Up-To-Date Maintenance: 1987 Porsche 924S 5-Speed
GuysWithRides.com is proud to offer this three-owner, 139K original mile, meticulously-maintained, 1987 Porsche 924S in an online reserve price style auction on behalf of the private seller.
Bidding opened Wednesday, June 1st, 2022, and continues for 14 consecutive days through Wednesday, June 15, 2022, at 7:00 PM EST.
This 1987 Porsche 924S currently resides as part of a collection in Morristown, New Jersey which is less than one hour’s drive from Newark International Airport.
(Note: To inspect all of the pictures provided, click on either the white space or the photograph below to enlarge it and then click on the gray “<” and “>” icons to navigate through all of the other stills in this carousel.) The entire picture gallery can be accessed at the bottom of this listing.
The 924 was originally a joint project of Volkswagen and Porsche created to market and sell sports cars. For Volkswagen, it was intended to be that company’s flagship coupé sports car and was dubbed “Project 425” during its development. For Porsche, it was to be its entry-level sports car replacing the 914. At the time, Volkswagen lacked a significant internal research and design division for developing sports cars; further, Porsche had been doing the bulk of the company’s development work anyway, per a deal that went back to the 1940s. In keeping with this history, Porsche was contracted to develop a new sporting vehicle with the caveat that this vehicle must work with an existing VW/Audi inline-four engine. Porsche chose a rear-wheel-drive layout and a rear-mounted transaxle for the design to help provide 48/52 front/rear weight distribution; this slight rear weight bias aided both traction and brake balance.
The 924 made its public debut in November 1975. While praised for its styling and balanced handling, critics panned the underpowered, Audi-derived inline-4 combined with a four-speed manual transaxle. Much of the criticisms were addressed when Porsche launched the 924-derived “Wide Body” 944 in 1982. With the true Porsche 944 now available, the 924 continued as the brand’s entry-level car.
In 1984, VW decided to stop manufacturing the engine blocks used in the 2.0 L 924, leaving Porsche with the decision to equip the narrower-bodied 924 with a slightly detuned version of the 944’s 163 bhp 2.5-Liter inline-four. With a lower compression ratio to accommodate regular-grade fuel, the 2.5L rated in this example provides 147 horsepower and 14o lb.-ft of torque to the rear wheels through a 5-speed manual transaxle. Porsche also decided to re-introduce the 924 to the American market with an initial price tag of under $20,000.
Of all the Porsche 924 variants, the 924S is widely regarded as the most desirable non-turbo model. Unfortunately, there is a lot of varying and incorrect information posted on the Internet about this entry-level powerplant supplied in the 944S, so the seller provided a copy of what is listed in his 924S’ owner’s manual to put any debate to rest.
Bob, the third and current caretaker of this Guards Red survivor 1987 Porsche 924S, purchased the car in 2005 with 90,000 miles. A long-time Porsche Club of America (“PCA”) member, Bob uses and enjoys his 924S in a variety of club events ranging from Concours judging to Auto Cross to “DE” at no fewer than fifteen of the most prestigious tracks across the U.S. The pinnacle of his enjoyment of his 924S was preparing and driving the car cross-country to compete in the Bonneville Salt Flats with his brother in September 2018. Not only did the car perform flawlessly on the cross-country trip to Bonneville and back, but Bob is also proud of how the car performed in its class.
The beauty of owning a Porsche is their ability to be driven enthusiastically in such events reliably when properly maintained. Not only does this 924S have complete service records dating back to the original owner, but Bob relies on the professional services of Will DiGiovanni at Precision Motorsport Racing (“PMR”) in Long Valley, NJ to maintain the car. Underhood pictures of the car show Will’s attention to detail as he dates everything when it’s replaced.
This is a well-prepared & maintained DE/AX car that can be confidently driven cross-country if needed. It’s a wonderful connection to an analog past, unhindered by computer driving aids, and a full greenhouse/interior without sunroof-resulting lowered headliner.
Based upon our personal inspection of the car during its photography, we rate this 1987 Porsche 924 S a Condition 2.5.
Mechanical upgrades on this 1987 Porsche 924S include the following:
- Turbo model front and rear stabilizer bars
- Koni adjustable shocks
- Sachs steel spring clutch kit installed in July 2009 at 106K miles
- Dansk stainless-steel muffler and exhausts system
- Hella Headlights
- One set of 15-inch “Phone Dial” style wheels shod with Vredestein Quatrac All-Season tires (currently mounted on car)
- Also included as part of the sale is a set of 16-inch powder coated “Turbo Flat” style wheels equipped with Continental Extreme Contact summer-only tires that are shown in the picture below:
- A complete rebuild of the rear caliper and emergency brake system costing $2K:
- A fresh Safe-Lite windshield
- A new Interstate battery was installed in September.
Interior enhancements include the following:
- A Sony CD radio feeding amplified speakers
- Sun visors autographed by Racing Greats Hurley Haywood & David Donohue
- A DE-compliant Halcyon fire extinguisher.
While well-sorted and well-maintained, Bob is transparent about why his 1987 Porsche 924S flaws:
- As is common in these cars, the driver- and passenger-side lower front rocker panels have rust damage that should be repaired. It is important to note the rust is limited to the rocker panel surface and doesn’t affect structural integrity.
- While all of the components are in place, Bob reports the factory air conditioning system is not functional.
- The original paint retains its original gloss however on close inspection you will find chips and dents commensurate with a 34-year-car that’s traveled 139,000 miles.
While we have included a complimentary CarFax®, as is typical with cars built prior to 1999 the information can be spotty. Luckily, this 924S is a well-documented example with a notebook filled with all receipts dating back to the first owner.
(Click on the picture below to review the full CarFax®)
To help you make informed bids, we’re providing a link to Classic.com, the analytics and search engine for the Classic Car market, that provides an interactive graph of recent comparable sales in the past two years. By clicking on the green dots, you can navigate to each comparable car sold as a way to help you make an educated bid on the car we are featuring for auction here:
If you have any questions about this 1987 Porsche 924S, please leave a comment below or feel free to call Rudy directly at 877-468-6497. Thank you for looking and happy bidding!
The 1987 924S had a 143 horsepower 2.5 liter engine, the exact same spec as the base 944 for that model year. The 924S was actually quicker and faster in a straight line due to its lower frontal area and weight.
Hi CJ I hope all is well. Thank you for the heads up on the engine size and power rating. Unfortunately, there is a lot of varying and incorrect information on the Internet about the output of this engine. The seller provided us a copy of the car’s owner’s manual indicating the power output to be 147 horsepower. We’ve corrected the “Deets” table above and provided a copy of the owner’s manual page the seller cites above.
Hi, what kind of stepping stones are tete if bidding from Ontario, Canada near Toronto?
How could it be delivered, driven up, or what?
Hi David, before bidding, we recommend you contact Border Buddy (https://borderbuddy.com/) at (855) 275-1100 to get an understanding of what’s involved and the costs of importing a U.S. vehicle into Canada.
Our apologies, we just realized there was an issue with the time on this auction as it was set up just before the change to daylight savings time. We just opened it back up until 8:30pm Eastern time. After that, we will move the car to our “Rides Still Available” page.