1983 Porsche 928: So who is the U-boat captain?

I have loved the Porsche 928 ever since it came out – especially the early cars with the wild checkerboard velour interior. I remember painting my Revell 928 model in bright silver and detailing the gorgeous V8 motor. These days, the majority of them have been ridden hard and put away wet, but even so they represent one of the best performance bargains out there. They are even more rare with the 5-speed manual in place of the Mercedes slushbox, like this example on eBay in Tinton Falls, New Jersey with a “buy it now” price of $4995.

The 928’s round popup headlights were its trademark throughout its longer-than-you-think production run, later being assimilated into the 944 design in the “updated” 968. The headlight motors are apparently regular fail points, but not prohibitively expensive to deal with. The look is unmistakeable, and more and more you’d be the only one on your block to drive one. The seller provides little information about the running condition of the car, but that’s half the challenge, right?

The 928’s modern interior set the stage for a number of cars of the eighties, most notably the Actura Legend, which almost carbon-copied the 928’s instrument binnacle in every detail. 928 dashes often warp and crack with time, and this one looks better than most of its age. The black on black suits the car well, and the car has the electric sunroof option. With no mention of functionality, the AC would be a big question mark in my mind on this one. They do call-out the sunroof, so I am hopeful that it works.

A must for my fleet these days is a back seat, and the 928 delivers that beautifully. What budding car geek wouldn’t love seat time in these sculpted sport seats? They’d be even better with functioning rear AC, which I understand is even more unusual than functioning main AC. Even so, roof and windows open should give junior plenty of air. With no airbag, we’d even think about letting them ride up front, where they could help row through the gears.

The 928’s water-cooled V8 is a beauty to behold, and to listen to. It provided all of the needed motivation for the tubby 928 to lose Guido the Killer Pimp on the streets of Chicago, right? It also makes all the right noises. Talking with experts from places like Pelican Parts, decent 928s are not prohibitively expensive to own and maintain, but they do require care and feeding. For me this makes more sense than something like a Ferrari 400i or something like that costing five figures every time you look at it crossways. Tempting at a minimum, and yes, I am totally that stupid.