Over 45 years old. Yeah, this shape is more than 45 years old and still looks like something from another world, let alone the heyday of disco fever and bell bottom pants. And not even just the Porsche 928 in general, but this is the original 928 shape which was modified with various spoilers, starting with smaller ones just two years hence (there are absolutely none on this one), and culminating in a fairly large flat rear plane, wider fenders, and reworked front and rear ends by the time of its swansong in 1995, not to mention three additional letters on its rump to make the 928 GTS.
But today we have an extremely rare first year model, and one of the even rarer manual transmission equipped ones to boot. Even more disappointingly (disappointing in trying to find an obvious reason for it being here), there is no hint of crash damage or significant rust and it’s in an always desirable color combination, yet someone saw fit to discard it. Perhaps this is the 928 WTF.
Introduced in March 1977 at the Geneva Motor Show, the 928 was originally conceived to supplant the not yet as evergreen as it would be 911. Compared to the concurrent 930 (911 turbo) that was festooned with massive wings and appendages in order to contain its power and speed, the 928 eschewed all of the extra gingerbread because as designed by Tony Lapine it didn’t need it in order to be tame enough to drive, yet its ultimate speed out of the box was close to that of the 930 and it was far more forgiving and easy to handle at speed or on a track.
One of the signature items of the 928 were always its popup light pods that laid flat on/in the fender a la Miura when not in use. The goal was to have the front be reminiscent of the 911 when they were deployed, until today when I crouched down low enough to take this picture I never really completely saw that, however without the rear of the light pods being obvious it looks very much to actually foreshadow the 1989 Porsche 964 with its flush bumper and integrated lower lighting. Remember that back in 1977, while the 911 no longer had chrome bumpers, it was still a shape very related to its 1963 genesis and the body colored bumpers were interrupted with black rub strips, orange turn signals and dangling fog lights.
Chrome bezels on the headlights look archaic and immediately stood out to me, yet they were a 1978-only 928 item, which makes sense as the 911 had them as well until it switched to body color ones for the 1979 model year. The 928 featured aluminum front fenders, hood, and doors while the rest of the body was zinc-coated steel and the ends were polycarbonate (deformable plastic) over aluminum crash structures.
The Geneva show car was Guards Red, and while I don’t mind that color, this black suits the car much better as do various metallics offered during its 18-year run. There were also a surprising number of quite wild 1970s colors on offer at the beginning of the run. The integrated crash structures both front and rear were greeted with much interest world-wide and obviously contribute to the of-a-piece look, rear bumper pads notwithstanding.
The PORSCHE lettering debossed into the bumper skin is now a design feature seen on vehicles as prosaic as a Toyota Sienna of course, but here it harkens to the rear reflector bar of the 911, the actual reflector bar a theme that would eventually be incorporated into some of the last 928s as well. This one was apparently last registered almost a decade ago (collector plates are good for five years here) and so ended its career sometime between 2013 and 2018.
Beyond the Porsche deboss on the rear bumper and the Porsche shield on the hood, the only other exterior identifier is this small set of 928 numberals stamped dead center into the lower edge of the rear window frame. That’s it. Sometimes less really is more. Or there’s a bean counter at Porsche as well.
In Germany in 1978 you could certainly avail yourself of a 911 turbo and actually use it as intended without risking your license assuming of course you had the means to do so. Or you could be a little more, uh, discreet, and if you needed to criss-cross the continent in style and with speed, solidity as well as desiring some more modern conveniences, perhaps a then-new Mercedes W126 Coupe, BMW 6-series, or a Jaguar XJS might be attractive. Or the 928.
In original 4.5 liter form, the new Porsche all-aluminum 90-degree single overhead cam V8 with two valves per cylinder produced 240hp in European markets and 219hp in the United States. By 1995 at the end of the run, this would be expanded to 5.4 liters and 350hp with various upgrades in size and specification along the way to that level, 350hp in 1995 still being a very high number. The original 1978 figures were good enough for a 0-60mph run of under 6.5 seconds and a top speed of around 140mph per manufacturer.
