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DFWX DFWX is offline
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Join Date: Apr 2005
Location: Near Dallas, Texas
Posts: 55
Yes, exactly.
I hope to find time to put together a web site editorial of this in long and short form, and then offering it to all Porsche published magazines. I do not think Porshe folks have some conspiracy against the 928, rather it is a topic not raised.
So this is what happens... A person buys a 928, 944, or 924 and sends off dues to the PCA etc - and then Panorama comes. They bought it on a lark, because fund limited, or because in a younger age they wanted one but could not afford it. They buy an old Porsche hoping it is the thing their dreams and fantasies are made of.
They pour over the pages, trying to find anything about their model - and there is little to nothing. They go to the web site for PCA - little to nothing. They write to the technical section with a gremlim problem - there is not response.
Somewhere along the way, they feel slighted, can't get it going or running, feel all alone and abandoned and disrespected even by Porsche, and park it in disassembled or at least non-running form until their spouse wins in demands to get rid of the damned thing. And love of Porsche turned to a bitter experience.

The reason people buy old Porsches is the motorhead inside them and the dream of ultimately having a car worthy of the cover of a magazine and that people oogle over. To own a PORSCHE!

Porsche and the PCA should feed and cajole that fantasy, as that is what it is all about. And it is where loyalty comes from and where people become willing to shell out the almost obscene prices for Porsche parts and Porsche dealer servicing.
If the subject raised, I believe credit will be given where credit is due to the 928 - as it truly was a glorious piece of Porsche history of daring, innovative brilliant and creativity.
Porsche was technologically ahead when EPA standards hit - and no one but Porsche could have built such as the 928 no matter how hard they tried due to the EPA standards. The 928 motor is not only powerful, but also very efficient - meaning very clean. Porsche saved their beloved 911 by counter attack against GM - building a killer, luxury V-8 muscle car beyond anything GM ever made or came close to building. The 928 blew any GM car away - but then the 928 blew away every production car by anyone.
I love the scene in the Tom Cruise movie (Easy money?) of the garage door opening, the 928 starting and the thrilling music building to it - that is the sensation of a 928. Many, many web sites of 928 owners feature what? "Click here to listen to a sound clip of my 928."
It is not just that my wife's custom bodies 928 turns every male head between age 10 and 60, but it also does so when she starts it up. This aint the sound of a pick up with glass packs or 4-6 cylinder sports car.

Sound matters. The extremely successful new release of the Mustang V-8 (a reskinned 10 year old design)? The did digital recordings of the 427 side oiler in the movie "Bullet" and tuned the exhaust to match.

The 928 is a fantasy car. But, then, all Porsche are. That is the reason, the only reason, anyone buys a Porsche. Because they believe it will return to them more than just the car itself, but a greater worth and self identity beyond the car into their whole life. A lawyer buys a Boxster to demonstrate conservative success and upward mobility...

A person buys an old 928 because that want a very, very fast car that looks and sounds like a very, very fast car and with maximum curb appeal - even most bang for the buck now too.

Yes, I hope to do exactly that, seek publication of a mini-version of my rambling editorial - as actually it is boasting of Porsche, no?
GM has never built anything like a turbo Carrera, but Porsche built a V-8 muscle beyond anything GM ever made. Yet GM had all the money and all the political power - imagine that. A true David and Goliath battle, and Porsche came out on top - over everyone - in the 928. Porsche went from being a cute little Terrier to the Pit Bull of production super cars. And no one saw it coming.
And, hopefully, other semi-left out Porsche owners will follow suit. The time when Porsche offered a truly affordable, fun Porsche (914). Did 912s and 968s just fall off the end of the world? If there is a Porsche bargain out there, it is the 924. I just saw a 924 TURBO, mostly through a restoration, that could not bring $1,000 on ebay. Being lighter, it is faster than a turbo 944.
Less than $1000 for a turbo 924 with 3 times that in new parts included?

Years (many) ago my brother showed up gleaming in his used 924 - he owned a PORSCHE! It had nothing to do with preformance, rather that word "PORSCHE".
There is something terribly, terribly "off" when a turbo 924 sells for 1/4th the price of a same vintage, mega mass produced VW Beetle.

