FlyingDog

The only people who have made wise cracks to me about a 928 are people who don't like Porsches (envy?) and Corvette owners. Of course most of the Corvette owners I've talked to about it don't realize that it's a V8, not related to a VW, and had the tranny in the rear 20 years before their beloved piece of racing tupperware.

bigs

This thread has been a fascinating read. Few thoughts:

If 928's were still being produced new, and would likely be selling for well over $100K, then yes - I'd expect a good bit of reliability along with my exotic performance. The fact that I was able to buy a GTS for a fair bit under $30K makes me quite tolerant of any repair/upkeep issues and costs.

Owning a 928 is, in my feeble mind, a lot like being married to a gorgeous, classy, very well-preserved 40 y.o. woman. (Actually, it might be much more akin to having a gorgeous, classy, very well-preserved 40 y.o. woman as a mistress - with a nice reliable daily driver as your wife! ) At her age and stage in life, she may have more expectations of me and be higher maintenance than some cutesy 20 y.o. Barbie, but there's just something, I dunno - almost intangible - but very satisfying and sensuous about a love affair with a beautiful, sophisticated older woman. That's how I feel about my 928.

Plus, the logical extension of this thread also sort of brings up an issue I've been pondering for a while: Have we reached the end of "completely restorable" cars?

If you stop and think about it, the earliest 928's are approaching 30 years of age. That's an age when many earlier, simpler cars were being "totally restored." For example, the Austin Healey's, Triumph's, MGB's, and even Porsche 356's of the mid 60's were starting to be "completely restored" by the mid 90's. So, age wise, many of our cars would be at a stage when enthusiasts/collectors would be thinking about doing a complete resto. Problem is, our cars - and almost all interesting and desirable cars since them - have reached such complexity that complete restoration is economically very daunting.

So, perhaps a fair amount of repair and maintenance expense is not so bad when compared to the alternative - the cost of a total restoration - cuz the earlier models are approaching that stage of automotive life. And I truly wonder if you'll ever see a "completely restored" 928 on eBay.

Normy

It's likely that my experience wasn't typical....but at the one and only PCA meeting that I've attended I felt a subtle undercurrent of pretension aimed in my direction....

[One guy was nice enough to come up to me and tell me the history of my car though, since he had considered buying it before I did]

N-

heinrich

Bigs. Great piece of reading, thanks

Warren928

People always expect much more for their dollar then they get. A 928 is a very specialized design when it was released. Sure a new hyundai will be more reliable, at least for the first 100,000 miles. After that, not so much. But they are throw away cars in the long run.

There could have been more metal on the 928 pump and bearing/seal to look more like a SBC/BBC pump in terms of reliability, but it would have pushed the nose to be longer and would have thrown off a bunch of other things, and it wouldn't have been the same car. This trade-off likely increases flex and vibration that would cause the bearing and seal to fail more often.

heinrich

I'd rather have another 2 inches of nose than a cardboard thin water pump

Speedtoys

As an official in NASA..it _amazes_ me how much abuse a car dug out of a junkyard on August 1st, can take in a 25hr endurance race..and still show up the following season.


I think Porsche..as a name, and a _style_ holds more value by leaps and bounds..but..im ready to argue about total piles of crap being driven insanely hard, and doing so without a complaint as well.


What blows me away, now being a Porsche owner, is the pre-war electrical connections at use here...my 1988 Toyota sitting right beside it, is entirely alien in how electrical connections were designed.


I find it amusing that the time of day WRT how warm it is out, affects what works, and what doesnt in my car.

polecat702

This has been an enjoyable read. As one who owns a 928, I've come across some maintance issues that wern't addressed by the PO due to his lack of money. Buy for the most part, my shark has been very reliable. I don't think its anymore expensive to maintain than any other car in the long run.
I also own, IMHO, the most badass car ever produced, the DeTomaso Pantera. It cost 10 grand new, and today can still outrun just about anything out there. In the 37 years I've owned it I've spent over 15 times what I paid for it new. These cars are a sickness that you never recover from.
As far as what it costs to keep my wife in wheels, she goes through cars every 2 to 3 years. I've learned that its time to trade in hers as soon as its out of warrenty. And her cars are more to buy than my collector cars have cost me for all of them over the years.
I don't even consider the cost of my cars, or motorcycles. If I did I prolly wouldn't own them. We all have vices. Mine are my toys.

SharkSkin

That can be fixed... usually.

Speedtoys

Ya..the wife unit already makes comparisons in the seats/door/mirror controls to various scenes in Das Boot with that "I wonder if this will work..." look on her face.

We -are- enjoying discovering a new aged platform of fun.