Of course, as Pirelli once said in their advertising, Power is nothing without control; it’s not just about a powerful engine. Aiding in the 928’s 50/50 weight distribution is the use of a rear transaxle with a torque tube transmitting the power to it. Aluminum suspension, a choice of 15″ or 16″ phone dial wheels and then shod with the then-new Pirelli P7 made for a very well-balanced and exhilarating drive. As an aside, we all know what I mean when I say “phone dial wheels” in regard to a Porsche, but I wonder if my younger kids would know, they have never used an actual phone dial…hmm.
While a 5-speed manual was standard and generally preferred by motoring scribes, the sophisticated nature of the car actually lent itself quite well to the Mercedes built 3-speed automatic, eventually supplanted by a 4-speed of the same. Sources estimate that only approximately 20% of 928s were equipped with the manual transmission, and today are generally more sought after.
Even the interior was ahead of its time, with the sweeping center console continuing up into the dashboard and just as interesting the instrument binnacle that tilted with the steering wheel as a unit. This one obviously has the leather seat option rather than the somewhat polarizing “Pasha” psychedelic-patterned cloth version.
It’ll take a little more than that red packet of wet wipes to get this back in order but it’s certainly do-able. even being a passenger in this would seem to be an involving experience with the panorama outside spreading itself across your field of vision over the low-angled dashboard.
Note the shift pattern on the 5-speed, it has a dog-leg first gear at the lower left of the pattern, the engine was tractable enough to really not even need first, and certainly not if any forward motion was in effect, all the better to keep 2-3 and 4-5 on the same planes. The Sansui aftermarket stereo was likely a serious piece of kit back in the 1980s, yet even the VDO clock, chunky knobs and sliders on the HVAC system look far more modern than being almost a half century old. Or I’m just having so much fun that time really is flying by. A half century isn’t what it used to be.
Apparently 150,000 miles is about when these engine come up for some significant work, perhaps that’s what happened here as it’s right at that mark. Or of the myriad of extremely long belts one or more gave up their ghost, maintenance and repair costs on a 928 are not for the faint of heart or light of wallet especially if relying on others. This though, in 1978, is what a clear set of gauges looked like and should have been emulated by the industry as a whole, rather than the garbage being foisted on the public by most others. Of all the mass makers not using VDO as their supplier, Honda probably came closest in the mid to later 1980s with equally clear and concise graphics with perhaps not all of the actual instruments.
And goddamn it (yes, it’s perfectly okay to blaspheme a little bit in the presence of greatness), it even has a 170mph speedometer. In 1978. A year or so later that would get chopped in half by the gummint. (The 911 turbo’s went to 180 by the way, that one gets a LieberGottImHimmel from me.)
I’ll fall on my (German made high carbon blade) sword here and admit that only my people could create a door lock knob that is operated not by pushing or pulling on said item itself but rather by having to twist a separate knob a few centimeters away from it.
Practical folk that Germans are though, the car is also equipped with rear seats with folding back rests. Best used by distantly related Munchkins or the next generation of Germans, i.e. little ones.
Yet going one step further, the rear seats have their own sunvisors (that are larger then the front ones) to shield said rear seat occupants from the rays of sunshine beating down through the rear glass. Not for Germans the idea of using a dark shaded band of glass over the rear area as that might negatively affect the driver’s field of rear view when the rear seat is not in use and there is thus no need for shade.
Switching the angle, the rear cargo compartment is wide but shallow, with what is certainly the original collapsible spare tire on the left. A fairly comprehensive tool kit is housed in a molded enclosure covered with carpet along the rear wall (just below the 928 logo here), and then there is a cover and carpet above what is seen here to provide a flat load floor, made larger with the rear seatbacks folded down.
The front seats though is where it’s at as you piloted this apparition from outer space along the Autobahn or autostrada or autoroute or just plain old Interstate 90 across Montana, USA while pondering how lucky or skilled you were to be able to afford the US$28,000 in 1978 dollars to make this your own.
And an early adopter you were as well, this VIN plate identifies first the model designation in its first three numbers, here 928, the 8 in position 4 is for 1978 model year, the 2 is for USA market (Rest of World has a 1 here), the 0 is for coupe and then the last four digits are the sequential serial number. Interestingly this allows for duplication of actual serial numbers as the same ones were used for USA and RoW versions, with the 2 or 1 in the fifth position differing between them, the serial number does not denote the actual build order between versions, just within its own set.
