Jims928s4

It really eats away at me.... We have the best looking Porsche ever made.... CLASSIC
Strangers think its a current model and when you tell them that it's an 8 you see their eyes roll in disbelief at the concept of a Porsche with an 8. (Most think a 4 or a 6 is powerful enough because it's a Porsche)....CLASSIC
Many 993& 996 drivers stare at the car on the road (Or try NOT to stare.)

Total build numbers are low relative to other Porsche products and and microscopic in terms of the high performance Mercs and BMWs....only Ferraris and Lambo's, I think, would share the 928 low production numbers......CLASSIC.

To many, the ultimate sports car, the 930, is on a pedestal, but the 928S, s4, GT and GTS was within 'x'10ths of a second in time trials and to this day most 928s are up there with the current high performance stock.......CLASSIC

The fact that you had in 1977 a car half built in aluminium with an interior that has changed maybe 5% to 1995, and minor front and rear bumper changes and until 1992 no sheetmetal changes still screams out....CLASSIC
(Good design needs no change ie. knives and forks have'nt changed for a long time)

I hear the doomsayers telling me:
"Expensive to maintain" No more so than any European car...supercar or not,didn't they also say exactly the same about Ferraris and Lambos....no such lack of respect there!!!

"Unreliable" This is a vicious circle...cheap to buy..wrong buyer..buyer is not prepared to invest in maintemance...no maintenace= beakdowns= perception of unreliability.
"Too risky to buy", All the above plus existing low price leads to a perception that prices will keep dropping.

SO what can we do about it..my head says "grin and bear it" but my heart says that it's up to the existing crop of 928 owners to sit on their cars, try not to sell them for a song and maybe just maybe what we already know about the beauty of the 928 will eventually make them as desirable as as any car on the market now and the CAR will get the respect it deserves.

IMHO

Ketchmi

I'm sorry but I can only agree with 100% of that. If people knew the truth, we couldn't enjoy our cars without "purists" telling us not to drive or modify them. (then again, I probably wouldn't drive the 20k mile white on white on white that went on e-bay a while back! Too scared that I'd get it dirty.)

Maybe someday common sense will prevail and the true value of the 928 will be realized. I only hope that I have enough of them by then that I won't want to buy any more.

Keep it, drive it like it was meant to be driven and enjoy the trip.

Dave

John Struthers

Should be a classic...?
IS A CLASSIC!
For quite a while now I've been gripin' about the need for everything on the highway to pass Pattycakes. Still won't let anyone pass me on a highway overpass including cops - grit, rock, bolt, nuts, and debris in general gets trapped there -. But of late I've had all sorts of people pull up behind, and along side to just... look.
Even while gassing up folks either just stare at the 928 and often my gas stops run a little long as someone will invariably strike up a conversation.
Last month I started parking on the street in our cul-de-sac and just watch the Weissgold change colors over the course of the afternoon and evening. Color runs from a silver, pewter, creme, tan, gold, to bronze. She gets at least one and often two Turtle Extreme wax jobs a week - spare me the flame, I heat the wax (contains carnuba)goes on like light oil - takes less than 20 min.
Anyway, the shine is remarkable, mirror quality.
The reflection is what made me break out the Canon T-70 but the color changes are so dynamic that its like owning several 928's, stops me in my tracks sometimes. I don't think there is a Playboy Bunny alive who has had this many flicks taken of her. The camera work seems a bit qirky, but it has spruced up the neighborhood. One of my neighbors joked about it... once... I took a couple of flicks of his Lexus and maxed-out Expedition, both under two years old.
When the prints came back I handed him the freebee second set, he and his wife looked them over. After comparing them to a 20 year old car they have become waxing fools to protect their $80,000 plus automotive investment
Goes without saying if you can find a car with a better looking rear end (GOOD LUCK)...buy it!
<img border="0" alt="[cheers]" title="" src="graemlins/beerchug.gif" /> <img border="0" alt="[thumbsup]" title="" src="graemlins/bigok.gif" />

4MIDLIF

Well, we certainly can't agree on supercharging, but I don't think there's one among us who wouldn't agree with you, Jim.

