1985 Porsche 928 S2 4.7 V8 Automatic *Sold £10,500*

Description

• Engine rebuilt
• Gearbox overhauled
• £4K spent on the interior
• Thousands spent improving
• Long ownership
• Irish registered car

Porsche was still a young company when the 928 Coupe was released – barely 28 years old. The 928 marked a radical departure for the company; a change in direction from the slowly developing 911 model, with quirky dynamics, to a visually arresting V8 powered front engine coupe, with flawless 50/50 weight distribution and lavish use of exotic materials such as aluminium and polyurethane – both still in their infancy, as far as car manufacturing was concerned. The 928 was to be a technical masterpiece for the young company and would certainly put the small Stuttgart concern on the supercar map.

The looks, in the launch year of 1978, were like nothing before seen on a car – even in science fiction films. The long, sleek bonnet, and cab-backward stance screamed performance and sophistication, with the smooth front and rear bumper sections showing very few signs of US-obligatory crash protection – the market for which the 928 had undoubtedly been built for.

Despite the American influence on the design, the car won the ‘European Car of the Year’ gong in 1978 and remains to this day the only supercar ever to win the award – testament to the universal appeal of Porsche’s new model.

Our wonderful example has been owned by our vendor since 2014 and has been improved immensely since it was purchased. Now retired, our vendor had originally owned a Porsche 928 from new back in 1983, unfortunately having to sell the car shortly after to fund a house purchase, he had hankered for another one ever since.

Upon retirement he eventually purchased this example and with plenty of time on his hands, he went to town making it his perfect car. Read on to find out the detail.

Currently showing one hundred and thirty thousand miles on the clock, but with a fully rebuilt engine, it will be supplied with three keys, all the NCTs (the Irish MOT equivalent) since 2014, a large pile of receipts detailing all the parts replaced during the vendors ownership, digital copies of the owner’s manual, workshop and parts catalogues, and lastly the current NCT which expires in May 2024.

Outside

The galvanised bodied Porsche 928 S2 comes with aluminium doors, front wings and bonnet.  Benefiting from careful ownership and little use, the exterior is in very good overall condition.

The Grand Prix White paintwork sets off those sleek, simple lines very well. All the shut lines, gaps, and swage lines are consistent and straight. All four arches are in good condition.

It is not quite perfect but as you will see from the images it is in very, very, good condition for a nearly 40-year-old car. Our vendor shared that there is some slight bubbling to the nearside sill panel and a small scuff to the offside front bumper. On close inspection of the images, you will also see a little bubbling at the front of the nearside front wing and the sill section of the driver’s door shut. All easy fixes to bring the car up to a very high standard.

Those iconic pop-up headlamps work perfectly, and the split rim upgraded GTS wheels, although they have slight rim scuffs, look super on the 928.

The fully galvanised underside has passed every NCT (MOT) with flying colours, but these cars are pretty low to the ground, and our vendor has admitted that at over seventy years young he cannot supply any further images. There is one however, that shows no nasty leaks or rot that we can see.

The images and video confirm what you’re already thinking; this is a great car.

Inside

If the Porsche 928 S2 is like no other Porsche, the interior is on another level altogether. The styling is a riot of ‘80s overindulgence. Yet, the functional Germanic details scream at you. The contrasting blue leather interior was ahead of its time and stands the test of time very well.

Open the door and tip the seat forward and you’ll expose the two dainty perches in the back. It is a 2+2, just.

Folding the back seats down reveals a very decent, useful luggage space, giving a flat surface almost to the front seats. The luggage cover is still in place in the Porsche 928, a rather rare item. There is a very slight lifting of the leather on the rear centre armrest but all in all it is very well presented.

Up front the pilot and co-pilot are well taken care of. Who cares about the kids in the back anyway!!

A curvaceous pair of seats grip the hips much better than they look as though they would. Having been reupholstered, to the tune of approx. £4k, in the original blue and white piped leather shortly after our vendor purchased the car they are in virtually perfect condition. The multiple electric adjustment switches down the side will sort you out anyway. If someone does fiddle however, there are also memory positions.

Unfortunately, the dash has a couple of cracks, but the door pads look great, and the carpets have been protected well by the 928 matching mats. Our vendor even spent £500 having the steering wheel leather replaced.

The interior could possibly have done with detailing but as can be seen it is a very nice place to be indeed.

Our vendor shared that all the switches, knobs, and buttons operate as they should. These were very well built in their day, so we did not expect anything less.

Mechanicals

The S2 is regarded as the first true upgrade to the 928. It arrived in 1983 and the upgrade saw power boosted to 310BHP (90BHP greater than the first model), cementing the Porsche 928’s reputation as a supercar.

The 0-62 mph time dropped to 6.5 seconds. No visual differences over the 928 S were present. The interior equipment levels soared to include air conditioning, cruise control, leather seats with power adjustment, AM/FM/Cassette stereo, a metallic paint option, electric windows, and electric mirrors as standard-fit equipment.

The Porsche 928 S2 is an incredible car.

Everything about the 928 S2 is larger than life. From its thunderous acceleration to its wrenching deceleration, the second version of the Porsche 928 was bang-on.

It far surpassed the performance envelope of other road machinery around at that time.

During our vendors ownership he has spent thousands maintaining and improving the car, part of that was to have the engine rebuilt, this included:

• Removing the big 4.7 litre V8
• Fitting only Porsche parts
• New Belts and tensioners
• Skimmed Head
• Piston rings
• Valve stems renewed and re-seated
• New Bolts and gaskets etc.
• Bottom end fully inspected

The work did not stop there. The gearbox, being a Mercedes unit, was packed up and sent to a Mercedes specialist for a full overhaul prior to the engine being refitted to the car.

As time has proven, these engines have been found to be pretty bulletproof. With all this work done and less than 25k miles travelled, we suspect the new owner is in line for a lot of trouble-free miles.

Moving away from the engine and box, our vendor has shared that the radiator and hoses have all been replaced, the fuel lines were changed to PTFE versions, the fuel injection was totally overhauled with replacement injectors delivering a surprisingly good 20mpg.

One thing to note is that the cruise control is not currently working. Our vendor has shared that as it was something that he never enjoyed using in his original 928, he didn’t see much need to rectify the issue.

The suspension has also been treated to the same attention with the front suspension and springs being replaced. The standard S2 wheels were replaced with the current Split rim GTS versions you see in the images, these are clad 225/40 18 to the front and 255/35 18 to rear, all with plenty of tread and are believed to be run flat tyres.

Summary

When others see you driving a Porsche 928, there is an assumption in their expression that you’re having a wonderful time. They’d be spot on. The 928 is one of the most deceptively efficient, fast, and fun classic GT cars of all time. The second major update, the Porsche 928 S2, is all of that and much more.

Porsche 928s have been undervalued for some time. Why? Quite simply, snobbery. Many talk simply about the 911 and little else. The market has woken up to how good the Porsche 928 is. Ones like this normally swap hands under the radar in club ownership and forum circles.  It is a pleasure to bring this to the wider market.

With so much time, effort, and money put into this lovely example, the winning bidder will become the newest custodian of a very nice example indeed. With a couple more improvements, this has the potential to present even better than it already does and is only a year or so away from being classed as historic so it will soon be MOT, Tax and, believe it or not, ULEZ exempt. Buy it now, tuck it away and watch it appreciate.

*Being an Irish registered car we are unable to perform a HPI check – the previous UK registration before the car was exported in 2014 was C928 BUL which was HPI’d and was clear.*