The first ten numbers of each were not used, so this is sequential build #1093 for the year of 1978 USA units, and the total for 1978 was actually 1129 USA units (highest number is 1139) so this was likely produced in the last week of the 1978 model year. 1978 also saw 2636 RoW units as well as 65 more specifically for Japan for total first year production of 3830. Over its entire 18-year span approximately 61,000 Porsche 928s were built.
I’ve been visiting various local-ish junkyards semi-regularly for around four years now (helps me get my steps in and provided destinations to drive to when reviewing new cars and trying to rack up mileage) and this is only the third 928 I’ve seen in a Self-Service yard. The first was somewhat newer, yet more beat than this one and we actually chronicled it here, the second was also a few years newer than this one in Albuquerque of all places and very trashed and now this one, by far the best preserved yet oldest of the bunch.
I doubt I’ll see many more as they would tend to go to more specialist dismantlers when auctioned off but I suppose someone may have dragged it here and they certainly won’t turn anything away so you never know, our society never stops discarding all kinds of things. After spending some time taking a close look at this one, all I can saw is that y’all can keep your DeLoreans, I’d much rather time-travel in this, first stop Geneva 1977.
One of the benefits of being a pickup truck owner in a community (in both the geographic and social sense) of non-pickup owners is that your friends want to borrow them occasionally to haul stuff. Why is this a benefit? Because you may get an interesting car in trade for a few hours. In the late eighties/early nineties these included a 1st gen Integra, a 5.0 Fox Mustang GT with the full body kit … and a 928. The first two were both 5 speeds; the latter was an automatic but still quite an enjoyable driving experience. The owner had inherited it and had fallen in love with 928’s, and soon supplemented it with a black 5 speed. I haven’t seen him for many years; hope this isn’t his.
Wow, blown away by your finds, Jim. You missed one nifty detail on the dashboard – a single turn signal indicator for both left and right – just like a VW Rabbit!
I had the privilege of driving a 928 a few years back. Even by modern standards, they hold up pretty well. They were way more advanced than pretty much everything else on the road in 1978. Porsche was truly aiming where the puck was headed, and not where it was at.
https://www.curbsideclassic.com/rental-review/rental-car-review-1985-porsche-928s/
Also, one contributor here actually owned a 928 and COALed about way back in 2015
https://www.curbsideclassic.com/blog/coal-capsule/coal-1983-porsche-928s-no-such-thing-as-a-cheap-porsche/
Thank you for adding those links Tom, sometimes I go so far down the rabbit hole that I forget to bring everything back up with me! And also thank you for pointing out further evidence of a Porsche beancounter hard at work! Clearly something had to offset the door locks…
It amazes me how far ahead of its time this automotive design was in 1978. The profile and interior, especially, still looked modern even in 1995.
I see they were still using coir (coconut fiber) for the seat padding. The Germans were rather late to the foam party. This stuff is often wrongly assumed to be “horsehair”, and it gives the cars that have it a distinctly organic smell, especially in moister climates.
Quite the find. Looks like it just aged out; as you said, probably a major engine issue and then it sat, and sat, and now it sits some more, up on stilts.
The 928 (like the 911) didn’t really need any actual external identification, as they were so distinctive.
I remember well when it came out; what a quantum leap from the traditional Porsche formula. It makes the jump to the Cayenne look very modest by comparison.
Actually a modern 911 is larger than the 928.
I had a 1976 BMW 2002 that I bought in 1977 and owned for almost 30 years. It had the coir padding in the seats which I always found firm but very comfortable. Unfortunately at some point the coir started to disintegrate. I don’t remember when, but it was probably around 20 years. I first noticed a lot of dust under the front seats and then as the seats started to lose their shape the source of the dust became apparent. The vinyl upholstery had also started to crack so I bought some replacement covers and had an upholsterer install them. Unfortunately he used foam in the seats and the result was not good. I found some replacement seat pads in coir and had someone else redo them and they were back to the original feel.
Great writeup.
I have always loved the design of these since I saw Albert Finney’s character dashing Susan Dey around in Looker, a really fun but now forgotten futuristic thriller by Michael Crichton from 1980. What a beautiful shape. The car, I mean, hehe.
