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It’s a bit interesting to consider this car in comparison to a few others I’ve recently posted. Like the 924, most (but not all) of the 928 is overlooked in favor of the car that it was intended to replace. Also like the 924, the 928 was a transaxle car with great weight distribution. Similar to the E36 M3, our European friends got the fun motors for the first few years of production; Euro motors started with 21 horsepower more in the early examples, but the vast gulf came in the early 928S. Introduced in Europe in 1980, the M28.11 4.7 liter S touted 300 horsepower. It wouldn’t be until 1982-3 that the S came to North America, and when it did it only cranked out 234 horsepower in comparison. In fact, U.S. 928s wouldn’t get over 300 horsepower until the S4 in 1987.
So here we have the faster ’83 928S from Europe and it’s got a 5-speed manual. Additionally, to link another series of posts, this one is gold with green leather. What was with this combination?
Here we have another very pretty 928. But first a question: The seller refers to monochromatic interior/exterior combinations as an iconic ’80s theme. Was these really iconic? I was a kid so I can’t really recall what the crazy cars were like (My mom had one of those huge Buick or Oldsmobile station wagons. It was not sporty and I believe it was black with tan interior. We slept in the back on long trips. My dad’s 911 was black on black, but I don’t think that’s what they mean.) Color-matching the interior and exterior definitely seems more prevalent in the ’80s. I know I’ve commented on the blue on blue combination that we almost never see outside of the ’80s and early ’90s. Burgundy also seems popular. I’ve seen green on green a few times and those are…quite something. That was the ’70s though. I digress, I guess I hadn’t thought of this as an iconic ’80s thing to do. Perhaps it is and this 928 uses it to nice effect.
This is a Ruby Red Metallic 1983 Porsche 928S with, you guessed it, a Burgundy interior, 47,915 miles, and a very desirable 5-speed manual transmission. One other quick digression: The seller refers to the color as Rubino Metallic, which I had never heard of before. Thankfully the paint code sticker provides clarity and confirms it is rubinrotmetallic or as it’s typically called in English, Ruby Red. It looks spectacular!
We’ve been running with the “Roll the Dice” posts for a little while now, but this will be the first time I have taken a foray into that segment. While all of the marques featured in such posts pose inherent financial risk, Porsche may represent the riskiest of all since the price of entry is in many cases already rather high. This is especially the case with my most favored car, the 911. But I really want to like this car and given its current state, a roll of the dice may be just want you’re looking at.
This is a 1985 Porsche 928S in the very rare combination of Prussian Blue Metallic over a Can-can Red interior. It’s a very striking combination and one that I absolutely love. Prussian Blue makes for a very pretty exterior color, but without being flashy. Can-can Red is…well it’s all flash. The juxtaposition of the two colors works great and you’re certain to attract plenty of attention. It’s also not something we see on the 928 too often. And that’s why I like this 928 quite a bit. It helps that both the exterior and interior look in nice shape. It’s mechanical condition…that’s where the roll of the dice comes in because the seller seems to have a decent sense of what the problems are, but not necessarily the cause of those problems.
Last month, I had the pleasure of stopping by the 19th annual 928 Frenzy in Sterling, Virginia. In all the years of being a car enthusiast, rarely have I come across a more tight knit and dedicated group of enthusiasts devoted towards one model of vehicle. I’ve learned a lot about these V8 GT cars through fellow enthusiasts over at flüssig magazine and from Jim Doerr at 928 Classics. If you are a fan or owner of the 928 and haven’t checked out either of these sites, you would be well advised to do so. These are people who are helping keep the dream alive when it comes to Porsche’s beloved V8 coupe.
The 928 is a special car and really stands apart from both its contemporaries and modern sports cars of today. While some of the 911 set deride it, the 928 was the first clean sheet design from Porsche. So good was this design, it would last almost 20 years, still looking strikingly current at the end of its production run in 928GTS form. Taking a cue from Carter’s 924 Roundup earlier in the week, let’s take a moment to pay homage to this great GT car and take a look at the different variants throughout the years, staring off with this 1978 928 for sale in Italy.
The market has spoken, and the 1983 European-spec Porsche 928S 5-speed I wrote up back in August is still available having been relisted several times. Pricing has dropped $400 to just below $10,000 since August; surprising given the perceived lack of interest over that time. While there are some issues to sort overall this still looks like a pretty decent and rare Porsche to get into with 1980s 911 prices now rapidly heading up. What price would you pay for this neat bit of Euro goodness and would you keep the 944 Turbo alloys or run the original forged “manhole covers”?
The below post originally appeared on our site August 10, 2014:
