Porsche 928 S4 Automatic

Click Here for Full Screen Image - Click Here to Download Image

Launched in 1978, the Porsche 928 was aimed squarely at the international jet set and still fuels your cataloguer’s fantasies of storming across Europe with a bootful of dodgy diamonds and a sultry French model in the passenger seat.

Looking positively futuristic even today, the 928 was initially fitted with a front-mounted 4.5-litre all-alloy V8 driving the rear wheels via a three-speed automatic transaxle for perfect 50:50 weight distribution. With 240bhp on tap, it could scorch to 60 in under 7 seconds on its way to a top speed of 143mph.

The radically simple teardrop body shape was mainly galvanised steel but with weight-saving aluminium doors, front wings and bonnet and polyurethane bumpers. Other innovations included a Weissach axle that passively steered the rear wheels in throttle-off cornering for greater road-holding.

It was so well received that it won the 1978 European Car of the Year Award, the only sports car ever to have won this award which usually goes to more humdrum saloons. It is also the car design that McLaren F1 designer Gordon Murray once said that he admired above all others.

As time went on the 928 grew ever more powerful and the S4 version that came out in 1987 had a 5-litre V8 that produced 316bhp, cutting the 0-60 dash to 5.6 seconds and raising the top speed to 168mph. The styling was also subtly updated with smoother nose and tail treatments that gave the car an even cleaner, sleeker look.

This left-hand drive 1991 S4 had just one German owner from new until 2005 and has been in the current family ownership for 10 years. It has covered some 169,000km (105,000 miles) with an excellent service history, many of the last 67,000km being clocked up on regular trips from the family home in Scandinavia to a second home in the UK where it was recently registered H961 EGU.

The car looks stunning in special order Amethyst purple metallic with a matching Amethyst interior with the expensive optional extended handstitched leather pack. To maximise the sleek lines, it was also ordered without the standard side mouldings and with a body-coloured rear spoiler.

The inside is fully loaded with 8-way electrically adjustable heated memory seats; electric heated mirrors; power windows and sunroof; 10 speaker sound system; cruise control; rear sun visors; aircon and digital trip computer with all pixels fully functional. It sits on 17” Cup 2 alloys with good tyres all round and also benefits from a stainless steel sports exhaust with rear muffler delete; PCD diff lock/traction control; Cobra alarm system; full original tool kit; new compressor; spare wheel and first aid kit.

It was last serviced shortly before the auction with new rear upper control arms, temperature sensor, bonnet struts and battery. Other recent work includes a new cam belt and water pump in 2014 at 163,000km; air-con upgrade and overhaul; replacement oil cooler; power steering reservoir and fluid replacement.

The vendor states that “The car performs very strongly, being smooth and powerful with huge torque well suited to its 4-speed automatic transmission and a fantastic V8 sound-track from the stainless sports exhaust. It is a real rocket ship that can seat four and carry luggage too. It is very clean underneath with no surface rust and original undamaged undertrays, while the under-bonnet appearance is exceptional.”

It comes with its original handbooks (in both German and English); a workshop manual; the original Porsche touch-up kit; full Scandinavian MOT history; extensive service history; all keys; UK MOT valid until October 2016 with no advisories recorded.

These 928s really are quite amazing machines and look like no other car before or since with inspired styling that will never go out of date. Considering that it was Porsche’s flagship model for almost two decades, with all the engineering integrity and supercar performance that this implies, it is quite absurd that you can still pick them up for such modest sums today. Compared to air-cooled 911s they offer astonishing value for money, a situation that will not last much longer as prices have already begun to rise sharply. Another one to buy now before the whole world cottons on…