Porsche 924

The Porsche 924 was one of Porsche's most successful models. Which is ironic, seeing it began life as a Volkswagen.

In the early 1970s, Porsche was approached by VW to produce a cheap, fast and easy to produce sports coupe. Porsche set about this task with gusto, and quickly formed the basis of a brief-completing coupe. It would be powered by VW's LT van engine, feature equipment from VW's Rabbit and be on the market by the mid-1970s. However, VW lost confidence in the project midway through, withdrew its funds, and the stillborn coupe was left without a manufacturer.

Porsche, a company gently growing its own model line after being in production for less than a decade, jumped at the opportunity to produce such a car, and bought the rights to the project from VW. However, before the vehicle was to be released to a critical public, certain changes must be made. Porsche CoD, Harm Lagaay, was contracted with modifying the exterior design, a submitted a contemporary two-box, cockpit-backward coupe, with a dominant rear glasshouse. The interior was also tweaked by the stylists - the seat and dash design changed significantly, and better quality plastics and materials were used. One change that could not be made was the choice of powerplant - the project was too far gone to make the switch of engine, from the VW engine to a Porsche engine, economically viable.

The Porsche 924 was released to a stunned public in 1975, and went on sale in Europe from this date. Americans saw the car early 1976, but the car featured only 97BHP - much too little for a Porsche. Sales reflected this - a disappointing 5200 cars were sold in 1976. Something had to be done.

During 1977, Porsche revamped the 924. A right-hand drive version was developed, for sale in crucial markets such as the UK and Australia, and a few more BHP was eeked out to reach that magical 100BHP figure in the USA version. The colour options were changed, new fabrics offered inside, complimented by a new alloy wheel design. The changes worked. By the New Year bells of 1978, a massive 23000 new 924s had rolled off the Neckarslum production line. The 924 reached critical acclaim in major US and UK magazines, praised for its neutal balance, poised steering and sweet gearchange.

But Porsche didn't have it all its own way. By 1981, the 924 was fending off attack from more powerful and cheaper Japanese competiton, especially in the USA. A special edition, named the 'Weissach' was released, featuring special paint and many options as standard. The sales dam had been broken, though, and by 1982 the 924 was missing from the USA sales line-up, replaced by the 944. In other markets, the standard 924 continued until early 1985, before throwing in the towel and conceding defeat to the Japanese powerboxes, such as the Mazda RX-7 and Datsun Z-Cars.

The 924 bounced back fighting in mid-1985, badged 924 S, and featuring upgrades such as an all-new, all-Porsche 2.5L four-cylinder, a whole new set of colours and options, a new 'Telephone Dial' alloy wheel design and 150BHP (purposely detuned from the 944's 180BHP, to keep a noticeable performance difference between the two models). For the first time ever, all markets were supplied with identical power outputs, much to the joy of buyers, who lapped up the cars throughout 1985 and 1986. However, the spartan equipment levels (a passenger door mirror was an option), compromised design (right-hand drive cars had window-wipers set for left-hand drive cars) and the mounting challenge from the even more powerful and talented Japanese cars, sales in 1987 collapsed. A last gasp attempt to secure some sales resulted in the 'Le-Mans' special edition, given the full compliment of BHP, along with special paintwork and interior fabrics, but it failed to stop the landslide, and by 1988, the 924 S was part of Porsche's history.

Summary of Models:

1975-1985 - Porsche 924 Coupe (2.0 litre, four cylinder, naturally aspirated.) 1985-1988 - Porsche 924 S Coupe (2.5 litre, four cylinder, naturally aspirated.) 1979-1983 - Porsche 924 Turbo Coupe (2.0 litre, four cylinder, single turbocharger developing 170BHP.) 1980 - Porsche 924 Carrera GT Coupe (2.0 litre, four cylinder, turbocharged developing 320BHP.) 1980 - Porsche 924 Carrera GTS Coupe (2.0 litre, four cylinder, turbocharged developing 375BHP.)

Special Editions:

1977 - 'Martini' - Porsche 924 Coupe with white paint, Martini stripes, bright orange interior cloth, white alloys. 1979 - 'Sebring '79' - Porsche 924 Coupe with Guards Red paint, Sebring decals, tartan interior, black alloys. 1980 - 'Le Mans' - Porsche 924 Coupe with Grand Prix White paint, Le Mans stripes, black and white Pinstripe interior, Turbo alloys. 1981 - 'Weissach' - Porsche 924 Coupe with Pewter Metallic paint, two-tone tweed interior, air conditioning, electric windows, electric mirrors. 1979 - 'Turbo USA' - Porsche 924 Turbo with Dolomite Grey paint, tartan interior. 600 produced. 1983 - 'Turbo Italia' - Porsche 924 Turbo with Zermatt Silver paint, Porsche Logo interior in either burgandy or grey. 88 produced in total. 1988 - 'Le Mans' - Porsche 924 S Coupe with either Black or White paint, 'Pinstripe Flanned' 911 Turbo seats, Turquoise or Gold decals and stripes with coordinated wheel inlays. 1000 made.