Speedtoys

(NA)

Bill Ball

No, the car was designed so you could pack all the picnic food and supplies for 75 people.

zaevor2000

WOW!!!


That car is definitely loaded to the gills!

GT6ixer

I can see the ad now. "....adult owned, always garaged, never driven in the rain, never used to carry more than 3 bags of 20 lb lump charcoal..."

hacker-pschorr

It is not a unique and original Porsche engineering process if it was developed by Mahle:

DoubleNutz

We've got that it was developed by Mahle but also that the following "PROCESS" was used in the Porsche...

hacker-pschorr

Bottom line is, if Mahle, Reynolds, or Cosworth had not figured out some way to use silicone / aluminum for an engine, Porsche never would of had the process to use and would have most likely done something else.

It's not a unique Porsche process if some other company created it. Just because you are the first to use it doesn't make it yours.

IBM isn't credited with DOS just because they were the first to pick up the software from Bill Gates.

Porsche is not a foundry nor a metal works facility (at least not back then). That is where companies like Reynolds and Mahle come in.


The first production Mercedes with an alusil block (using the same Mahle process) hit the showrooms in September of 1977 as a 78 model.

James Bailey

The Buick/Rover 215 V-8 used cast iron liners molded in place with the block by Buick....pressed in sleeves after Rover got their hands on it. Some prototype Buick engines in the 1950s tried to use alusil but they had too many failures...but G M still used it again on the Vega. As noted Mahle was a leader in using alusil and nickasil for several different auto makers ...
And passive rear steer is present in many rear suspension designs especially trailing arm style which Porsche used on the 911...
So like I stated nothing "special" about the 928 design features BUT and a really BIG BUT what they borrowed, stole, copied, and evolved managed to work together quite well ..... A near super car which could actually be used and driven as daily transportation. Relatively fast , reasonably quick, comfortable and easy to drive.....and a very "modern" styled body . If only Porsche had not chickened out and downsized the engine to 4.5 liters and fully developed the Euro S tuning in 1978 they would have rocked the world !!! They had tested 5 liter prototype engines

GT6ixer

So is the Weissach axle a derivative design from a passive rear steer designed by Porsche for the 911?

DoubleNutz

Not until the 993, but I am sure there will be someone here to say that this too was nothing new and Porsche either borrowed copied or stole its design and never engineered anything unique or innovative for the 928.

Hoe-hum... so much hate for the 928 even on its own board. The poor car gets no love for anything unique or innovative. The conclusion here should be that there is absolutely nothing "clean slate"for Porsche's design of the 928

The clean slate for Porsche in the 928 is that it was a complete departure for Porsche and was not co-designed from any automobile the manufacturer had engineered in its past. It was a new era of thinking for the way Porsche thought it needed to build cars to remain a sustainable automobile manufacturer post what it believed would was coming to an end for the 911.

However, to quote How Stuff Works again on the 928-- "Like so many Porsche innovations, the Weissach Axle was an elegant solution to a thorny problem, and it marked a first for toe-compensating rear suspension in a production car. Other manufacturers would devise their own solutions, including full rear-wheel steering, but it would take them at least a decade to follow Porsche’s lead."

As a former 928 driver and current 911 and Cayenne driver, I wholly respect what the 928 and the Porsche engineered innovations that the very unique 928 has brought as successful firsts to production automobiles.

JPTL

Wasn't the water pump sourced from a Fiat Panda?

zaevor2000

+928

Totally agree, if only they had installed the more powerful motors that they had available, the car would have had "GO to match the SHOW".

Then it would have been acclaimed as one of the great super cars from the word go.

They sandbagged and released the car with a weak engine and never shook the first impression...the damage was already done...

IMHO

Still don't care...I loved these things since I saw them blasting by us on the autobahn all those years ago...


Frank

bureau13

Keep in mind that what we might think of as weak now, was not nearly so weak when it was released. I think the biggest "weakness" of the power plant in the US cars was simply due to the Euro cars being stronger. I don't think there were many cars in the US who could beat it...at least not badly...back then.

hacker-pschorr

Not seeing any "hate" in this thread. Just people who are very knowledgeable correcting mis-information.

You really need to look at everything else on the market in 1978 when the 928 was released. The entire world was still suffering from the gas crisis and the 928, even in 1978 trim was anything but slow.

The 1978 Corvette had two available engines, 180hp and 210hp. The majority were sold with 180.
By 1982 the only Corvette you could buy was an automatic with 200hp with a curb weight similar to the 928. My '86 Scirocco would blow one away.

The long awaited C4 hit the scene with a screaming 205bhp and a nightmare of a transmission with the 4+3.

Don't even get me started on the Mustang II

What about Ferrari? The US spec 308 is anything but a barn burner, the 512's were not federalized, and the Testarossa didn't hit our shores until 1986.

Lamborghini? Ok.....a 5 liter V12 powered supercar was faster and cost three times more.

Aston Martin's were always fast and on par with the 928. I'm fuzzy on which versions made it to our shores legally though.

Japan had a few cars that were fun to drive but side by side nothing that could outrun a 928.

The only 911 you could buy in 1978 covered the 1/4 mile in 14.8 seconds with a top speed of 136mph and hailed by Car & Driver as the best 911 ever.

1979 issue of C&D compared the Alfa Romeo Spider, Chevy Corvette, Datsun 280-ZX, Fiat Spider 2000, Mazda RX-7, Porsche 924. Guess what won? The Porsche 924 with 163hp!!!! The 928 would have destroyed every car in that comparison.


Someone is bound to pull the 930 trump card, but in a Road and Track top speed shootout the 928S4 still came out ahead.

Going into the 90's Porsche was hemorrhaging money like Charlie Sheen in the red-light district. It's amazing the GT and GTS ever saw the light of day and it was still one of the top cars on the road. Not until the 964 Turbo S and the following 3.6 did Porsche produce a car that would handily blow by a 928. This was 13 years after introduction......

Jherriott

^^

Plus you have to factor in the fact that Porsche liked to up the power by 20BHP every year. Starting with the 4.5 gave them lots of easy options.