Final Parking Space: 1979 Porsche 928
Nearly 30 installments into this series and no Porsches yet? We’ll fix that today, and not with one of the 914s, 924s, 944s, or Boxsters that are reasonably easy to find in American car graveyards today. Today’s candidate is an early example of the powerful and luxurious 928 grand tourer, found recently in a self-service yard in Carson City, Nevada.
Originally intended as a replacement for the 911, the 928 had a conventional, rear-wheel-drive layout with a water-cooled engine in the front, an opulent interior, and advanced engineering throughout.
The price tag was impressive, giving its owners instant bragging rights at the country club or disco. For a new 1979 Porsche 928, MSRP was $29,775, or about $137,883 in 2024 dollars.
The 928 wasn’t the most expensive new Porsche that year (the terrifyingly quick 930 Carrera Turbo cost $38,500, though total production of that not-so-civilized beast didn’t even crack 2000 units for 1979), but it surpassed the cost of a new BMW 633CSi by several grand. The 1979 Mercedes-Benz 450 SL listed at $30,729, and the Porsche likely took a big slice out of sales for that model.
The 928 was much faster than the relatively staid 450 SLC, with its 4.5-liter SOHC V-8 generating 219 horsepower and 254 pound-feet. The Benz made do with just 180 horsepower from its 4.5 V-8, and it scaled in at 3650 pounds versus the 928’s curb weight of 3144 pounds.
An American 928 buyer in 1979 had to choose between a five-speed manual or three-speed automatic transmission, with the two-pedal version available at no extra cost. This car has the automatic (like all the other 928s I’ve found during my junkyard travels).
These cars are complex and difficult to work on, particularly when you are forced to dive into the scary wiring of the breaker panel in the passenger footwell. That’s why rough 928s are so cheap and nicely restored ones are so expensive!
However, the 928 can be surprisingly reliable under stress. After working as a wise and fair judge for the 24 Hours of Lemons racing series for the past 16 years, I’ve observed many dozens of fully depreciated Porsches (mostly 944s but also quite a few 928s, 924s, 914s, and Boxsters) being abused on road courses. Out of all those, the 928 has been by far the least trouble-prone … and it’s amazingly quick through the corners for such a heavy brute.
Race reliability isn’t very closely related to street reliability, as it turns out, which is seen in the fact that Alfa Romeo Milanos hold together better than Hondas and Toyotas in crapcan racing. When your 928 (or Milano) race car breaks something, though, the repairs tend to be orders of magnitude more difficult than those on the Integra or Celica pitted nearby.
Despite the threatened cancellation of the 911, its intended replacement stayed in production all the way through 1995 and got faster and more expensive as the years went by. The newest 928s you’re likely to find at your local Ewe Pullet will be from the middle 1980s, so a 1978–85 car is the best choice if you want a project for which it’s not so hard to find junkyard pats. with not-so-hard junkyard parts availability.
That car looks so sad. Despite the late 70’s birthday the 928 is to me more 80’s car than late 70’s car.
It would probably say, if it could still talk: WHY AM I HERE?
This should not be the fate of any Porsche, or any marque of high regard and pedigree.
There are simply too many sad stories of discarded automotive enjoyment.
From experience with a 944, if you snap a timing belt in one of those machines that has a lot of miles and isn’t the cleanest looking car in the world, it turns into an upside-down financial proposition really quickly
‘ One day, we’re all going to have a really really bad day ‘
They were terrific cars,- except for the air-cond,very well engineered. Worst thing that could happen to it is someone trying to work on it that doesn’t know it,or someone looking to cut corners. They last well if properly kept.Still rather have a Benz though if it’s gonna be big and heavy
The car of choice if you’re being chased by Guido The Killer Pimp.
There is no substitute
Please LS3 swap me so I can be reliable, affordable, and much faster than I was.
Exactly!! Dump all that expensive over complicated German crap for something that isn’t a puzzle when it breaks down!
Sitting in the desert, we can assume that this one wasn’t involved in any risky business….
“Ach du lieber!”
What would it say?
KILLLLLL MEEEEEE
Like the girl from Aliens before the thing pops out of her chest.
It’s first question would be, “Who did this to me?” Back when this car was new, a friend who was a CEO of a medium sized company showed up to work with a dark brown metallic 928 with about 1500 miles showing on the odometer. He had gone to Denver when there was a recession due to the oil shale bust. He paid a bank $8,000.00 for the repossessed 928 and drove it back to Massachusetts. He said he could get me one for the same price, but my budget couldn’t stand that big of a shock. His next trip he bought a complete block of new foreclosed houses for a few thousand dollars. When the economy recovered, he sold the houses for several million. You need to have money to make money. He later offered for sale to me, a DeTomaso Pantera for $5,000.00 and the only non-perfect spot was a small dent on the right front fender where someone had leaned on it. If only that time travel thing was real!
“If This 1979 Porsche 928 Could Talk, What Would It Say?”
Put me out of my misery.
It should scream, “why am I designed to look like an AMC Pacer that has been stretched”?
They are beautiful cars. It’s saying, “Give me an aluminum LS engine and 6 speed manual swap”.