Car Catcher: A Porsche 928 Once Owned by the Factory

That plaid interior is hella rad.

The engines never seemed to wear out - all the other stuff that enclosed it needed servicing, but the engine seemed to be bulletproof. A friend owned a specialist garage and had one of the V8s out on the show room floor. I asked him if it was a rebuilt core for replacing in a car ad he told me that they had never had a 928 that needed a rebuild; it was just there as a conversation piece.

The only thing I didn't like about them were the  headlight. Always put me in mind of Moorish Idol goldfish with eyes displaced toward the top of their heads.  I've had a few cars that had flip up headlights 0 Fiero, Lamborghini Islero etc. and they have a much cleaner front look withthe headlights down.

If the Bugeyed Sprite had had pop ups, they would have looked like a Miata, but it was a base model and besides the English probably didn't have a foolproof mechanism for flipping them up and down.  I recall an Opel GT that you had to flip the headlights up (going side to side, oddly) with a mechanical linkage that always screwed up leaving you with no lights or one up looking like you were winking at night.

My other quibble was with the fact that although it was intended to be a grand touring car, the ones that had the manual transmission were much more exciting than the autos.  Having driven both, I'd now be tempted t buy one only if it had the 5  speed.

Interesting that they made everyone else buy an automatic but kept a standard for themselves.

slowbird said:

That plaid interior is hella rad.

Totally. 

Plaid was an 'in' thing for awhile, but it can ake life difficult for restorers 20 years later when the original patterns are unavailable.

They are still doing it - see https://gearpatrol.com/2018/05/03/volvo-v60-plaid-seats/  Although that particular plaid seems to be the McBland tartan.

That article is correct in saying that leather seats are hot in a convertible in summer - and if regularly treated to preserve them, also slippery. Had to nail the brakes hard once in my Jensen Interceptor convertible and nearly slid into the footwell!

I love these early cars.  I know the late S, S4 etc cars are the ones that get all the attention, but these early cars just look so much better to me.  The engines may last if properly looked after, but it's everything attached to them, especially the nightmare HVAC that scares me.