Frankly, I’m not really sure what to think of this video. On the one hand, I’m sure it will make a lot of Porsche purists happy. On the other, the destruction of a piece of Porsche history, no matter what it is, is just plain sad. I suppose it’s no worse than the Porsche 911 that was shot up at the range a couple of months ago (Is The Porsche 911 Really Bullet Proof?).

I will say, the destruction by motorcycle demonstrates some pretty amazing riding. The rear tire of the bike spinning to the point of flames was cool.

Currently, there are just over 220 ads for Used Porsches listed on the site. Here are a few that I found to be Tempting Porsches for me.

Tempting Porsche #1

The first car on the Tempting Porsche list today is a 1991 Porsche 944 Turbo Cabriolet. It’s a unique color and a 944 cabriolet, let alone a turbo version, is not very common. Right around 70k on the odo. Looks like it even includes a cool vanity plate: D9 CAB. Here are a few more details from the listing:

mot&taxed estimated to be only 30 turbo cabriolets left on the road very collectable classic,£146 classic insurance,owned last 7 years and never a problem very reliable wee car also D9 CAB no plate in deal

I’m not sure about there only being 30 turbo cabs left on U.K. roads. Seems awful low.

Asking Price: £5,750 – Not bad, especially if this car is as rare as they’re claiming.

Tempting Porsche #2

Second car on the list today may seem boring, but I’d buy this in a heartbeat. It’s a 2001 Porsche 911 Carrera 4. Silver with black interior. The only thing I’m not in love with is the wheels. I’d change those out. The best part is, it’s a two owner car and has all of the service history included. That seems to be a rarity for these 10 year old plus cars.

Here is a bit more from the Gumtree ad:

Electric Sunroof, Air Con, Electric Seats, Sports Pack, Bluetooth. Full Main Dealer Service History from new, including every single bill and receipt. This car has been maintained regardless of cost. First owner was a lady and i purchased the car 3 years ago but third child unfortunately forces sale of a great car. 18 inch sport wheels as standard. Even comes with original bill of sale. Full porsche inspection when i purchased the car with pictures and detailed information on condition.

Asking Price: £16,995

Tempting Porsche #3

It’s no secret that I have a soft spot for the Porsche supercars of yesteryear. I’d love to own a Porsche 928, for example, which happens to be the third Tempting Porsche for today. This just looks like a straight up, clean 928S at a decent price. It’s a silver with black interior 1983 vintage. Looks like a single owner, which would be cool. Also is an automatic, so you can avoid the clutch problems that plagued the 928s.

Some more details from the ad:

Mileage: 47000
In-Car Audio: AM/FM Stereo, Cassette Player Service
History: Yes
Interior/Comfort Options: Climate Control, Cruise Control, Leather Seats, Power-assisted Steering (PAS), Power Seats, Power Windows, Sunroof, Tilt Steering Wheel
Safety Features: Alarm, Immobiliser, Rear seat belts

Asking Price: £2,800 – Seems very reasonable, especially given the low mileage and what looks like included service history.

Tempting Porsche #4

I wasn’t going to include this one, but decided at the last minute to add it. This particular Porsche 944 Turbo caught my eye because of the color. It’s turquoise! You just don’t see too many colors like this. It’s a 1991 car and has a white interior (which I’m definitely not in love with). Includes all the service history.

Jury’s still out for me on the color.

Here some more description:

For sale is this stunning Porsche 944 Turbo. This is the most powerful and most rewarding 944 that Porsche made boasting an impressive 250bhp.

This 944 benefits from the best engine in the range. To add to that this particular model has a very rare and unique colour scheme, the beauty of which cannot be fully appreciated from the pictures. The paint is called Tahoe Blue, a colour which, according to enthusiast forums, was only used on 8 944s in the UK. This should not be mistaken by the more common blue that is seen on other 944s. The wonderful paint is complemented by a luxurious full cream leather interior with blue piping which contrasts perfectly with the unique exterior colour.

This is a fine example of a charming and characterful classic which is a rare sight nowadays, especially in this top spec guise and in this condition. It has been lovingly cared for over its 21 year life which is reflected in its condition. See bottom of the listing for details of the comprehensive Porsche service history.

The car comes with the original Porsche leather folder which is full of receipts for work carried out over the years, as well as the original manufacturer’s handbooks and the fully stamped service book which runs consistently up to only a few thousand miles ago and is almost entirely Porsche main dealer and specialist stamped.

All old MOTs are present for the last 13 years.

The car was originally a 944 S2 but was converted to a Turbo model a few years ago. There are receipts amongst the extensive service history to the value of over £5,000 for the fitting of the Turbo engine along with a new Turbo clutch and Turbo brakes all the way round. The work was carried out by a highly reputable Porsche specialist.

