Porsche & wine tasting show & shine.

[Bret]

AKA as a Porsche water cooled brotherhood meeting!

Just got back from the a local Porsche 928 event just a few miles away from my house at the Rancho Bernado Winery. Kutos to Neil for setting the whole thing up for all of us. As some of you may recall Neil is another member of the BCF who owns an MG (a midget actually) and a Shark like myself.

Anyway it was a great event and for an informal meeting it was a pretty good turn out even with those three 944s that showed up. /bcforum/images/%%GRAEMLIN_URL%%/wink.gif Cars came from as far away as LA and Orange County. The wine tasting was nice ($5 got you a glass and five tastes) and the Jazz was (well??) ok I guess. Again I like my music with a slight twang and a cold longneck in hand, in sawdust & Neon light setting.

But I digress - back to the meeting, I was a little surprised that only two 16v's Sharks showed up – Neil’s 81’ & my 78’, thus making mine the oldest Shark there. All of the other 928’s where 32V Sharks. I was further surprised that mine 78’ was the "only" sunroof “delete” Shark and one of only two 5-speeds (not counting the half-8’s – 944s).

Talking to some of the P-car experts there - my 78 is something of a rare bird because of those differences I mentioned above. I guess most North American 928’s where Autos and came with sunroofs. I also noted that mine had none power seats - yet another rarity.

Anyway here's some pics:

Oh yeah, that's my Ninja black 78' Shark in the front of the first & third pictures. /bcforum/images/%%GRAEMLIN_URL%%/wink.gif

 

[swift6]

When I was doing some background research on my stepdads 928, it seemed that a very high percentage of 928's are automatics. The early cars are 3-speeds and the later ones are 4-speeds. As you discovered, most have sunroofs as well. From what I could figure out, there really wern't many 'options' as most came fully loaded.

My stepdad's is an '81 with an automatic, on 16" 'S' Wheels (like the second one in your last photo). On lowered suspension, uprated cams, aftermarket exhaust etc... I don't like it as much in the canyons (you can REALLY feel the weight on quick transistions in tight canyons), but it is a blast on back highways and interstates. And its color is 'Schwarzwald' (Black Forest). Sort of a black with a very slight dark brown in it. It seems there were more variations of 'black' for 928's than any other color.

Looks like a good time.

 

[Bret]

Hey Shawn,

I was a bit surprised too that so many 928's had been loaded to the hilt as it were. But am actually happy that mine is that much more different. I've actually had other Shark owners tell me that they wish they didn't have the power seats and sunroof. The power seats are a real PITB to trouble shoot electical problems on when they act up. Likewise the sunroof - is also a bear to fix electical issues and actuall takes away head room.

As for that second Shark in the last photo you pointed out it's actually Neil's 81’. He tells an interesting story about how he got it (I'm sure he'll correct me if I get it wrong).

But anyway he tells me that he was looking for a 928 when he came across the one pictured new sitting in the dealership that was a "special" order. A customer ordered the car with that color (Neil what is it again?), but when it finally arrived – the customer came in and refused delivery because he didn't like the color (that he chose) and forfeited his deposit. When Neil arrived the dealership discounted it the value of the deposit.

Such a deal. /bcforum/images/%%GRAEMLIN_URL%%/wink.gif

 

[billspohn]

The 928 is an interesting car.

People often forget that it is a relatively heavy car - not by today's standards when Toyotas can weight 2 tons, but by the standards of the day. A 928 weighs about the same as my old Jensen does.

The power is nothing to write home about, but that wasn't what they were about. Smooth with sufficient torque, these are touring cars, not sports cars, and the fact that most were sold with an auto confirms that.

I always thought that a stripped down 928 might make an interesting sports car - I'm sure someone has done that, probably using the less troublesome 16V version and a standard trans.

 

[Bret]

Re: Porsche & wine tasting show & shine.

The Nine Two Eight is indeed a rare bird and as I’ve discovered as a loyal owner has an almost a cult feel about it.

Unlike most that falsely claim to be - the Shark is a “true” GT and if we want to be technical I won’t argue that isn’t a sports car in the “narrow” sense of that class or type of vehicle. However as has been pointed out & as has often been the case, GTs can and do many times out perform their sports car contemporary’s.

In its day the 928 while being the ultimate Grand Tourer it was in many ways a super car with the performance to back it up. In fact several model years during it’s 18 years of production, the land Shark captured the title of fastest production car in the world. No small feat when you consider the heavy competition from thoroughbred stables the likes of Ferrari, Aston Martin, Lotus and Maserati. Even when it wasn’t at the top it was still right there nipping at the heals of the best that those marquee’s had to offer.

As for going racing – there are several folks out there that campaign them. Most are older sharks powered beefed up & punched out 16v engines. But there are a few running newer 928s that have had success too. In both cases these privateers ran consistently in the top tier of the GT2S class in both enduro and sprint against other “factory” supported P-cars.

Regardless of what turtle (911 & their many variants) owners may think & despite the factory never racing them - the 928 is the real deal.

 

[swift6]

As for going racing – there are several folks out there that campaign them. Most are older sharks powered beefed up & punched out 16v engines. But there are a few running newer 928s that have had success too. In both cases these privateers ran consistently in the top tier of the GT2S class in both enduro and sprint against other “factory” supported P-cars.

Some of those are even successful while running automatics too.