Posted today on Facebook:

 

The wheel is tasteless, the OB is very sensitive for wheels and this one is a no go.

 

Not my favorite design either but you have to hand it to Augment, they're killing it in the custom wheel business. The fact that you can get them to make a one-off set of wheels to custom offset , PCD, and design for ~$5000-ish is fantastic and should be acknowledged/celebrated. (Maybe these are closer to $10K with the additional center pieces, but whatever, that they're possible at all is great.)

 

I actually like the wheels, 3-spokes were all the rage in the 80's / 90's so a modern double 3-spoke fits perfect.

 

I just see Saab wheels. I don't think they work well with the 928 but wheels are a personal taste thing. Think of the investment with Augment to make the first set of those rims for the Nebula. There is some real money going into some of these concepts.

 

Yup, SAAB came to mind as well as the Antera 3-spoke and the Dodge Viper

 

The 928 still commands respect on the street to this day.
I took my car to the shop today for some minor items.
Got something from Taco Bueno on the way from there, the cashier asked what it was. As soon as I told him the manager practically leaped over the counter to see it and said it was a classic Porsche and then started the barrage of questions.
Then went to get gas at a Buckee's 2 different guys made a beeline to my car and questions ensued. Turns out one of them had a 968 and was admiring the car. They wanted to see the interior, the engine, etc. They all love the fact that it is still all original with the original wheels, original Blaupunkt and being in great shape.
You don't need to make all these mods to draw attention. The car as designed is a stunner in it's own right.
Since I bought a "survivor" in good condition still all original I feel like a caretaker for my 928S and feel obligated to keep it in original condition. It is cool to many people to see how it was coming off the showroom...
Yes it would be cool to put speed parts on it to outrun today's muscle cars or put in an awesome sound system or cool wheels like BBS...but a car is only original once...like virginity once it's gone it's gone. That is why I try to keep it original and take care of it as well as I can.
People see 911s, Caymans, Boxsters, Taycans all day long.
Our 928s when we take them out is probably the only one they have ever seen and the only one they will ever see. They are indeed rare beasts out in the wild.
We are all truly blessed to own one of the most BEAUTIFUL cars ever made...

 

I couldn't have said it better myself. I'm an owner like yourself and originality matters to me most. But I can understand why tastefully modifying a car is adored as well.

 

CULTURE. Right between your earlobes, that's where culture grows...

I am a huge fan of original cars, anyone that is a regular reader of Rennlist knows that. But I also have non-original cars in the quiver of toys.

The original cars are of course the most valuable, and they always will be. The modified cars are the ones to play with and personalize. Like zaevor2000 says, they can only be original once.

Lots of eyes and heads are being turned by 928's these days and they are attracting important attention from large numbers of young people that may have never seen one. The cars they discover are all over the place in their condition and provenance. Some are patina monsters, some are perfect originals. But many people are learning about 928's these days.

Since they were so far ahead of their time they have a contemporary vibe...

 

If only Aliens had Eaten My 928....

 

 

We all know these art executions are fleeting at best and a given artist that did one of these may decide to customize a 1970s refrigerator for their next project. I look at it as a game of numbers...if thousands of SXSW see this (arguably "controversial") nebula display maybe 10 of them can't stop thinking about the 928 for weeks or months, and maybe one of them will buy one and maybe one or some of their friends will buy one. Enthusiastic ownership creates the rest of the community experience, desirability, market survival, valuations, factory support, and last but not least the group of passionate parts suppliers, specialty shops, and reproduction parts creators.

The 928 community has done a fantastic job of building this network over the last 30 years but it was an uphill battle. We had to absolutely love these cars and understand their special magic for decades despite minimal support from the factory and all other Porsche owners or enthusiasts. We endured decades of horrific valuations that we just knew were somehow "wrong" but the market didn't care. We literally got sh*t from 911 owners at events. Having a 928 made ZERO sense on so many levels. Most of that has changed and now that a lot of us are in our final decade(s) of car fun this community will survive in some form. The valuations (that "we" helped create) are bringing new money and new enthusiasts. They will have an easier time with the shear volume of dollars in the market but the transition of the knowledge base may have some bumps. We know of a few currently (like katie and kyle) but i suspect there are many younger anonymous wrenches and creators honing their skills on 928s out there.