Asking Price: £5,250

Check out the Gumtree.com second hand Porsche section for deals if you’re in the U.K. or some great dream fodder if you’re somewhere else in the world!

I remember at least two of these commercials from the 80′s. Great memories. There are three 30 second commercials. I especially like the first two. Thanks James C!

Jeff McCabe decided to build his own electric car. He gutted a Porsche 928, taking everything out he could to save weight, then slowly added things back in. It will take him between 120 and 150 miles before needing to be recharged and has a top speed of 85 mph.

An interesting video and even more interesting paint job.

It seems one Oregonian is expanding the “Keep Portland Weird” bumper sticker statement to the entire state. He has taken a 1982 Porsche 928 S and dropped in a Boing T-50 Turbine Engine. He completed the package with dual hood flame shooters.

Let me say again…ASININE.

Here are specs from the eBay auction (it was re-listed since it didn’t sell the first time around: eBay Item #170507790267):

• 1982 PORSCHE 928 WITH A BOEING TURBINE ENGINE
• POWER STEARING
• POWER DISK BRAKES ALL 4
• HEATER AND DEF….(BLEAD AIR TO HEATER CORE)
• AIR-CON (BLEAD AIR FROM ENGINE WITH INTER COOLER) SEMI-COLD AIR
• NEW PAINT
• NEW WHEELS
• JVC FM AND CD PLAYER WITH REMOTE
• FLAME SHOOTER
• 17 MPG
• OVER 160 MPH
• 365 HP
• 700+ FOOT POUNDS OF TORQUE
• IT’S A DAILY DRIVER AND A SHOW CAR

If you take a look at the Car Lust post Brad originally sent me, there are some pretty entertaining comments on the post worth reading. Many of them disproving the viability of this setup, lack of performance, etc. You can see them here: Asinine or Awesome?.

I know Porsche 928′s are less than desirable these days to most people. It’s also reasonable to understand how people are getting their hands on them…being so cheap. But I just don’t understand why someone would take a perfectly good Porsche and do something ridiculous like this. Unless of course the car was junked and they brought it back from the dead with their upgrades. I seriously doubt that was the case though. I wonder if anyone will ever buy the thing?

If the owner will email me back, I’ll drive down and take a look at this thing first hand.

What does everyone think? Awesome or asinine?

Several car sites are asking the obvious question about the sketch of the 2 door Porsche Grand Touring car above. It’s an image used on the Porsche Consulting home page. Of course the speculation is that this is a representation of a 2-door Porsche…a 928 successor perhaps.

We’ve had a number of rumors float around the last 6 months about a front engine grand tourer. Something to bring back the super car, luxurious glory of the Porsche 928 that was last seen in 1995. The success of the Porsche Panamera has fueled the future model lust so much so that many of us 928 fans are starting to believe our own day dreams. I’ll spare you all the possible specification blather adoring fans are throwing around.

Whether or not the speculation is valid, it’s still fun to dream of a successor to the 928. Maybe my wife will like this one enough to let me get one!

What does everyone think? Porsche 928 reborn or useless rumor?

[Source: Porsche Consulting]

I’m a bit of a sucker for cool Porsche stories. I still think about one I read in a copy of Excellence a long time ago about a pristine 356 hidden in a mountainside in Cuba (I think it was Cuba). Never was able to find the story again, despite a lot of hours of going through old magazines.

When Lyndon, one of our PorschePerfect.com readers, sent me a link to a WikiCars.com entry about the Porsche 928 S4 GTE, of course it gets the imagination racing a bit. I vaguely remember seeing the magazine article to right (click on it if you want to access the full size image to read the article), but I completely forgot about this car.

This special Porsche 928 S4 was a prototype built as a possible replacement to the 928 Club Sport version. It sported enhanced body work, a beefier engine and upgraded interior to add even more creature comforts than the original 928 offered. Here are some reported upgrades and stats for this car:

• 360+ bhp (this is more than even the Porsche 928 GTS cars built in the mid-90′s)
• Close-ratio gearbox
• Top speed of 182+ MPH
• 17″ Cup design rims
• Date of factory roll out: 1988

Supposedly the owner, from the article, saw the car while visiting the Porsche factory. He decided he had to have it and after “badgering and nagging” the factory, they agreed to let him buy it. Sounds a bit fishy to me, but maybe it went down like that. There’s quite a bit of debate on different forums about whether or not this car even exists.

Uncertainties about the authenticity of this Porsche 928 aside, it’s one fine looking car. Even worthy of replicating if a 928 S4 ever comes along. Supposedly the mirrors and body work are available. This car reminds me why I love the 928 models and especially the 928 S and S4 versions. Gotta get my wife to agree to me buying one of these some day.

Check out the rest of the info on WikiCars.com here: Porsche 928GTE.

