Lizard928

I had a fellow stop by my shop a little ago and offer me a 78 928 that has been sitting in his garage for slightly more than a decade...

He told me that the car was really nice, but had a problem with 2 pistons and because of that the engine was taken apart and never fixed.

He ended up sending me pictures, and they were enough to convince me to go look at the car in person.

The car itself is in really nice shape, everything is there, albeit in about a million pieces.
The interior had been fully restored prior to parking it, as well as a very expensive paint job that uses pearls to range from minerva blue to cobalt blue, but with none of the green/purple tones you normally see with pearls.
There is not a speck of rust on the car that I can see. The battery box looks brand new as well.

The problem with the engine was that two pistons had pieces of their ring lands break which in turn did damage the bores slightly.
Only other problems with this car is that the car has a front chin spoiler off a later year (professionally added), and one paint chip in the drivers mirror which I will have fixed.

I am thinking that I will throw the factory top end on to a 5.0L bottom end and return it to a driving status. But am curious as to see what some of the people on here who are more "collectors" than I would do with the car.

Randy V

Looks very nice overall - nice colour combo.

Tom. M

So...number 1000ish... US model... non original paint....redone interior.... I'd say pop a 5.0 motor in it and drive the crap outta it ......

now if you find A 78 euro under vin100...then give me a call

Hold On

Yikes ! grab that car.

Tom. M

Actually.... just grab the proper block..78 4.5 liter engine and drop it in there. Clean it up and you'll have a nice "concours" matching 928 that will have more value in the long run.

medipedicman

It really comes down to price. The interior looks far nicer than any driver I have owned. If the goal is to make it a driver then that opens up all sorts of engine opportunities. I think Fabio has a several sets of Euro S heads for sale, even a complete m28/11.

You could/will spend weeks chasing electrical gremlins if the car has been in-op for 10 years.

If the buy in price is low enough then it is totally worth it. You could do the work and enjoy it a few years then pass it on to someone else and hopefully get your $ back out.

Very beautiful car

Rob Edwards

Hell, I'd buy that canvas in a heartbeat. All the mechanical is just mechanical, look at the cosmetics! I'd find some Euro S heads on a 5 liter bottom end and let Greg take it from there.

SeanR

Hell yes Colin, go for it. It's not like you can't find a good 4.5 tomorrow if you need to swap it back to 98% stock. I'd jump on that.

Wisconsin Joe

Well, from a collector's standpoint, the repaint will take it out of the "Original" class. Adding the spoiler does that too.

And no matter what engine configuration you put in, that part won't be "Original" either.

But it's a beautiful car.

Interior and paint are the most expensive things to fix. Engine & mechanicals are mostly effort.

I'd snap it up in a heartbeat and drop in whatever engine was most readily available.

And then drive the snot out of it.

Lizard928

Sorry, I already snagged the car, guess I was not clear on that. Price was right for sure.

I have spoken to Fabio about heads/intake but no response yet. Also have spoken to Simon in England.

Mrmerlin

Nice score Colin,
you will be riding a nice ride in short time

upstate bob

Make it run with the cheapest engine fix you can manage and enjoy it.

Doug_B_928

Good going Colin. Are you going to keep it all original on the inside (e.g., radio etc.)? If not, I call dibbs on the trim bezel

the flyin' scotsman

very nice Colin...........928 International sale includes used engines!

bureau13

Factory or not, I absolutely love that color.