Modern Classic: Porsche 928
The Porsche 928 has the distinctive shape and was a 2+2 coupe. Photos: Porsche
Whenever I see a Porsche 928 I’m reminded that sometimes with objects in the past we can predict the future as they arrive before their time, and the timeless 928 fits this mould.
You will have seen the Porsche 928 in movies such as Weird Science and Risky Business and think of it as the modern-day Panamera (or even the electric Taycan), just without the extra doors.
In the late 1960’s Porsche was overly reliant on the 911. The then CEO of Porsche, Ernst Fuhrmann, felt the German brand needed a grand tourer that was a cross between a sports coupe and a luxury sedan to go head-to-head with Mercedes-Benz and BMW.
It was a multi-year study and as the world swept into the 1970’s oil crisis, sales of the thirsty 911 would fall and ideas of the 928 having a V10 were pared back to a more sensible V8 engine.
The focus of the 928 would be lightweight construction. The door, front wings and bonnet would be made of aluminium instead of steel. It would be a “2+2” but those rear seats, whilst looking comfortable in their rear bucket seat design, would only fit small children. It also had a hatchback boot rather than a trunk.
The 928 had electrically-operated front headlights, mounted on the outside that moved upwards when not in use and when activated, they popped forward.
The Porsche 928 had electrically-operated front headlights that popped up.
Initially, the 928’s round rear did not feature front or rear spoilers, although these were added in the 1980’s and beautiful flush-fitting rear taillights were added in the late ‘80s.
The 928 debuted in 1977 with sales beginning in 1978. By that time, the Porsche range had also swelled to a third lower cost model called the 924, with the 911 being in the middle.
Unique to the 928 was the fact that the engine was a front-mounted water-cooled V8. Initially, it was 4.5-litre but this would grow to 4.7-litre then 5-litre and finally 5.4-litre. Outputs started at 180kW for the first models and finished up at 257kW with the final iteration.
As a light car, 0-100 km/h runs of 5.7 seconds were capable in the final GTS cars, which was the fastest naturally-aspirated V8 car of its time, especially given it was loaded up with luxury equipment. It could also hit 280km/h.
The transaxle set up of the 928 allowed it to achieve a perfect 50/50 weight distribution, so it could keep up with a 911 around the track, but did so more comfortably.
It was one of the first cars to debut passive rear-wheel steering, to cut turning circles.
Inside, its simple dashboard moved in unison with the steering wheel and it had a big, modern instrument cluster, with oil pressure and fuel coolant gauges.
Neat in its day was an air-conditioned glove box and back seat sun visors Luxury models had an optional electric sunroof and leather seats, with cruise control, tyre pressure monitoring gauges (from 1990) and even pollen filters.
The Porsche 928 had an 18 year history with over 61,000 produced.
In its 18 year history different variants were produced including the initial base variant, which then was accompanied by an “S”, “S4”, “Club Sport GT”, “SE”, “CS” and “GTS”.
In total, just over 61,000 were produced, of which 51,000 were fairly evenly split between the base and S, S2 and S4.
Far rarer are the final GTS versions, produced after 1991, which amounted to less than 3000 and there were just 2000 GT versions. The rarest are the SE and CS versions with just 42 and 19 respectively; these models were depleted of standard equipment to make it lighter and faster.
Like always as I do my research and write this, I get more interested in this model and can one day see it in my classics garage at Parihoa. Maybe quicker than I thought, based on a scan of TradeMe.
Buying a 928 is, like many classics, fraught with danger. They are prone to rust due to the use of aluminium. Watch out for air-conditioning and power steering leaks, as well as the timing belt and water pumps going bung. But as always, a well-serviced example will mitigate risk and just be prepared to have a deep wallet to keep it pristine.
A GT and GTS was the fastest naturally-aspirated V8.
Whilst doing this story, I found “luuurve”. Truth be told, I am becoming attracted to these dysfunctional courtships of beauty, as evidenced by my TradeMe activity on classics this year.
But look out, here’s a trouble maker. Aside from two older examples of the 928 from 1982 and 1983, on TradeMe is a mint 1993 GTS. It's a deep blue metallic, white leather trim and a sunroof, with 186,139km and is New Zealand New with “five-plus owners”.
It's from a private collection and was $262,000 when new. It appears to have a flawless history and has been stored for recent years, so is de-registered.
At $69,000, the price shows the 928 GTS is already appreciating and, like many classics, the real price will be whatever buyer and seller transact at.