Tempting Porsche #1

“Get Your Sweetheart a Porsche This Year!” At least the ad title was catchy. I’d love to find a 928S or 928S4 to buy some day. This one is tempting because even with the crapola pictures, it still looks promising. What doesn’t look promising is 32749 miles on the odometer (something’s wrong there) and the pimp daddy wheels someone decided to put on the car. Here’s what the ad had to say:

Shiny Black 1986 Porsche 928 – Super Condition – First reasonable offer drives her home!

Price: $3,800

Tempting Porsche #2

This one may be one of my “ultimate” dream Porsches. Kind of an old meets newer type of thing. I love the 944s, primarily because those were popular when I was growing up. The 968 benefited from a bit more thump from the engine, an updated interior, and styling that brought in some of the 911 characteristics while maintaining the 944 feel. This car isn’t a screaming deal, especially with 175k miles on the clock, but could be cool if it was well maintained.

Great Looking and Well Maintained Porsche 968
Recently replaced parts include: radiator, waterpump, thermostat, timing and balance belts, flyweel, clutch, battery, front suspension parts including struts, wheel bearings, tie rod ends, caster blocks, etc. Last year the car was hit (not too hard) in the driver’s side fender, which was replaced. I took the opprtunity to have the entire front end block sanded and re-sprayed to remove rock chips that had accumulated over the years.
All maintence records and receipts available. Car has approx. 175k miles and a recent leakdown test by Sunset Porsche gave results that were “better then great” without even accounting for miles (5% variance across all four cylinders, and very small leakage = rings and valves still tight). Interior is clean and in good condition. AM/FM Cassette with 6 disc CD Changer.

Not too shabby. Price is $11,500.

I ran across another one today, listed in a post on Jalopnik under the title “Nice Price Or Crack Pipe: $50,000 For A 30,000-Mile 1994 Porsche 928 GTS?” Again, big price for a 928 GTS. Out of 874 votes, an overwhelming 84% say it’s overpriced. Exactly how I would have voted…until I started reading a bit more about the GTS.

Based on some initial research online, I’m seeing that only 422 GTSs were imported into North America with model years of 1993 thru 1995. Only 77 were imported into the US in 1995 with loaded models exceeding the $100,000 price mark. Changed bodywork, larger front brakes and a new, more powerful 5.4 L, 350 PS (257 kW/345 hp) engine were the big changes Porsche publicized.

NOW it’s starting to make sense. Such a low number of imported GTSs is clearly one of the biggest reasons the car has retained a significantly higher value. Not to mention a higher new retail value. In fact, I’m finding that over the last couple of years, all 928 prices have started to creep upwards a bit, although 2008 has decimated many prices. Would be cool to find a 1995 model since so few were imported.

I was rearranging my garage last weekend and ran across a box of old Porsche magazines that I’ve hauled around for the last 10 years. My wife relentlessly hassles me every time we move, which consequently has been about 16 times in the last 18 years, about this “stupid heavy box” of old magazines. She doesn’t seem to appreciate that I have significantly cut the collection down over the years to maybe 100 or 150 issues of mostly Excellence Magazine. I went through a 5 or 6 year period where I bought and saved just about every US and many UK magazines that had an article about Porsche in them.

I finally succumbed to the family pressure and got rid of many of them. I keep trying to tell my wife that the magazines I’ve kept might be worth something someday. Help put our kids through college. Be a great thing to pass on to them. Etc. She doesn’t by it.

As I went to move this box, I decided to crack it open and have a look through the printed treasures I’d held on to. I was treated to some cool old mementos of days (and Porsches) gone by. I thought some of you might enjoy taking a little trip down memory lane with me over the next few weeks.

The first in 5 I snagged out of the box is Porsche Magazine Volume 1, Issue 3 for May/June 1987. This is one of my favorites because it’s the oldest issue of Porsche/Excellence Magazine that I own and I loved the original title of Porsche Magazine before it was changed to Excellence shortly thereafter.

I still remember stumbling across this magazine in a bookstore in Portland, Oregon. I was completely in love with Porsches by that time and had grandiose plans of buying a used 928S with all the money I was saving up. I could hardly believe I had found a magazine completely dedicated to Porsche cars. Even better there was a 928S on the cover!

At this time in the life of Porsche Magazine, the writing staff was still trying to get their writing schedule put together. The articles initially were a bit more haphazard from a coverage standpoint and weren’t always of the best quality since they were added at the last minute to try and broaden the topic base. One great feature about a startup mag is the sparse advertising. Much of the magazine moves from article to article without being broken up by lots of ads.

Some highlights from this issue:

• Cover Story: 928
• The Solo II National Championship
• The Anatomy of a Restoration
• Porsche 924S: Solo II Sleeper?
• Collecting Porsche Brochures
• Interview with Peter Schutz