I’ve never driven one of these or had a ride in one, but if I was to tackle a vintage project sports car, these always had appeal to me, as did classic Datsun Z’s. The high cost of parts always grounds me in reality. I pay enough just trying to keep a vintage VW rolling.
Some might say they ARE a vintage VW…
Fixed height seat belts!
The 928 looked so futuristic when it was introduced, as futuristic as the AMC Pacer was in 1975. I remember being intrigued by the strange kinks in the cast aluminum intake pipes.
Now that you mention those intake lines…perhaps the variation in shapes either increases overall flow rates or somehow breaks up some sort of harmonic phenomenon. Or both.
These Porsches were quite advanced in concept and execution. The engine had liner-less cylinder bores, which was quite a popular idea at the time. Think Chevy Vega and Jaguar XK8. We all know what happened with the Vega, the same thing with the early XK8, maybe that’s why they are worth so little now. It was the same with the 928, values dropped to the point they were virtually worthless. A situation that I was familiar with as an ex Jaguar XJS owner! However both the XJS and the 928 have bottomed out in value and are starting to increase slowly, and slightly in value.
The tragedy of the aging, Super star, high end, high spec cars that were so desirable when new, is that while they are still valued by gear head enthusiasts, the grass roots enthusiasts are hard pressed to deal with the multitude of problems and expenses these type of cars are rife with.
From what I’ve read, electrical problems are quite common and hard to fix, Wiring and components have degraded during the extended periods that the car were left sitting and some mechanical problems require expensive parts and skilled and experienced technicians. Emission equipment related maladies prevent many cars from being used and driven. Many specialty shops will not even work on a car over twenty years old! Not that these cars can’t be maintained, or even rescued by a motivated enthusiast, but it takes a lot of dedication and dollars.
It’s no wonder that most DIY enthusiasts, like myself, will go back to the kinds of cars that are much simpler and cheaper to fix and maintain. All three of my Jaguars are gone, now all you will find at my house are Fords.
This makes me sad! At first, I wondered if the complexity of the interior door locks might have been an attempt at engineering / building in some anti-theft protection, but I’m not sure. I wonder what was the actual thought process there.
It was anti theft-protection.
In case the window had been left ajar, the door knob would have been easy to reach. A thief could have opened the door with a wire, hence the knob on the side, which was the only thing that could unlock the door.
I think maybe you have to pay to play 🙂 The 911 used the same type of mechanism, btw. This doesn’t replace the power locks, but is just the manual override for it to either lock or unlock from the inside and move the upright knob/stalk thingy.
So sad to see in this setting. Especially with the ‘collector vehicle’ plate on it. Still shiny.
I wonder if the rear glass was smashed before it came in, and couldn’t be replaced? But then there’s the worn seats, and who-knows-what in the mechanicals.
Sad.
It actually looks better with no wheels. In that configuration it could be used in a movie as a space capsule or a UFO or a Mini Submarine. With wheels it looks like a 70’s coke slut magnet.
Weird but it seems to me that Old Mercedes of whatever vintage look stately even if a bit worse for the wear. 911’s too. 928’s tend to look thrashed even if just slightly less than perfect.
I liked those when they first came out and still do. Understated, but good looking. Seems like for a time early in this century they got pretty cheap to buy, downright affordable although 924s and 944s even more so. Not cheap to maintain, once a near exotic, always a near exotic, I suppose the only solution is to have a parts car and hope too much stuff doesn’t break twice, or have a specialist on speed dial and deep pockets.
But like so many cars I perceive to be interesting, especially German ones, their affordability is now gone. Oh well.
Grazy waste of a car. Those seats smack of a car that has sat out in the sun for to long. My guess is that the owner died and the family just wanted to get rid. No interest in posting the car on Bring a Trailer etc. First model year with 5 speed and leather must have worth something as 928 s are appreciating .
Surprising the 5 speed and associated hardware hasnt been harvested yet
I currently am working on a flooded 1980 928 and I’m interested in the power train out of this one, don’t have much time to check myself and I’ll most likely forget so if anyone can get back to me with the details on the location of this one it would be appreciated!
It’s at the U-Pull-And-Pay in Aurora, Colorado. It’s a very recent addition to the lot and these pictures were taken late last week so probably still pretty complete. At the time the powertrain looked untouched. Good luck!
