[Shaun @ Tru6]

What 928s are worth

While air-cooled 911 prices skyrocketed a few years ago, growth for 928s was more modest but still significant. Prices started inching up in 2013, and from January of that year to the beginning of 2019, median #2-condition (Excellent) values for the 928 were up 114 percent. Since then, values haven’t moved.

The first 928s carry some notoriety for being the first ones and being somewhat hard to find, with values ranging from $7200 for a 1979 model in #4 (Fair) condition to $75,000 for a best-in-the-world-condition #1 (Concours) first-year 1978 model. The 1980-82 4.5-liter 928s, meanwhile, are the most affordable of the family, with a #2 (Excellent) value of $32,000. Subtract 20 percent for an automatic, add 5 percent for the funky Pasha interior. The 928 S and 928 S4 carry condition #2 values of $35,000 and $40,500, respectively, while the 928 GT comes in at $48,300.

Special editions to look out for include the Jubilee Edition, the Weissach Edition, and the Club Sport. Porsche built 141 Jubilee Editions on the 928 S platform with Meteor Metallic paint, flat disc wheels and red leather seats with stripes, but they were sold outside of North America. What Porsche did sell in North America was a Weissach Edition. Just 202 came here in 1992, distinguished by gold paint with gold wheels and a two-tone leather interior. The Club Sport is a lightened, stiffened and slightly more powerful version of the S4, but good luck finding one, as sources point to no more than 20 being built.

The 928 GTS is in a different ballpark when it comes to price. The best, the newest, the fastest, the most developed and the rarest of the series, the GTS is worth over twice as much as an S4 model regardless of condition, and a GTS with a five-speed is the Holy Grail for 928 shoppers. A 1992-94 GTS carries a #2 value of $89,900. The even more desirable final-year 1995 model (just 77 were sold in North America) comes in at $101,000 in #2 condition. The most anyone has ever paid publicly for a production 928 is €138,000 (about $157,000 at the time) in Paris last year. That car ticked most of the right boxes with good colors, low mileage and a five-speed. The most expensive sale in this country was a 1995 model, also with low mileage and a five-speed, sold for $140,000 in Monterey two years ago, and the most expensive 928 sold on Bring a Trailer was yet another 1995 5-speed car sold for $117,000 last April. Technically, the most expensive 928 sold at auction is the ex-Derek Bell 928 Club Sport prototype that sold in 2016 for €253,000 (about $282,000 at the time).

The important thing to remember when shopping for a 928, especially an early one, is that things like meticulous maintenance records, long-term ownership and careful driving aren’t as common among 928s as they are among 911s. Even the newest ones are over 25 years old now, and the oldest ones are over 40, so aside from the usually mechanical complications there are things like worn upholstery, dull paint, cracked dashboards, and popped stitching to look out for. “Buy the best one you can afford” is one of the best tidbits of advice in shopping for an old car, and it is truer for 928s than most cars. Still, no matter how you slice it, the right 928 is a lot of car for the money.