I watched this transition first hand in the classic 50s-60s Ferrari world. Unlike our cars these cars have been universally desirable since new and have had generally strong valuations. Over the years the parts dried up and the mechanics and restorers retired, but the desirability of the cars ensured the interest of later generations. 60-70 years later the support system is better than it ever has been, the restorations are better than ever and of course the valuations are ....well, ridiculous. We'll never have Classic Ferrari valuations but we we're just beginning to see strong market support in the past few years. We can support whatever is going on that gets a Gen Z thinking about these cars...just start a conversation with the next one that looks at yours.

 

928 Needs a PR team. An ambassador core. For some automotive sub groups this comes natural but not so for the 928. One thing I noticed a few years back was 944's showing up at car shows and track days. These new enthusiasts were universally young, late 20's early 30's. Then the magazine / web site articles follow and you get a critical mass of enthusiasm that seems to persists. I went to a local 928 gathering and universally middle age. That's OK Ferrari owners are typically older as well so this needs to be embraced. So as i see it... the issue is 928 Owners just don't show up with their cars. Here in NY we have the 2nd highest concentration of 928's and I seldom see them at auto enthusiast events like DE or static shows and we have many in NY / NJ and CT. Meanwhile the 911 / Ferrari / Triumph et al guys line up and all park in a row. I contend if there were 3 to 5 928'ers that would show up and represent at every car event it would build and maintain interest. Two outsiders (Spain art car and The Boss Add) have done more to bring awareness to the 928 than 928 owners themselves have done in the last decade. That can change with some co-ordination.

928 enthusiasm tends to be insular. A bunch of us show up and hide in the woods every year. Not that there's anything wrong with that... But I dont think 911 / Ferrari clubs do things like that almost exclusively.

 

I don't disagree with this, but it is also somewhat of a geographic anomaly - i.e., it depends on where you are. Here in Pitt, in 2017 we celebrated the world debut of #1 at the PVGP, where for our Porsche display (which I was in charge of), we honored the 40th anniversary of the 928. The PVGP brings thousands of collector cars to the 10 day event, with over 3000 cars on the golf course during race weekend. We had tremendous interest from across the car spectrum for the 928, and about 35 sharks. Then last year, we had Rendezvous here in Pitt, again with the PVGP, where we had 65 sharks, and again, a historical first the display of Perglantz (the last 928) together with #1. The reception was fantastic. Lots of media attention and so forth. Rendezvous did it in 2021 at Amelia, with Panorama doing a wonderful article on the gathering.

The 928 is catching on, and importantly, it is catching on with the 911 crowd. I see it happening here. I get a lot of questions about our cars, and am helping some long time died in the wool 911 guys look or 928s. We also have a few younger guys (30 somethings) way into the 928 locallly, and they drive them, and love driving them. But you are spot on - to get this generation interested, we need to get our cars out there, so that folks know about it. (but not too much, as we want to keep the impressions of rarity and exclusivity )

 

This ^^^^ is my favorite comment in here so far. The comments about ambassadorship and coordination of efforts to BE ambassadors are prescient. There have been efforts in this general direction; The Rendezvous 928 concept plants a good showing of 928s into major car events with thousands of attendees. Everyone there is a different kind of motorhead. These are the best type of events, I get to see some AAR Cudas or E-types or Big Fin Americans or whatever, and someone gets to see some 928s. Attending Rendezvous and the big events are awesome, but they require planning, travel, expense, etc.

The regional/local scene is where the work needs to be done at the grassroots level, as they say. PCA still barely acknowledges the 928. 928 owners club?