When I was little, my parents were interested in buying an Audi 4000s from Bill Cook Porsche+Audi in Farmington Hills, MI. On the showroom floor sat a 928 just like this, though I can’t remember if it was a manual or not. Compared to the Audi 4000, this looked like a spaceship to be sure!
Anyway, I immediately was attracted to that car, and loved sitting in it while my parents worked out the Audi purchase.
I recall the salesman telling me I could buy it if I paid for it a dollar a week! Of course I had no real concept of the price but knew he was just being super-nice to me. My parents always got a kick out of my finding the most expensive car on floor. Good memories.
In my late teens, had a great poster in my room taken from a French classic car mag depicting the “100 most significant automobiles of the 20th Century”. The original 928 was one of them, and rightly so.
But as you pointed out, Porsche started adding bits to it all over very quickly, so I’m not sure when I last saw the unsullied shape of the 1977-79 cars. A few can be seen around Tokyo, but always S4s. Just not the same.
It’s amazing what some people throw away in your neck of the woods. Wish I could find the same MY but roadworthy, preferably in a crazy 70s colour and with that mad cloth interior, too.
Great find, and a great write up.
It makes me sad that this particular car has met the end of the road, but everything must end…and hopefully this one (perhaps via this article!) will help other 928s carry on.
I cannot help but think that the 928 suffered from the “Not a Real Porsche” syndrome back in its day. Maybe some of that has faded in modern times, but perhaps whoever owned this one (or their estate) held on to some of those perceptions and was too quick to just send it to the yard rather than to find a way to sell it to someone who knows its real value.
I recall someone I knew in the late 90s who had one of these (used) and was quite the enthusiast…but she could never stop getting dissed by people who felt that the front-engine – not-911 – Porsche was somehow a lesser vehicle for those of lesser means/tastes/abilities.
That was stupid. But such is the market.
I would posit that Volvo basically did the same things to itself when it tried to introduce the 700 and 900 series cars to replace the 200 cars. Yeah, they sold some, and those updated cars were superior in a number of ways, but ultimately the 7/900 series cars are considered “Grandpa” cars whereas the 240/2/5 went longer and are still much more sought-after.
I’ll add that one of the saddest parts of this is the broken rear glass.
Seems like that probably happened in the junkyard. 🙁
This early 928 was originally silver as seen in the door jamb areas, trunk and floor pans, and under hood on firewall, in engine bay, and on top of suspension towers.
Has an aftermarket stereo, lots of interior failure points, a repaint, but none of these should have warranted a death gavel ringing down it’s fate. The 150,000 miles surely not, as I know of higher mileage units still on their original drivetrain (400, 550, and 850,000 miles).
My thoughts are it had made it to it’s 4th to 10th owner and the last half dozen or so gave up when they had to spend a couple thousand on maint. and shoveled it off to some unsuspecting soul with stars in their eyes. None of which were in the national or regional Porsche Club which could have assisted in helpful direction. The discarded belts on the seat tell me another story…… that of possible internal engine damage due to catastrophic failure. Being complicated sportscars, even placing a floor jack wrong under the front end could cause starter failure or oil pan damage without even knowing it.
So very sad we live in a world where we see owners discarding useful items for not wanting to see issues thru to save that item. My heart beats blood red for Porsche (I own 8 vintage models of both air and water cooling) so this type of discard is hard to take. Don’t even get me started on what Cash for Clunkers took away from the Porsche world.
Rest in Peace 928
LS swap.
I always found these really attractive. For someone who lives in the Land That Rust Remembered, seeing a car like this that has had easily fixable things like seat upholstery and mechanical parts let go makes me a little jealous and sad.
I can’t imagine how futuristic these must’ve looked to the average automotive enthusiast contemplating a Mustang II vs. a Cutlass Supereme in 1977. It’d be years before aero designs started appearing from Ford ahead of other mainstream brands. Is this the design Chrysler cribbed to make the Daytona/Laser in the 80s? It sure looks like it to me.
These early 4.5L 16V were non-interference engines. So broken timing belt doesn’t necessarily mean major engine damage.
No side rub strips and sunroof delete also add to the desirability of this one.