The design is genius. So pure and integrated. Perhaps this was a case of casting pearls before swine.

@petrolheadclassics

24 күн бұрын

I fully agree, that the design is awesome. The 928 was really ahead of its time and therefore it still looks contemporary today in my view. Not always easy to be the pioneer.

I believe why the 928 didn’t take over from the 911 is because it didn’t have the 911’s racing heritage, plus the price was so high, that the 911 Turbo was in range. Also it seemed too ‘American’ for a German car. Designed by American Tony Lapine.

@johnmcdermott5505

26 күн бұрын

I have always felt the reason was Porsche owners had been drinking the koolaid for 20+ years that an air cooled engine in the back of the car was engineering superiority compared to lesser vehicles and then when Porsche starts with a clean sheet of paper they give the market a front engined water cooled V8. It went against everything their diehard supporters had come to believe as truth and they likely felt like Porsche had given them the bird.

@petrolheadclassics

24 күн бұрын

I agree, that the high price surely didn’t help sales and it remained an expensive car compared to many competitors throughout its long lifespan. And it was so different to the 911. I’ve never seen it as a competitor, but rather a sensible compliment to the 911 and a way to broaden the customer base. Beauty is in eye of the beholder. I personally love the design, yet it’s not for everyone. The exterior of car was actually designed by Wolfgang Möbius, naturally under the watchful eye of Tony Lapine, who was actually Latvian by birth, although he worked for the American car industry before coming to Porsche. Thanks so much for watching and commenting!

@petrolheadclassics

24 күн бұрын

That actually sounds like a great summary! Diehard Porsche enthusiasts can be a difficult bunch to please and perhaps it was simply too much of a departure from everything they knew. However, the 928 really moved the game forward and how many cars from the Seventies look contemporary today? Thanks for watching and commenting!

Porsche started designing this car in 1971. Then shelved development when the oil crisis started. Then picked up development again in 1975 alongside the 924 development. It was far from “out of nowhere”. Porsche feared they weren’t going to be able to sell the 911 in the US into the future, because of increasing safety and emissions regulations. The 928 was specifically designed with the US market in mind

@petrolheadclassics

Ай бұрын

Thank you for watching and commenting! I mention more about the history towards the end of the video. Among other things, that development started in 1971, that the internal code was ‘911 H’ as a potential 911 successor and, that Porsche considered a much bigger V8 before the oil crisis hit etc. I think it was incredibly brave of Porsche to sign off this forward-thinking design in 1973! ’Out of nowhere’ was from the perspective of a customer in 1977, having considered competitors such as Mercedes and Jaguar 😉 So it’s not with reference to the car’s development. Anyway, seems we’re both big fans of the 928. Happy weekend!

@928pcar

Ай бұрын

@@petrolheadclassics you’re one of the few that actually know what happened. I enjoyed the video

@chesswizard31

Ай бұрын

Thank God Europe and elsewhere didn’t get the crappy US engines.

@petrolheadclassics

Ай бұрын

@@chesswizard31 Thank you for watching and commenting. The first series cars had the same engine both in Europe and the US. The differences were, that NA cars had catalytic converter with O2 sensor as well as EGR. These measures reduced power slightly from 237 to 219 hp. I don't really sense much of a difference due to the torque of the engine. A bigger difference occured in 1980, when the bigger 4,7l engine was launched for the 'S' model ROW, while US kept the smaller powerplant until 1983. What is your experience of driving EU versus US? Would be interesting to know.