I just acquired 4 early cars and started going through them. Two of them are '83, but very different.


The one on the right is black. It came with sport seats, headlight washers, CC, AC, remote hatch release, rear wiper, POWER steering, sport suspension, power sunroof, cargo cover - a lot of options. Unfortunately the option sticker is missing.
The car on the left is light blue metallic (or it should be that color!) and this is the option sticker

This car seems to be pretty stripped down...
Is it common not to have front speakers?

As you can see there are no holes drilled to mount speakers. Also the holes in the door are horizontal not vertical. Is this a holdover door from the 924?
Are these stock sun visor clips or something the PO just put in


Looks like no retractable seatbelts in the rear - but neat holder

I assume remote hatch release was an option?


it does not even have the surround for the hood release, like the other '83.
Did Porsche just keep changing the car through the year?
What are the differences between spoilers? I got a couple spare spoilers with the cars. There seem to be two types. The length of the horizontal part in the middle has two different sizes. Why? Are they from different years?

Unfortunately they were not stored right and most are tweaked!
Is it unusual to have an '83 with power steering, sunroof etc?
Here are the stickers from the other two cars


I bought these with my brother so we are splitting the whole deal. Which cars would you keep and which would you sell? Thinking of keeping two and selling two. The ones sold will be repainted the correct color along with rebuilt calipers, new brake lines, front engine reseal, belts, wp, rollers, tires, fuel lines, sunroof door and hatch seals and whatever else they need to be good cars.
Right now thinking of selling the light blue metallic and the Gemini grey metallic ones and keeping the black and sapphire metallic ones.
I am thinking about whether or not I need another 944 since I have a turbo cab, which to me is the ultimate 944, in excellent shape. Do I need another? One of the motivating factors in buying these cars was to save them from being parted out. They '83 cars have 5x,xxx miles and the sapphire has 6x,xxx and the gemini has 7x,xxx miles so they are all fairly low mileage cars.
Did I mention the light blue car has a fantastic steering wheel!

Does not get much worse then that!
Porsche was 10-15 years behind the Japanese in terms of interior design and quality!

 

Wow, you've got some stories to unravel! It's a nice lot, you'll have a great time with them.

The '83 will be a much more raw car than your turbo cabrio, I say keep the least optioned car and make it something completely different and complimentary to what you already have.

-Tom

 

the mileage gauge came out in 1984, so maybe the car with it and power steering is really an 84. The factory started making 84 models in 8/83

 

There are some model year identifiers between 83 and 84 under the hood. Fuel rails and vacuum canisters are different.
More photos please

 

I have seen people take a heat gun to the front spoiler/valance and carefully rebend it to shape. Keep in mind you might have to bend it a bit past what you want the final look to be if it is really warped and it will fix itself while cooling. Like someone else said, the vacuum canisters are in diferent spots in the early cars between the 83's and later 84/85 models. The two spoke wheel is the same as the 924 and is probably just something that was on the early build 83's as I have seen some others with it. I have never come across those sun visor clips but the stock parts are so fragile they might be a decent option if they work. The 83's and I think the 84's and maybe some 85's have the hood release like you depicted. I have an early 85 with I think a sept 84 build date (?) but it has the later style hood release with the plastic surround and the hatch release button next to it. Post some more photos.

 

But the 85 1/2 refresh was so far ahead of everyone else. That would be MY starting point. Looks like you have some good bones to deal with. Should be fun and expensive. Good luck.

 

It's my understanding that non sunroof cars are rare regardless of year. My 83 has some things in common with yours, but a lot of other things are foreign to me. Your weird shaped speakerless holes, rear seat belts, visor clips are all different than mine, and mine is also a very low option car.

Keep the stripped down car. Strip it down some more. It'll be a wild contrast to your turbo cab, as different as two of the same car could be.

 

Very interesting, some odd things in the pile, but I want to hear more about your Turbo Cabriolet- did you import that, or is it an engine swap?

 

The one with option code 900 means it was a tourist delivery car. That would have been the ultimate vacation trip for me!

Tom
'87 951