I feel we lucky 928 owners are like a family - we might fight amongst ourselves, but I pity the fool who attacks us.

DG84S

John Struthers is the only person I know of who waxes his 928 more often than I do. My wife used to complain that I love the car more than her (she's wrong). So...now I wash and wax her Toyota Avalon every time I do the same for my 928S. She stopped complaining. Life is good! A beautiful 928 and a beautiful wife (for 33 yrs). I can't walk away from either one without looking back and thanking God for my good fortune.

jim morehouse

Personally, I tell everyone how tough they are to maintain, how expensive the parts are, how complex and corrosion-prone the electrical systems are. I don't want too many people recognizing what a fantastic machine the 928 is..gotta leep the prices down, I might want to buy more!

M758

Simply put the 928 is the First Road going 100% Porsche design. Everything before was simply an evolution of what came before. The Beetle begat the 356, the 356 begat the 911, VW & Porsche combined for the 914 & 924, the 924 Begat the 944 & 968. Even the Boxster was derived from the 914 & the 550.

The 928 is the only 100% Clean Sheet Porsche road car.

It IS a timeless design. Never before was there a car to look like the 928 and never since has there been one. Its interior and exterior have been unique and stood the test of time. It has an elegance not found in any other Porsche.

Right now the car is still to new to be a classic. Since GTS production ended only a few years ago they are still relatively new. Also the forward modern design also make people think they are still new.

Wait about 15-20 years and then the 928 survivors will really be worth something!

Nicole

I agree with most of what was said above, but want to add that any classic car is only worth something, if it is in good and mostly original condition. Once it shows significant wear, or has been modified in a way that's not easily reversible, the value goes downhill with no end.

I am happy to report that my car is still 98% stock, and everything that has been done to it could be reversed within a day and a half. The leather is still showroom soft, despite more than 12 years of life in dry and hot California (well, the car doesn't get to see the sun all that much...).

I hope I can keep it that way for a long time. And if it ever needs restauration, I might add a few goodies (heated seats in supple leather to be high on my list), and have the side moldings removed (thank god that was a REAL factory option at the time).

It's easy to get carried away, though. For example: Would the car still be considered original enough, if the US side markers would be removed as well, for a totally pure look? Hmmm... I'm getting lost in details here!

Shane

Classic! Yes I would say the early body style is well on its way. Three more years and the MY '86 will have twenty. I myself prefer the look of the early style rearend, but would really like to have some of the features from the s-4. Which should make the 86.5 fairly desireable. I would have to agree with Nicole on keeping it mostly stock. So we all will just have to buy two or three and have at least one for stock and one for mods. In six years the MY 89 will reach the 20 year mark, wonder were the price range on the GTs will be then? Especially if Porsche goes ahead with the 928 replacement in 2007 with the 989.

Normy

Well, this is such a perfect "Normy!" thread that I cannot hold out any longer...

First of all, I'm going to "Rob Lowe" and say that I DO NOT think that the 928 will ever be a classic.

[I mean, gm is going to recycle the malibu next year...and apply that name to the cars they sell to rental fleets for christ sakes---!]

-I spent the day painting HappyTruck, the '66 F100 that I use for airport duty here in "The City Beautiful". I keep the truck parked on the street in front of my house, since I made the distinct mistake of buying a house with a one-car garage in 1997. Happy is painted with in 7 very good shades of Rustoleum, and since the paint was getting a bit faded from the Florida sun, I decided to paint a few panels. While I was out there, the local 13 year olds erected a ramp and laid a section of TV antenna on the street, and started practicing rail slides on their skateboards. Since I don't have wrist guards anymore, I left my "stick" in the house and concentrated on my paint brush. I keep Happy's paint in the attic, so I had to pull "Jett Lag" out in order to access the cans. I was lazy and left it in the driveway.

Well, one of the kids [actually, the fat one with the foul mouth] wandered up into my driveway and was checking out my car.

"Man, your "porsh" is pretty tight!"

