Porsche 928 GTS

chassis number: 92ZNS800531
engine number: 85N00608
gearbox number: 3002134
original colour: Midnight Blue with Classic Grey leather interior
delivery date: 8th April 1992
options: M650 Electric sliding sunroof

the ultimate version of the 928 in excellent original condition
rare manual gearbox
56,468 kilometres (35,087 miles) from new
Midnight Blue with Classic Grey leather interior
original and unmodified

When Porsche first introduced the 928 in 1978, it was a radical change from the company’s traditional evolutionary design principles. Arguably Porsche’s first ever clean sheet design, a big, front-engined, V8 GT car was about as big a change from the 911 as they could have made.

The 928 remained in production for 17 years and evolved from its initial 4.5 litre 240 bhp specification to the ultimate iteration seen here with 5.4 litres, 350 bhp, quad cams and 32 valves. The 928 GTS was the last version and 2,876 were produced between 1992 and 1995. Only 667 had manual gearboxes.

For the first two years of its life the car was owned by the supplying official Porsche Centre before being sold in July 1994 with around 3,000 kilometres on the clock. It was regularly used during the next four years and serviced annually at the official Porsche Centre in Modena. By May 1999 it had covered 40,400 kilometres. It appears to have been little used over the next several years before being sold to Mr. Massimiliano Tintori, the President of the Scuderia Ferrari Club of Parma. The service book records him having the car serviced at 45,100 kilometres in 2007. He subsequently sold the car via a dealer to its fourth owner in Belgium in 2015 with less than two thousand kilometres added. In 2016 it was sold to the present owner at Bonhams’ auction in Chantilly with 47,000 kms then on the odometer. The current owner has registered and kept the car in the UK and used it sparingly while visiting from his home in South America

Our thoughts

The 928 is in many ways quite unlike most other Porsches of its era. A large, heavy and powerful car it seems to have little in common with the 911. However that would be to ignore the quality of the engineering that Porsche put into this pioneering design. When the 928 was launched to great acclaim in 1978, one journalist summed it up by saying: “It’s as if all other Porsches have just been practice exercises for the men who designed this car.” His peers agreed and so far it is the only Porsche, and the only sports car, to win the European Car of the Year award.

The 1992 GTS version was an appropriate swan song. The 928 was thoroughly mechanically revised and with some cosmetic improvements was as pretty as it had ever looked. It sported a 172 mph top speed (and 5 second 0 – 60 time) and was just about the quickest way from A to B on a long Continental journey.

This GTS is in beautifully preserved and original condition. Lightly used and well maintained, it retains the exceptional build quality that Porsche used to produce before economics forced them into compromise. To drive, it feels just as you would hope: powerful, solid and effortless. It really is a Teutonic muscle car.

Beautiful, fast, safe and versatile. Just a great way to travel long distances with style. Perhaps the ultimate way to get to historic race events in 2020?