Among the many ways European-market variants of US cars are better include lighter weight and more power. The weight savings comes from not having ridiculous steel safety bars in the doors and other nonsense, while the power oftentimes is due to different internals and less restrictive emissions equipment. This 1983 Porsche 928S here on eBay is said to be a true Euro-spec car boasting about 300 b.h.p. with a Buy-It-Now of $4K.
The interior is fairly tattered and the car looks beat all around, but the seller claims it does run. Aside from the sidemarker lenses, you wouldn’t be able to spot much visually that sets this car apart from U.S. models. The engine is the key here, as the overseas models featured higher lift cams along with a larger throttle body, intake runners, and valves. While it’d be nice to pair that extra performance with a manual transmission, this 928 is like so many others equipped with an automatic.
The paint is quite tired and the interior photo above shows evidence of work started but not finished. You can tell this car was likely federalized to some degree, as the hole in the bodywork on the driver’s side is filled with an ugly but typical reflective lens on the passenger side. Our blasted DOT does all sorts of awful things to otherwise pretty vehicles, including the heavy safety reinforcements, tacked-on lighting and dull, low-power headlight systems. It would be interesting to find out just how much of this car remains in true Euro configuration.
Photos are fairly terrible, and this is all we get – a show of the hatch area, with some free jumper cables thrown in. The price is right, though, at just $4K and the option to submit a best offer. More information about the 928’s history would be appreciated, along with how far it went during those yard drives the seller mentions. The reason for sale is due to having one too many projects; a phone call would be advised to see if that’s really the case or if this 928 is simply too costly to restore.
“So how much do you want for this $2,000 car?”
Dang, that’s sad. It would take a fortune to bring this car back. Gorgeous parts car!
“The weight savings comes from not having ridiculous steel safety bars in the doors and other nonsense”
You call crash protection nonsense?
Other countries should want to do what the US does to make their cars safer, not the other way around.
Most people should know if you see a 928 on a trailer, run away quickly.
The U.S. Standards for crash protection were common on all cars. The major differences were in lighting standards, mirror requirements and side marker light. The 928 major market was both the U.S. and Europe. The transmission is right out of a Mercedes 560 SEL set within the Porsche transaxle and they do just fine. Mine is a manual 1984 and I have driven both. I prefer to shift for myself but the auto box is just fine thank you.
Generally the worst thing about a 928 is the fuel system if it has sat too long and the electrical bits in general and for much the same reason. Plan on replacing all the relays that are in the passenger footwell where the electrical panel is. That generally solves most electrical problems. The fuel system is just a remove, clean and replace and hope to God you do not have to replace the fuel distribution pump.
They are a lot better cars than most people realize. I have put many thousands of miles on mine and I know of a local man that has over 400K on his with almost no trouble and still on the original engine. The critical thing is how you care for them. They are some of the best built and best engineered cars I have every worked on. Too complex yes but worth the effort.
The weight differences between USA and RoW models related to safety equipment was trivial. Both markets used the same bumpers and doors. The USA bumpers used gas pressure impact absorbing struts while the other market used one time crush tubes in addition to two rear rubber bumperettes, The USA doors had an additional bolt in impact absorbing beam part # 928 531 601 03 GRV and used from 1978- 1995. Any euro model is designed to have this installed with two M8x20 bolts and lock washers. Not a lot of weight penalty here. Interestingly a Porsche test driver was injured in an accident at some point that they determined would have been less severe in car with door beams and apparently they stated to install them in production from that point on.
928’s are extremely expensive to work on, both parts and labor.
In this case I’d have to classify it as a serious pass. And it’s an automatic!
Run.
Problem with the 928’s is they just cost too much to repair. This car should go to someone who simply wants the parts off it for their car, or I suppose fix up this one IF you had another one already for more parts (and can do the labor themselves). I’d say it’s worth $1500-$2200.
I hate it when they don’t even bother to take it off the trailer, before trying to flip some parts car. This car is not just a roach, but also automatic. If it were stick it may be worth $500, but this thing above is just worth scrap value
Doors, hood and front fenders are Aluminium – beautiful weight distribution with the transmission mounted at the rear axle. Interference engine so you need to make sure the cambelt is replaced as specified. I had a 928 S4 Auto, loved the car and yes it had some electrical issues ( door locks with a mind of their own but nothing major). No rust I could find – built well. In the end I sold, parts are so expensive I didnt want to have to fix the car if something major went wrong – call me a coward, miss the car but rest easier.
Yep, those pesky weight adding safety features like reinforced panels, crush zones, collapsable steering columns, seat belts, air bags, etc. Let’s just throw all that out in order to save 500 pounds. Never mind that one of those things might save your life one day when some distracted driver runs a red light & t-bones you…
It would make a pretty decent hot rod with an aluminum Chevy LS at about 475 hp and 500 ft/lbs of torque….. Although I don’t think it would be competitive in the Optima Street Car Invitational series…..might be a fun “sleeper”.
I’d pay one dollar for this rust bucket. 911’s and 356’s rule
Ls swap candidate right there
Yeah all that safety stuff adds weight to be sure. However in germany the driving mindset is much different than in the USA. There they basicly have two speeds, 35KPH through towns and villages and then as fast as your car can go on the autobahn. 280 KPH is just a leisurely pace people pass you at that speed like your sitting still. So if you have an accident over there where you need your car fixed your going to get hit in a parking lot and all that safety equipment won’t really matter. If you are involved in something on the autobahn your going to be a fatality as well as everyone in your car and whatever other cars are involved. 12 car pile ups are a regular occurance there with no survivors usually. If you happen to be close enough to a hospital life flight you have a small chance. They clean up wrecks with brooms on the autobahn and fire hoses. So all that safety equipment will mean nothing when you go from 200+ MPH to nothing. Don’t believe me take an empty pepsi can and cut the top off insert a raw egg. Spary in some of that spray insulation put the top back on. Now hit it as hard as you can with a 25lbs sledge hammer. What you have left is your car with safety equipment at 200+ MPH. :-)
Pete, have you ever actually driven in Germany? The speed limit in built-up areas is generally 50km/h (30mph) and even on unrestricted parts of the autobahn, 280km/h (174mph) would hardly be considered a “leisurely pace”… there’s only a handful of cars on the road that can actually even reach that speed! In my experience it’s usual for traffic to flow along at 120-150km/h (70-90mph) (with the odd big Audi, BMW or Mercedes estate car travelling faster than that) and it has to be said that German drivers are in general much more disciplined and attentive than Americans. This is borne out by the road fatality rate per 1 billion kilometres travelled (2013): 7.1 for the USA, 4.9 for Germany.
Dallas – I agree with much of what you said, although I served in Germany during the ’60s, when there were next to no speed restrictions on the ‘Bahn. There were also few cars that could go in the 160 + range. Absolutely none of the safety items, save seat belts and pretty good brakes/tires/suspensions, were on new cars then. Heck, even the F1 cars just started to have wings & still had treaded tires. Was a blast to watch them and the GT40s etc fly over the bridge at Nurburgring. Only one car passed me going (I guess) over 140-150, a brand spanking new Miura on the Autostrada near their factory. I like this model Porsche, just not this one ….
Jeff, you have any children? If so, when they get to be of driving age, please let us know if you still feel this way about crash protection.