I'm like "Yeah, little dude, that's why I drive it"

"How much did it cost?" He asked.

"$10k..."

"Wow! Did you pay cash?"

"Actually...yes."

"That's too cool...how come it was so cheap?"

I went on to explain [paint brush in hand] that the biggest expense was the maintenance. Which of course drew a blank stare from a person who's main financial concern involves saving for his next PS2 cartridge~

Anyway, I tend to agree with the notion that automotive "classics" have a few common characteristics, and one of them is the fact that they [generally] need to be a car that was popular in its time. A good [if done to death!] example is the '57 chevy. These cars were extremely popular in their time, and yet few remain. Another example: the 1963 corvette with the split rear window. An oddity, a split window on a car built later than the 1930's, these were a good example of a car that was low production yet a complete classic. The only corvette [aka "overgrown Saturn"] that I would ever consider owning was the ZR1 with the four valve heads. Along gm lines, I also think that the Corvairs, which inspired several genrations of BMW's will be classics, despite their danger, and in later days, the buick GN series.

And then there are foreign cars. IN MY BOOK... since the paragraphs on imported classics are still being written, I think that the original VW type 1 is another candidate. As is [this will be controversial I know] the original VW Golf GTI. Porsche's 911 is a sure bet, as is the Ferrari 308 [I really don't think that many other Ferrari's are really "classics", despite their limited number and intense nature~].

Japan is the source of many cars but due to the chronic problem of NO DESIGN SENSE WHATSOEVER, only a few of their cars can be called classics in my book. The Datsun Z cars are an obvious choice. And then again, they were a designed by a guy from Germany. But the next will be controversial as well: First generation Honda Accord. There is just nothing wrong with this design, other than the fact that it was built from steel so rust-prone that some of the cars actually developed rust bubbles before they were ever sold!
And there was the first generation of Toyota MR2- the world's only car inspired by Japanese cartoon artists.

But there is also the preemininant classic, the Japanese car that design-wise rocked the world, and in my eyes, is still the best looking car ever built, even better looking [by a small margin!] than the Porsche 928: The '82 Toyota Supra. Done in all black, with the wing mounted at the top of the rear hatch, the letters "S U P R A" spelled out in script in gold across the rear, wide tires, 5 spoke Toyota wheels, the worlds best wheel arch extensions...there was nothing quite like it. The nose had a machine look, the flanks a sleek yet blocky techno appeal, while the real lines resided at the rear. Someone was watching themselves having sex in a mirror when they designed the "C" pillar on that car!

At the time, these cars were considered economy hatchbacks. Whereas most cars in this catagory had tiny four cylinder engines and weighed 2000 lb, these had 6 cylinder inline engines with two cams and 150 hp to shove the 2800 lb car around. Silky smooth, quiet, and fast, they really were a "Japanese Jaguar".

Of course, Toyota's only mistake was the fact that 150 hp was about half what the car really needed to be fun. I would have simply added 6 more cylinders~

BUT then again, I am indeed NORMY!



PS: Nicole...you go girl! You are such a voice of Teutonic logic and common sense on this board...it is nice to see you ruminate artistic about pulling the side marker lights!

John Struthers

Normy,
Wanna see some dirty peektures, Senior?
Type - Supra twin turbo - into the browser.
Baby got SIDE and BACK!
And a few more HP.
Speaking of Turbo's check out Gus's site, but do it quick he's dead now and I'm not sure how long his family and friends will keep the site up.
<a href="http://home.earthlink.net/~turbo" target="_blank">http://home.earthlink.net/~turbo</a> gus/index
Whoever Gus Mahon was I miss him already.

Gretch

The gus site is gone, John.

Gretch

By the way, the Barrett Jackson annual classic car auction in AZ was on last weekend. Goldberg paid $120k for the SC mustang "SuperBoss" (ford built only a few of them for show. Some original Shelby Cobras were sold, and Reggie Jackson was asking way too much for EVERYTHING he brought to the auction.

When the 928 starts showing up at this auction then we will know that it has "finally arrived". In the meantime we drive the best kept secret in the supercar world.