboard seats, and it had a manual transmission.
He let me drive it a half dozen times. Twice when I was behind the wheel the Bosch alternator quit working. I was not far from home each time so it was not a big problem, but I sure was confused as to why a brand new car was having issues so early on. I liked the car, but I was only 22 at the time and I knew it was way more car, and trouble, than I was prepared to handle. (I was driving a Volvo 122 at the time.)
Said father-in-law passed away a couple of years after buying the car, so he never had to experience the big time problems that would have showed up at some point in the cars life.
I always thought the headlights were very expressive
Hah! Glad I clicked on the image, very cool animation!
For some reason the taillights always reminded me of the ones on an RTS bus, and at one point in the early days of the internet I saw a gif of a Pacer melting into a 928.
But wow, those checkerboard seats! Has anyone else ever offered a black-and-white seat insert fabric with tan bolster vinyl?
Believe it or not, the AMC Pacer was an inspiration to the designer of the 928. No, I’m not kidding.
In fairness to AMC designers, they had to work with less desirable proportions, such as a shorter deck and taller roofline.
That said, the Pacer might have looked better if Porsche had given it a makeover. A higher, more wedge-shaped beltline and a more upright rear could have improved space efficiency and toned down the weird fishbowl look.
To my eyes the least attractive aspect of the 928 was the integrated rear bumper. The restyled rear on later models was an improvement, but I question why the plastic fascia needed to wrap all the way around the taillights.
I think you have been watching too many Wonders of the universe.
A neighbor of mine had a black 928, I loved it, and always wanted one, but the problems they had scared me away. I worked down the block from the Porshe dealer and saw an awful lot of 928’s being towed in dead. A friend later had a 944, and now has a 911 that, like everything German, seems to spend way too much time in the shop for really stupid problems. Another friend’s Audi would eat sensors like popcorn, just like the 911 does. Is there something different about the sensors the VW group uses than anyone elses? I think the last sensor I had go bad before the one that went bad in my Challenger in May was when I lost a throttle position sensor (I think) in my 1993 Grand Cherokee when it was six months old. My friend’s Audi would randomly eat a sensor every six weeks, if you averaged them out. At least it was a lease, and his nightmare is now Audi’s and the poor bastard who buys it.
“entropy”? “surcease”?? Well you explained the first one, but I sure had to crack open the dictionary for the second one – kudos to you for enlarging my vocab!
We car guys all know about entropy whether we realize it or not.
I love these cars. I remember seeing them in the magazines, but until I got a ride in one, that’s when I was hooked. I was at an ADAC old-timer rally/race near Munich, Germany in 1979. My cousin knew a bunch of the stewards and managed to get us into the area where all of the traffic control was done. One of the stewards asked me if I wanted to go around the track with him, I said, of course. I had no idea they were using 928’s as pacers.
The car was from a different planet. The op-art interior (IIRC, it was ALL black and white) and the “safety’ orange paint was a riot color and shapes, that worked well. The car had great acceleration (for 1979) and nothing was more fun that day than leading a parade lap of Bugattis and Bentleys around this small track.
I’d like to know more about the car in the photos; I’d bet there’s a good story about it. It seems that these cars are either kept in amazingly good condition or left to rot. I’m glad to see I’m not the only person to suggest the SBC fix. I think it would make a great combination.
There’s a company called Desert Hybrids out in Nevada that specializes in watercooled Porsche / Chevy V8 engine swaps.
Oh the 928. I constantly toy with the idea of owning one. Or a 914 or 944. They all seem to be in the same price range, though the 914 is slowly going up.
I’d have any of them. I know they are all different but to me a Porsche is a Porsche and the driving experience will be like no other.
The main problem with older Porsche’s nowadays. The upkeep. The entry price is low so people who really shouldn’t have them, buy them and then when something breaks they try to avoid the repair or do it but on the cheap so in the end the car suffers, irreparably sometimes. Boxsters are starting to be cheap (first gen) so that’s worrying.
I do love the 928 though simply because of how awesome it is. It’s a muscle car in an Armani suit (for lack of a German designer)
I hope to have one someday.
That’s interesting, I like the 914 too, it seems I have a thing for the Porsches that most people don’t like, never had a much interest in the 924/44/68 series cars. The 914 has a great minimalist feel, something like a 356 Speedster brought up to 70’s spec, everything you need, nothing you don’t want.
A ’73 or ’74 914 2.0L is a highly sought-after car. The fact that there are so few left in nice shape means they are almost always more expensive than 944s (even Turbos) and all but the very latest 928 GTSs.
