History Flashback - If you know me, you know that I am a huge fan of the Porsche 928, that icon of the 1980s, made famous in the U Boat Commander scene the movie Risky Business. youtu.be/bodVVtqmbZE But aside from its movie role, the 928 was one heck of a fun car to drive, with a midsize German V-8 engine under the hood, and the transmission in the rear of the car, it was remarkably well balanced, a true GT car in which one could effortlessly, and quite rapidly cruise the Autobahn for hours with nary a bit of discomfort. Also a fun car to service, most dealers were intimated by the car, with its very complex analog wiring scheme, tight and difficult to service engine compartment, it was a very quirky car to maintain...but to the 928 fan, it was pure German design and goodness. Very logically built, laid out, and a true joy to service. I think the service manual series, we had printed on paper manuals in those days, was at least 6-7 books long, much of it wiring. But Porsche made excellent service manuals, I can still see the red vinyl binders, thumbhole in for easy access off the shelf. Heres some cool 928 trivia: - Air conditioned glovebox - to keep your German chocolate nice and melt-free. - Only production car of modern construction that I can recall which had a wooden fuse box cover - yes, real wood. - One of the few cars to use a dual clutch set up - yes, two clutch discs, because two are better than one (later changed to the single disc). - The very eclectic checkerboard interior on the early cars, white and black, made you dizzy looking at it. - The green glow of the Alpine sound system buttons that were so often installed in the 80s, is Alpine even around today? - The large headlights that would tilt back and pop from from the front fenders, the dome shaped rear of which always reminded me of Army helmet. - The classic Phone Dial wheels, which looked like a rotary telephone dial, those seemed to have vanished along with the 928. - One of the first Porsches with a front engine (924 was first), previous models, 356, 911, 914 had employed the rear engine design. Id dearly love to see the 928 back, even in the revised form! If Porsche can bring back the 80s as well, Id really be aboard. - Bruce
Posted on: Wed, 30 Apr 2014 12:44:35 +0000
Trending Topics
Recently Viewed Topics
© 2015