The benefit to Porsche (and Porsche Clubs) to time to time featuring one of their historic greats or high volume selling models is to broaden the base and the perception of how diverse the potential Porsche customer (and membership) field is.
Lastly, it is the 944, 928, 911, 924 and early 911 owners who most tinker with, modify and develop that wonderful love-hate intimacy with their cars and are the true Porsche loyalists - who, therefore, have the most easily hurt feelings if neglected.
If they can not get their old Porsche to run for some little gremlin problem - and this then reduces the value of their Porsche to next to nothing - they will not buy another Porshe the rest of their lives. In there somewhere, a three Boxster and one Carrera buyer was lost, and another company paying Porsche a trademark for for Porsche logo trinkets goes out of business. The car ultimately is dismantled. PCA lost another member...
Ego is at the core of all costly and exotic car sales and nearly every car project. It takes little to feed that ego that also is then a loyalty.

If I RAN either the PCA or any Porsche publication, I would have a page each month dedicated to each model series such as 924, 914, 944, 928, 356 etc, featuring in each the "car of the month" and at least 3 thumbnail photos of 3 more (only for PCA members cars of course), with a couple paragraphs of something wonderful of that series and a tiny print list of half a dozen typical maintenance, fix up and upgrade tips - with advertising slots on the opposing page for parts suppliers, dealerships, repair shops etc.
I would run mini-series or restorations and modification projects. I would do smaller mini updates on some project for each series - and, of course, include earlier vintage 911s definitely in this as well.
This would still leave the bulk of space to new Porsche lines, racing and events news etc. and advertisers in likely much thicker magazines to many more advertisers.

I can not image any Porsche material doing anything but declaring every model Porsche was record breaking, absolutely fabulous, cutting edge, truly unique, completely loveable, wonderful, collectable and a truly car worth having and keeping for which the owner of such model is a vastly important, obviously smart person by such ownership - or am I just wacko?

"It is easiest to be most hurt by who we most love" sort of thing.

Every lower income buyer of outdated or cheap Porsches strives to be wealthy to buy a GT1 or Carrera twin turbo. They envision their car running right along side the GT1 and people marveling at their car in parking lots. Unless they are slighted by Porsche people. Or they dump their own Porsche because they can not solve a $5 electrical fix or afford paying a Porsche dealer $2,500 to do it for them. Left in the cold, feeling belittled even by Porsche people, do they really become indifferent and bitter towards the car, or towards Porsche as in "Porsche is nothing but a pain to own"?

Few other auto publications do this. The late 70s and early 80s pony cars (Firebird, Camero, Mustang...) were absolute junk. No power. Ugly. Fell apart. Worthless junk. Yet not if you read a magazine for Chevy or Ford. They feature these cars. They feature entire restorations to full customization. They will take a boneyard 1984 standard Camero and feature turning it into a show car - or so they declare the end result to be. To a Chevy mag, every Camero was fantastic and still is.
To most Porsche materials, the 928 is an outdated model that was "a bit on the heavy side." End of story. What happened to "fastest production car in the United States?" Where is a photo of the incredible spider intake that has been polished?

As for "there are far more 911 and Boxster owners out there" comments, is that REALLY true? Or are there REALLY more 914, 924, 944, 928 and 968 owners out there - with no particular reason to involve as there is little involvement with them. How many of those models are still out there in the USA? Hundreds of thousands. Look at production numbers. Most have not yet been scrapped - but they are now being scrapped at an increasing rate. Value, of course, is entirely in the mind. Old Porsche are junk or endeared collectables - such as WE define them to be.
The worthless 924? The 924 was a study in agility. Lightweight. 50/50 balance. Low. Sleek. Economical fuel consumption. 125 miles per hour - stock. Can't get $1,000 for a turbo version.

For your comment, yes, that is my goal and this writing on and on is just feeling it out, getting comments so I "get the facts straight" and to make it more focused, less angry at Porsche/PCA, and - certainly - shorter and more to the point. I have wanted to do this for some time. Why?
The 928 really (not just pretend) was defining and decisive in Porsche history and in how people define what a Porsche is today, was a design break through (at least collectively) for the era and remains a truly thundering, potent, modern capable high speed GT few product cars can match to this day.
Old 07-26-2005, 09:25 PM
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