Automotive Firsts Introduced by the 928?
 

After having watched the video in this thread where the presenter stated that the 928 was the first production car to use covers over the bumpers and then seeing Erik's post where he pointed out that C3 Corvettes did it earlier, it got me thinking.

So which automotive innovations were done first on the 928 if any?

I'll start by suggesting that the movable instrument pod was an automotive first. I have no idea if it is but I can't think of another car that did it off the top of my head.

You forget about the thread you started in 2016? :p

https://rennlist.com/forums/928-foru...he-design.html

Nate enzoed himself:icon107: the horror:o

the Weissach rear axle config was a 928 first concept. Later adopted by other manufacturers

Lol. Both threads are similar but different in enough to justify this new one. The old thread just focused on parts that were designed in-house by Porsche specifically for the 928. And just because something was designed 100% by Porsche doesn't necessarily mean it was also an automotive first. For example the water pump may be 928 specific, as opposed to say using an Audi pump that may have been available, but by no means is a water pump itself an automotive first.

This thread is really a subset of the old thread I guess. Essentially which of those 928 parts designed by Porsche where unique solutions never before used on a production car?

Glove box?
 

Was the air conditioned glove box a Porsche first?

That's a good one. I don't know the answer, but I had a 2011 Kia Optima Turbo (don't laugh, it was a great car) and it had that. I thought that was pretty innovative and I was really surprised afterwards to find out the 928s had been doing it way back then.

What about the fold out arm rests in the doors? I had never seen that before.

Adjustable radiator flaps?

I seem to remember all the auto magazines that tested the 928 when it was released were somewhat amazed by the air conditioned glove box and most mentioned it in their reviews. If it wasn't a first it was seemed to be news to them.

PSD?

TPMS / RDK

"928 Firsts" thread from 8 years ago: https://rennlist.com/forums/928-foru...-firsts-3.html

Does any other car have a wood fuse cover? I've also never seen "Oil OK?" on a gas-cap bib on another car. Come to think of it, I don't think I've ever seen another car with a gas-cap bib.

Deformable front and rear "bumpers" ?

Rear passenger sun visors?

According to Wikipedia the 959 in 1986 was the first to incorporate it. What MY 928 used the system? 1990?

Ahh! And I actually searched for "928 Firsts" before I posted this thread I didn't find that one. Well everything old is new again as they say.

I think I've seen this before but the car is not coming to mind right now. Something my uncle once owned. I'l have to ask him.

I came across this on wikipedia again.

"The predecessor of modern electronic traction control systems can be found in high-torque, high-power rear-wheel drive cars as a limited slip differential. A limited slip differential is a purely mechanical system that transfers a relatively small amount of power to the non-slipping wheel, while still allowing some wheel spin to occur.

In 1971, Buick introduced MaxTrac, which used an early computer system to detect rear wheel spin and modulate engine power to those wheels to provide the most traction.[1] A Buick exclusive item at the time, it was an option on all full-size models, including the Riviera, Estate Wagon, Electra 225, Centurion, and LeSabre.

Cadillac introduced the Traction Monitoring System (TMS) in 1979 on the redesigned Eldorado."

MaxTrac (cool background music)

Power cut off is not what is used in PSD, so I would not compare the two. MaxTrac is like what I have my Sequoia's traction control and all others today. When I break lose pulling into traffic from the side and the SUV shuts down and is almost dangerous in it's slow response. I much prefer the feeling of the car starting to pull to the right and straighten back up as acceleration increases.

My '69 Karmann Ghia has a factory gas bib.

So did '70s Datsun Z cars.

https://cimg2.ibsrv.net/gimg/rennlis...7fc96526e6.jpg

Probably the first....and only...4 bar link hatch unlatching actuator.

How about the camshaft housing? Any other car have the camshaft fully enclosed like that? I'd like to go back in time and bitch slap whomever thought cam covers and caps were no longer adequate :p

I'm guessing it made the head a much more simple casting or something.

Hacker, Pontiac had an enclosed cam housing that bolted to the cylinder head of its OHC 230cid 6 cylinder in 1966.


https://cimg4.ibsrv.net/gimg/rennlis...e0dc379a45.jpg

Wow, between that and the Tempest having a rear mounted transaxle.......what else did Porsche borrow from Pontiac? :p

The Tempest had the rear-mounted transaxle, and it had a very interesting torque-tube design that kept the inner drive shaft slightly bent at all times. GM was having issues with harmonics, solved by bending the shaft among "mis-aligned" support bearings in the tube. Porsche was willing to ignore the vibrations but ended up with different bearing spacing and the torque-tube damper as they tried to kill the resonances. It should be noted that the torque-tube design dates back to at least the 1940's in American cars. Good way to eliminate axle torque windup, but it forced the engine to move in concert with the rear suspension. Open driveshafts come into play only after the frames were stiffened a bit, and bodies were isolated from the frames with elastic mounts.