The Porsche 928 is perhaps the best compromise between a sports car and a true grand tourer. The interior is spacious (for what is essentially a two seater, even though there’s a barely usable back seat), the V8 provides plenty of usable power and torque, and if you’re into distinctive styling, few cars come close. The unfortunate reality is fewer shops are willing to work on borderline exotics like 928s, so cars like this desirable manual transmission example listed here on eBay are often sold in a non-drivable state and for a rock bottom price. Is this California car worth taking on?
The seller purchased the 928 out of an estate in 2024 and it hasn’t seen much action since. It’s an understandable purchase – it’s a 928 in a great color with the somewhat rare 5-speed manual, since so many of these were optioned with the 4-speed automatic. Although the later 928s tend to be a bit more desirable owing to the more modern cosmetics, the driving experience should remain fairly consistent (at least until you get to the final-fling 928 GTS.) The paint work looks decent on the passenger side, but the driver’s door has seen some prolonged sun exposure as most of the finish is burnt off. The “manhole”-style wheels are OEM correct and appear to be in good shape.
Other tell-tale signs of extended sun exposure include the black finish burnt off of the window trim and back glass. The good news is that these cosmetic flaws are due to being a life-long California car, according to the seller, so you won’t have to deal with any rust. The other promising sign is that the 928 still runs with a jump, but it does stall out, so you’re not driving it home. It sounds like there’s also an issue with the gearshift linkage as the seller notes sometimes it is difficult to get into gear; other times, it slides in just fine. Regardless, it’s every part of a project, but presumably it’s a project with a good engine.
The 928 makes roughly 240 horsepower and 268 lb.-ft. of torque, which is still respectable by today’s standards. As this vintage advertisement reminds us, even in project form, cars like the 928 represent an insane amount of engineering, making it all the more tragic to see one sitting in depapidated form like this car. The seller’s asking price seems fair for a California car with a drivetrain that likely isn’t terminal; but for every seller of a project-grade 928, the problem remains the same: for another $5K-$7K, you can buy yourself a running, driving car with fewer issues. Would you try and bargain the seller down on this 5-speed 928?
Are not some of these interference engines which require a complicated timing belt job?
Yes
The timing belt jobs are straightforward, but the consequence of not routinely replacing the timing belt (time or mileage triggered) for the later models is munching some valves. The 1979 doesn’t have an interference engine…
Does it run? Did I miss something? I had a good one and a bad one, still paying for that bad one mentality!!!!
Right on, agreed that you would be better off buying a nicer one. These cars can be money pits as it is.
The “Shark”.
too bad you don’t get any interior pics, as these can get quite roached, and are not easily refurbed …but seriously not a bad price if it is indeed running, as most are considerably more expensive
The manual transmissions in these were notoriously unreliable. Had a friend who’s a mechanic that got one for a pittance in about 1990 when they were still pricey because the tranny needed a rebuild. He had the capability to rebuild the tranny and it was a cool car, but mortals should beware since as noted above if you aren’t doing the work it’s going to be very pricey to keep on the road.