His main reason for selling was "space" he said. From the look of his house and other vehicles, he's not hurting for cash. Regardless, if he gets the motor built, and has the two minor paint issues corrected, and fixes the slightly bent exhaust tip, he will have himself a VERY nice GT. The engine compartment did not match the condition of the rest of the car, though the hood liner looked original and in fair condition. He is the third owner. The second owner told him it was not a GT but that it had the GT wheels and exhaust. The VIN and options sticker proves otherwise. Hopefully he will give GB some more work. I explained the awesomeness of a GB stroker...

 

Well, that is good, I would hate to see it parted out.

 

Hi guys, let me introduce myself. My name is Dave. I'm the guy with the add on CL. First time posting on any 928 forums, and happy I found this forum. I'll get to the story, but first, I want to say Mike B. is a great guy and 'new' friend. I am an enthusiast of the 928. Always have been and always will. My head turns like no other when I spot a 928 on the road! I always felt and thought to myself, 'am I the only one?'... lol. I said if one ever came up, 5-Speed S4 Blk/Blk, and that's a 'safe' purchase, I'd go for it. And I did, this was over 10 years ago!

Like in the CL add, I'm the third owner. Stories like this one is GREAT! There's multiple storylines here, of how Mike coulda got the GT' that day; or how I had a GT all this time; my purchase story with this GT; previous owners stories; but more so, is Mikes honesty.

When I purchase the car, I said to myself, this is now mine for life! No intention to profit nor sell it, but to just own and drive it when I want, to just stare at it and admire it when ones around (therapeutic, lol), I don't need to say how many inquiries, such as the other callers that was planning on coming over this weekend, nor to mention about 20 emails and 30 phone messages I never returned (you know the deal of buying and selling, it's time consuming, and it's not my profession.) But hopefully, we don't look at this as 'he missed it', he did the right thing. I have to say honestly, that I might not have mentioned it is a GT, myself.

Now with more of the 'story' with this 89 GT. When I got the car in Malibu over 10 years ago, the seller and I went back and forth a little about if it was a GT. He said, if I recall correctly, "it has the GT wheels, but it 's not a GT!!". So, who am I to argue with the owner, when I myself, never owned a 928! And so be it. In my time of ownership, I've put about 20k miles, so... it's really a 'weekend/2nd car" for me. And in that time, there's been good stretches where it was at my warehouse covered for long stretches (just random battery charge and start up). It was my baby... and I couldn't really find anyone to share my enthusiasm, but yet I just loved owning it and "washing it" too... lol.

Again, who am I to argue with the 2nd owner that it's not a GT. It didn't matter at the time! I just wanted a 5 Speed 928, blk/blk, with "good maintenance record/history." And sure enough he had it. 1st owner had a stack folder maybe an inch thick! I counted over $25k on just maintenance & repair bills. Most likely, when the 2nd owner purchased it, he of course heard that it wasn't a GT, or he heard it wrong? I'm recalling him being very adamant about that! Or could the first owner himself not know it? Could be! ... Anyhow, enuff ramblin from me, just here to say hello and thanks for all the great info here!

 

Welcome Dave to the shark tank.. with passion like that you're going to fit in just fine

Mike B is definitely to be commended - not "just" for being honest but for also being a 928-nut who can spot another infected individual and encourage them to come here

Your car looks to be in excellent condition - and the fact that it runs despite the metal is a good indicator that its been caught just in time, before it ends up a pile of parts.

I'd STRONGLY recommend you don't run it any more with the metal in the oil as its been eating its bearings (most likely the 2/6 rod bearings, but could be others), and flat-bed it to get repaired. Or if you have the aptitude, Time and inclination.. but thats certainly not compulsory to be a member here.

 

hahaha, thanks Hilton, I said the same thing when I saw him pull up in his 928! another infected soul like me!!

 

Just get the records from him. Don't let him touch the car again.. 911 mechanics rarely understand the 928. The fact that he didn't change your oil is a very good indicator. You live closer to Precision Motorwerks than me! You have to understand how lucky you are! 928GT and about 3 miles from Doc Brown.. Some people have all the luck! Now go buy a lottery ticket and flat bed that beauty down to Greg...

 

I bought my tickets yesterday!!

 

lol, I do know a little photoshop but that was kinda spooky because I didn't see any kids around, and I had to blow up the orig pic myself.... (they're flowers) lol

 

That is a great story! Rennlisters like Mike are what makes this community great and what Rennlist was founded upon!

Dave welcome to the fold and enjoy your "new" GT!

 

Its not out of the question first owner didn't know he/she had bought a GT. When GT was introduced in middle of '89 MY, US model S4 5sp production stopped almost completely. Only 6 S4 5sp were made after first GT was done. In case someone went into not so well informed dealer lets say in February 1989 and ordered manual S4 which had build date few months later factory or NA importer could just have changed order to GT as 5sp S4 were not made anymore. GT production started about month later and order time for new car could be longer. They could have informed someone at dealer this is going to happen but buyer might not have heard about it.

 

Thank you Danny!

 

thanks, interesting and makes sense. I tend to agree... It seems the second owner was sure it's not a GT, which makes me think he didn't do the 'wheel swap'... (as I thought the he said he did (which was an assumption by me) now I know the 2nd owner didn't do anything really in regards to swapping the wheels at all, so what you mentioned is most likely what happened here: 1st owner thought he had an S4 and relayed the message to the 2nd owner...which was relayed to me

 

Another simple skenario is that 1st owner knew what he had but took car to some dealer who didn't have any idea about GT's. If car had badge delete option and cars papers do not say its GT second owner might have automatically assumed it has to be S4.

'89 GT was semi secret model for many years. 928 model history and details are now much more widely known than at the time. For '90 or '91 MY S4 I can remember seeing some US magazine article where it stated that automatic model is now just called 928 and S4 is dropped off. What they probably meant demo car they were trying out had M498 model designation delete option. In any case S4 was still its official model name and article was wrong. This kind of false information is root cause for many wrong ideas etc which can live on for years.

 

man, that's great info Erkka! Thanks!

 

When I bought my 90S4 in 1999, the title listed it as 90S4GT.