I have trouble with the looks of the later 914’s with the rubber bumpers, there used to be a 914-6 not far from my house, it belonged to a german carophile, it was sitting dead and rusting next to a 356 and 320i, then one day they were all gone. I had left several notes, but the guy never wanted to sell, it was a rough car, but a genuine 914-6.
I love Porsches, and I live not too far from a Porsche dealer. Still, keeping one of these on the road would require deep pockets and I’d likely be on a first-name basis with the mechanics and service advisors. Also, my wife does not like Porsches and bringing one of these home would likely be seen as tantamount to cheating…so I’d have to take a pass even if I had the deep pockets. Still, swapping out the V8 for a more reliable (and cheaper to service) Chevy small block is tempting….I’m sure I could make a case for it, and a 928 could find a home in my dream garage.
My dad had a dark red 928S and then later a black on black 928S4. These were the cars that got my dad out of Mercedes. I remember that the red paint on the 928S was really thick but chipped easily and the brake dust was really corrosive. This is in spite of me washing it about once a week (it was part of my chores).
The black 928S4 was a gorgeous car. I never really liked the proportions on the 928S but thought they finally got it right for the S4. Unfortunately, my dad liked autos so neither was a manual. But the good thing was that I was finally 16! And my dad let me drive it but it was way too much car for me on the rainy streets of Seattle.
Others have opined that it’s a german muscle car and they’re probably right. It’s funny but a lot of guys into american muscle loved looking at that quad cam V8 in the S4. As for swapping in a SBC, no way!! If you’ve ever driven the Porsche V8, the liquid power, high redline (for a V8) and great power/torque band make it a wondrous experience. A SBC may be cheaper but that’s like saying that a tofu steak with A1 sauce is equivalent to filet mignon. BTW, no offense to the Chevy lovers out there. The SBC is a great engine.
Offence taken, NBD…
An LSx would make a good swap, with plenty of tech and power.
Once again, CC reminds of a car I once drove, and had forgotten about. A friend borrowed my pickup to move something about 25 years ago, and I got to sample his 928 automatic in exchange. The last time I saw him he had upgraded to a newer S4 5 speed. I guess he got the 928 bug.
Used, but not babied. Faded paint, worn interior; not necessarily rode hard and put away wet, but used as it should’ve been. Refreshing to see that the owner still intends to use it, as evidenced by the trickle charger. it would make an awesome daily driver if one could keep it serviceable. Definitely some miles and smiles left in it.
If you wanna get really discouraged, Jim Klein had a recent article on a 928, about mighty warhorses that have stumbled.
It is known what other styling themes were considered for the Peugeot 928 before it was finalized?
The 928 is a challenging car for a hobbyist to own, but many try. There’s a guy at work that parks an old 928 in the parking lot. It’s an occasional driver. Once, years ago, I saw the owner walking away from his car. I caught up to him and started a conversation. At the end I told him that I had an XJS. Kindred spirits. We’ve both still got our cars!
So many NLA parts for these with very limited after market support. Super crazy labor times requiring many special tools. HEAVY for a GT car. Lots of subsystems that were technological highlights back then but now when I drive one I long for a technology delete button that would cause it to magically lose 1000lbs.
Still they are like most old cars in that the really nice road worthy survivors are creeping up in value. I’d like a 78 with CIS injection…
While entropy may be slowly reclaiming this particular 928, its Tony Lapine design has aged pretty darned well. Dare we say “timeless”?
Of course, there’s always the option for the owner to combat time’s ravages with that wonderful automotive age reversal process knows as “restoration,” in which the entropy at play is merely transferred to the owner’s bank account.
This. Lobbing in an SBC would not remedy all of the other what was then high tech features that can go wrong. Consider: the AC system has a separate evaporator for front and back. Complexity?? I do like them though but with a manual please.
I was a very young lad in all of 3rd grade when these cars first hit our shores. I recall thinking how exotic and futuristic they looked. I found a blue Matchbox example with opening doors in my Easter basket one year, and loved it. My dad had a subscription to Car and Driver at the time, and it usually didn’t take long to find a write-up on one of these cars, even if it was just a small blurb.
I loved how sporty and also classy the interior looked, and was fascinated by the fact they were a water-cooled V-8, rear-wheel drive car, the kind of thing a young knucklehead raised on American land yachts, Firebirds and Mustangs would appreciate. C/D was usually very impressed with the handling and power of these cars, but did comment that certain color and fabric choices could make the interior quarters a bit garish.
This is the kind of Porsche that Porsche purists hate, citing the usual gripes about “It’s not air cooled, it’s not rear engine,” Blah blah, whine, simper, fuss, pout, etc. I think it’s just a really cool car, and Porsche should get accolades for producing something so daringly different and exciting.