Porsche 928: Classic Cars forum: Classic Motorsports

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Dec. 28, 2009 9:16 p.m. prestonian New Reader

What is the forums thoughts on the 1991 thru 1994 model year 928's? I owned a 86 model year a while back now but the car was not in the best of condition. What would be the best options, auto or manual, etc for any decent pricing appreciation? I would plan to keep the car for 5 yrs or more. Any info appreciated.

TIA
Dec. 30, 2009 12:09 p.m. prestonian New Reader

Can anyone chime in on this one? My tastes slant more toward the German cars. BMW's are a dime a dozen so while I have had two of these cars, they do not push my buttons today. Never owned a british or Italian car. I could possibly see a maserati or other italian in the stable.
I have not seen a 90's model 928 on the road in many years. That is what I like. Exclusivity, but also something that is pleasing to your own eye. Its hard to look at something everyday that you don't particuarly like just because you think it will go up in value. Now, if you have a warehouse to put a whole stash of cars it will be a different story. My 86.5 model 928 had a poor repaint on it and while the engine ran well I was not willing to put the money into the car to make it extra nice. The color combo was not best to my liking but was ok.
I also like the older syle 911's but I am 6-2" and always found the car to be a little short on elbow room. Comments?
Dec. 30, 2009 1:36 p.m. David S. Wallens Editorial Director

Good ones seem hard to find, as many were owned by people who couldn't quite afford the proper maintenance. Andy and I discuss this cars from time to time. He has a soft sport for them.
Dec. 30, 2009 4:16 p.m. prestonian New Reader

There are two GTS cars for sale on autotrader right now. One is asking $35k and the other around $31K. I believe these may be a little over priced but who knows, maybe they will sell. Regarding maintenance, my experience has been that they cost no more than any other older Euro car for maintenance items. OF course I did not have a major item like a tranny or major engine component go on me. However, you have got to be willing to do much of this work oneself and not pay a dealer or independent up to $100 per hour labor. Some of the mid 80's 928's that go for $5k - $10k are the ones of issue. Cars in the price range that do have to go the mechanic for work will be neglected due to the amount of money that gets dumped into a $5k car. This goes for all older Foreign cars. I read where Andy wrote an ariticle in the march 2006 magazine about the 928 but have not been able to find my older mag. If someone could post this article, it would be most appreciated.

Thanks, Urs4
Dec. 30, 2009 7:35 p.m. OFracing Reader

There's a good show on Tuesday nights on Discovery HD theater called Classic Car club.

http://www.locatetv.com/tv/classic-car-club/episode-guide

It's a British show and one of it's regular segments is about affordable classics. Last week they did a piece about the 928 and it had me poking around eBay checking out prices.

They liked the S4 model the best but as long as the car was well maintained, any model was good.They felt the 928 was under priced for the performance you got.

mike
Dec. 31, 2009 10:10 a.m. Andy Reid Auction Editor

I really like these a lot and consider buying one about 2 times a year. A 928 is kind of a Aston Martin built by Porsche. They are an amazing touring car. They can cost thousands of dollars to maintain if they have been abused or neglected and as stated by David, many have been neglected. If they have been well taken care of, any of the 928 cars are reliable and will last virtually forever. Electrical issues can be a nuisance but these are mostly window switches and cruise control. Only buy a perfect example of a 928 and you will be fine. Perfect means that absolutely everything works as it should, the paint is perfect or close to it and the interior is nice as well. It should have a complete or mostly complete service history. I would buy from a PCA member who is also a 928 person. As for early versus late, the 2 valve cars can be a deal at $7,500 or so for a very nice example. The later 4 valve cars are even better sorted and are amazingly fast. They are a true supercar. A very nice late model car will run from $9,000 to around $17,000 with concours examples a little higher. Remember these cars were almost 100,000 when new and service costs should run around $900-$1,800 a year. As for automatic vs. manual, I would go for the automatic. The manual gearbox was not very good in any example besides the GTS model and even those were not perfect. It is a touring car and the automatic suits it and lasts forever and has no expensive clutch replacements. Hope that helps!
Dec. 31, 2009 11:50 a.m. prestonian New Reader

Andy,

What are your thoughts about any price appreciation on a good example 92-95 GTS model? These were imported at rather low numbers into the US. Total worldwide production for all of these years was 2831. Is this a low enough production number to drive any appreciation?

Thanks, Mike
Jan. 1, 2010 5:01 p.m. Andy Reid Auction Editor

I think these will appreciate. They are a very cool car and everyone knows it. :) The low production and amazing performance will make them a better than average collectible. I think 10-15 percent in the next 1 years is more than realistic but the car in question will have to be perfect and all original, no mods, no repaint, stock wheels and again in say a #2 condition.

If you are going to drive it as a fun daily driver I would still opt for a S4. :)
Jan. 3, 2010 9:26 p.m. prestonian New Reader

Andy,

Where do I go to learn about the current market value of this car or others? Are there resources out there that make it somewhat easy to find recent sales prices of collector cars, etc? I can go to the usual autotrader, craigslist and such but these are asking prices and not sold prices of course. thanks.
Jan. 3, 2010 9:36 p.m. prestonian New Reader

Forgot to mention. I caught the classic car club show on HD Discovery this morning per OFracing's recommendation. Very well done but wish they would go into more detail on each car and not just gloss over each.