IMO this is BS. I'll take any 50-60's Corvette or almost any Porsche from that era. Few years ago I had the pleasure to drive a 60's era 911 and my friends 67 (small block) Corvette in the same day. Sorry, the 911........no thanks.
In the 70's, well, that was just an ugly time for all car companies except maybe Ferrari.

Remember the Escort showroom stock series in SCCA? Corvette's were put into their own class since they spanked everyone (even the Porsche's). The Corvette Challenge was born and was an awesome series (while it lasted, friend of mine has Jeff Andretti's car).

When the ZR1 hit, every magazine said the same thing "finally a world class car from Corvette!!!" I have the C&D issue where the ZR1 spanked the Countach and Testarossa.

Is a C4 on par with a 928? Performance wise yes, build quality? That is a matter of opinion, and I own two 928's so it's no secret where I stand. :)

Jim, the mission of Porsche was, and is, to sell a lot of cars. Their radical change from rear engine air-cooled to front engine water cooled was driven by more than emissions laws, and more by market penetration. By 1976, the 911 was stale, the 914 was dead, and the American consumer showed no desire to move to a Pinto from the days of the Thunderbird.

You are right that if the best US makers could do was the Corvette, Porsche had to see this as a gold mine for GT car sales. also, remember in 1979 NOBODY had any horsepower to speak of at any displacement. To give you a perfect example, the highest HP US vehicle for model year 1979 was the Dodge 'L'il red express' TRUCK!(truck EPA laws were more lax then) Porsche had a high perf version of a 2+2 Corvette killer. It's been that way since the first 928 hit the shores. There have always been comparisons with the Corvette. Fair or not, that's what Porsche was aiming at. MB, and Jag were tombstones during that time. Jag almost pulled out of the market entirely during those years, but stuck it out until they recovered. MB gave us the 450SL. A POS from day one, and the only Euro GT(?) car of it's vintage to be worth less than a same year 928. Puh-leeze.

You know Doc you could not be more wrong if you tried.."the mission of Porsche was, and is, to sell a lot of cars." . At the time being discussed it was family owned ,family operated , and run by engineers NOT marketing guys. Ferry has been quoted as saying " We built cars which we would like and hoped other people would like them " . Now recent times Porsche does build transportation disposable designed to be used and discarded cars but that is NOW. Like if you want to rebuild your 996 transmission Porsche will sell ZERO replacement parts you buy a whole gearbox or a new car ! Remember the good old days when Porsche was into racing they wanted to prove that their engineering was better than other's....that was then now is about short term profit and selling lots of cars being the most PROFITABLE auto company. My point remains that Porsche would not have aimed that low :) they KNEW they would build a far better sports car. When they presented the 928 to the stockholders (family) on the Weisach skidpad July 23rd 1976 ..the photo shows " several comparison vehicles completed the picture at this presentation and symultaniously established the arena in which this new sports car from Porsche would compete " page 152 of Project 928 ...in the background a 911 , a 635 , XJS , and the Merc. There was no Corvette in that picture :)

Of course Porsche wouldn't compare their car to a Corvette! That's like giving free advertising to the biggest competitor. DOH! I still recall every car rag in the US doing a comparison on the 928 when it came out and every one listed the Corvette as it's direct competition. Sure, it wasn't evident in Europe in 1976 but Porsche sure knew that was the direction in the US. If they were unveiling it in Germany, what else would the use?

And the days of engineers deciding on the company direction ended in the late 60s. That's when they decided to license out the car building to VW/Ghia for the 914. It was about profits. They were working up to the IPO German-style so they had to have some $$$$ coming in. sure, the 928 was all German engineering, but the hatchback, 2+2, front engine, auto-trans style components was right out of Detroit circa 1971 'Cuda, Mustang fastback, and Corvette(sans the mini-seats).

Doc care to explain how a $28,000 sticker price 1978 928 "competes" with a $13,653 1978 Indy pace car edition Vette ... ?? And there were cheaper Vettes... And yes the USA based auto magazines who got a lot of advertising money from Chevy did make comparisons. Perhaps worth noting that for every 928 sold in the US nearly 1 1/2 were sold ELSEWHERE. The 914 was only sold as marketed as a Porsche in the United States because again the average US buyer did not know the difference :) Now for the inspiration for the 928 we need to look back to AMC and the .....Pacer !!

As I recalled the actual stock offering was not until ..."May 4 marks the 20th anniversary of Dr. Ing. h.c. F. Porsche AG’s, public stock offering. The sports car manufacturer’s preferred stock became available to investors in spring 1984 and was immediately in demand. Porsche stock has become popular over the years,..." and the Porsche and Piech families have retained over 50 % ownership. Keeping it firmly in family hands.

I was waiting for the pacer to rear its little bubbly head for a good ol fashioned 928 trainwreck. I suspect those owners were repressed future 928 owners, aliens or just really stoned, hahaha

but what else could vette folks compare to back then? mustangs or a dodge datona? I think by the mid 70's the vette was probably closer to a euro or emerging japanese sports car than most american stuff in terms of trying to be a performance sports car.

course at well over 3k lbs, I think most "true" sports car folks were not impressed by the american effort or our U boats at the time. guess we have that distinction in common.

I do wonder what would have happened if the 928 had been more successful and stayed around. would it have become another bloated 650i? or a z06 type hot rod? or morphed into a 4 door sports sedan, a la panamera or E55? or a pacer? hahaha

:burnout::burnout::burnout::burnout:Want to race?:burnout::burnout::burnout:

You think they would get upset if we all joined and chimed in at the same time?:)

comparing and contrasting is one thing, but heckling is another, imo. and why piss off decent folks? heck, most PCA AX events I go to I'm the only 928 guy and we all get along just fine. and most every car nut I"ve met at other events have been decent folks too. I'm always interested in a well kept or modified 928 as much as I like to see other well cared for examples of nearly every era and type. so why would I want to piss on anyone else? kinda seems like something a redneck/retard would do, imo.

sure, we can race - http://zone8.pca.org/events/2008/05May/GPXDayAway.pdf if they'll let that lump of boat resin on the track, hahahaha

:cheers:

Nice C3 :)

Now 928's are so cheap that you see that car, morphed with a 928. Interesting to see.

I got a kick out of that corvette thread.... 6'10" chain. Man, that's a lot of bicycles there.

heh, I've already been banned over there. Back in '01 i posted a kill on a C4... Guess they didn't like that.

Yeah... just like a Cayenne :icon107:

Dan
'91 928GT S/C :eek:

That is the automotive equivalent of a "Wolf in Sheep's clothing"