One to Buy: 36,000km Midnight Blue Metallic 1992 Porsche 928 GTS
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Fourteen-and-a-half years after Porsche gave the 928 its world debut, the final iteration of this legendary Grand Tourer was unveiled.
The 928 had originally been conceived as a high end replacement for the 911 which, by the early 1980s, was expected to fall foul of tightening safety and emissions legislation. Switching to a conventional front-engined water-cooled model would safeguard against such an outcome and hopefully broaden the firm’s appeal. In a similar vein, Porsche introduced a four cylinder front-engined entry level model (the 924) which would sell alongside.
Ultimately, the 911 was never killed off as Peter Schutz, appointed Porsche CEO in 1981, saw its development as key to the firm’s ongoing success. This was evidenced as 928 sales declined throughout the 1980s even though Porsche continued to improve it with expensively engineered upgrades every few years.
By the early 1990s, the writing was on the wall for the 928 and Porsche knew that the 1992 model year would mark the introduction of the final major upgrade. Dubbed the 928 GTS, it was arguably the best incarnation yet.
Equipped with an enlarged and heavily upgraded engine, the 928 GTS also received enhanced running gear and some subtle cosmetic tweaks to fresh its appearance. However, less than 3000 were made during four years of production, one of which was this car, chassis WP0ZZZ92ZNS800507, which will be going under the hammer at Bonhams’ Goodwood Members’ Meeting sale on April 7th.
A first year GTS originally delivered to Japan, chassis ‘800507’ was configured in Midnight Blue Metallic with Linen upholstery, an automatic transmission, a sunroof and the fender extensions commonly found on Japanese market 928s from the GTS era. As a right-hand drive 1992 model year GTS, the car came without a driver’s airbag (not fitted to right hookers until the 1993 model year).
Exported to the UK in 2015, chassis ‘800507’ heads to auction with 36,000km on the clock. It is accompanied by its original book pack and looks to be in excellent condition throughout.
