While unfairly considered the red-headed stepchild of Porsche’s sports car line, today’s Nice Price or No Dice 924 sports both a turbo and the desirable M471 package. Let’s see what we can unpack regarding its price.
It’s true that the Ford Motor Company did create several automotive categories, including the pickup truck and pony car. It did not, however, introduce the world to the idea of a hot hatch. That task was left to the Anglo-French company Simca, which saw to it with the debut of the 1100Ti in 1973. The only small hatchback Ford offered that year was the Pinto, and there’s never been anything hot about a Pinto save for the occasional rear-end collision.
Flash forward four decades, however, and Ford proved not only all-in on hot hatches with ST versions of the Fiesta and Focus but also went all-out with its last-to-date heavy hitter, the Focus RS. We looked at a 2017 Ford Focus RS yesterday, and while it did represent the highest achievement in Ford’s hot hatch curriculum vitae, our RS was also heavy on mileage and a bit out of time. A $20,991 price tag was low for the model, reflective of those high miles, but that couldn’t muster much love in the comments or in the voting. Ultimately, the fast Ford lost focus in an 80% No Dice loss.
Losing out to the Scirocco
Porsche and Volkswagen have always had a “friends with benefits” relationship. In the early 1970s, both companies sought to replace cars in their lineups with new models and combined efforts in the endeavors. VW looked to give its long-in-the-tooth Karmann Ghia the heave-ho, and Porsche wanted to move beyond the 914 as its entry-level model. Being more flush, Volkswagen commissioned two competing projects for its new sporty car. One, denoted EA 398, went to Karmann, builder of the Ghia mentioned above. The other went to Porsche, receiving the code EA 425.
Long story short, Karmann and the EA 398 won out, which resulted in the Giugiaro-designed and Karmann-built Golf-based Scirocco. Seeking to smooth things over with Porsche, VW gave that company the opportunity to buy back the EA 425’s design and offered to supply engines and a factory in which to build the model. That evolved into the 924, which replaced the stop-gap 912E, which in turn had succeeded the 914. As Volkswagen footed the bill for much of the 924’s design and engineering work, Porsche was able to release the 924 at the same time as the in-house 928, thus giving the company two new front-engined, water-cooled models to vex the marque’s inflexible loyalists.
Too pretty to be a Porsche
With its front-engine and rear-mounted gearbox connected by a torque tube, the 924 debuted as one of the best-balanced cars Porsche had ever produced. That wasn’t enough for the naysayers, though, many of whom decried the model for its humble origins, lack of an air-cooled engine, or the sphincter-tightening snap oversteer that a rear-engined sports car could engender.
The Harm Lagaay-led styling was also derided as not being sufficiently aggressive for a sports car carrying the Porsche crest, considered by some to be “too pretty” for the marque. The model also took a step backward by initially offering drum brakes in the back when four-wheel discs clamped all other Porsche models of the day.
Many of the concerns about the 924 would be addressed with the wide-body 944 in 1982, but the performance qualms were erased in 1978 with the introduction of the 924 Turbo. Featuring a massaged suspension and bigger wheels, tires, and brakes, the KK&K (boy, has an ampersand ever been more important?) turbocharged 924 proved able to run with the 911. Body changes included the addition of four air intakes between the pop-up headlamps in the nose and, as befitting any Porsche with a turbocharged engine, a rubber ducky spoiler in the back.
Limited edition
This 1980 924 Turbo piles on those goodies with Martini Racing stripes and the rare and desirable M471 performance package. That includes a slightly wider track, up-rated sway bars plus revised Koni shocks, along with 928-style five-lug flat Fuchs. Behind those are 911 rotors and 928 calipers for stopping prowess.
This is all brought to bear by the 143-horsepower 2.0-liter turbocharged four and managed via the five-speed transaxle in the back. The pictures underhood and underneath show that some cleanup and possible oil leak hunting is needed on the 37,400-mile car, but the ad claims it to run without issue and to benefit from a recent fuel system rebuild.
It’s also pretty clean both inside and out, and is said to be rust-free having lived its life in the Hamptons. Fancy! The wheels show no sign of curbing and both the flashback Martini stripes and the Porsche decals look to be in great shape. The cabin comes across as a bit tired, with some of the stitching on the driver’s seat giving up the ghost. It’s otherwise clean and neat, with an old-school radio and a laudably crack-free dash.
A Porsche for pennies?
According to the seller, this clean-title car has had two owners and touts it to be “an addictive, trouble free classic and EVERYTHING works!” The asking price is $13,000, and that’s a cash-only deal so magic bean offerers need not apply. While long derided and put-down for various, mostly unfair reasons, the 924 has today gained a loyal following and cars like this Turbo with its M471 enhancements make that coterie of support make sense.
What do we think about this classic Porsche and that $13,000 price tag? Does that make it a compelling deal to be in the Porsche parade? Or, for that kind of money, is this 924 Turbo still not welcome at the table?
You decide!
North New Jersey, Craigslist, or go here if the ad disappears.
H/T to Glemon for the hookup!
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