924 Turbo (Series 1) 1980
Car Details
Porsche introduced the 924 turbo in the 1979 model year, and the 924 became a high performance car. There were many modifications from the standard 924. These included ventilated discs all round, 170 hp engine, with the inlet / exhaust manifolds turned round, the "pasha" interior with green instruments and 5 stud wheels, including the multi-spoke wheels pictured below. This Mk1 or series 1 model continued for just two years before being supplanted by the series two version. This had higher compression ratio, up from 7.5 to 8.5:1, but lower boost in an effort to reduce turbo lag. Power increased to 177HP, at least in UK/European spec. US cars had considerably less power, with just 140 hp
The car above was bought just before Christmas with a smoky engine, but the body and shell were otherwise in good condition. I ordered the parts necessary for a head and piston ring rebuild, and spent the time between Christmas and new year rebuilding the engine. My original intention was to run the car for a few months and then move it on, having made a little money on the way. Then I drove the car. I was pleasantly surprised with the car, roadholding was as good as I expected it to be, but the performance from the car on boost was not far short of my Carrera 3, and the way it was delivered with a big kick in the back, just too enjoyable, so I decided to keep it. One previous owner, probably in the mid 80's had decided to have an aftermarket glass sunroof fitted. It wasn't pretty, and whistled louder that a football ref, so I decided to make the car original again. I could have simply had the hole filled, but I decided that I would prefer to have a genuine factory fit sunroof added. This was completed during 2000 and can be seen in the picture above.
