I have to admit, when I heard that my father had finally bought a Porsche after years of contemplation, stopping by dealerships, test drives and dreams I was hugely excited. However, those dreams were dashed on the rocks of reality when the tatty Zermatt Silver 1987 924S pulled up. At that time, I didn’t really know what the 924S was – other than that it was clearly not a 911 or 928. It didn’t even really look like a 944, though there were several obvious similarities. I had a hard time wrapping my head around it, and I was brought back to when I was a much younger lad and my father’s friend invited us over to go for a ride in his then-nearly new 1982 924. Although the wheels were larger on my father’s example, it seemed that there was little different. I was further disappointed because this was my father’s new track car, replacing his 1988 M5 as the car of choice to head to the circuits. That seemed especially odd, and admittedly I didn’t get it until I got to drive the car on track a few years later. Those know Lime Rock Park before the repave will recall that at the bottom of “The Downhill” there was a compression mid-corner that if you hit wrong would result in some unexpected and unwanted turning. I found myself there at full throttle, 90 m.p.h. in the 924S; hitting the compression, the car was instantly pitched sideways to the point that I was looking down the straight through the driver’s side window frame. While I’d like to say that it was my supreme driving ability that pulled us out, I think the reality is that the 924S proved what made it a great driving car in that instance – a quick correction on the wheel, no lift and with little drama we continued down the straight. I finally got it – this car was all about driving:
