Chipman & Taylor: Porsche 928s

Here's the first installment of the cars I found at the Chipman & Taylor car show. Although this 928 may not represent the majority of cars at the show, that is far from my goal in covering this show. The Porsche 928 is one of my all time favorites, not only is it, or was it, a revolutionary car for its time but moreover the revolutionary car of the time.

The 928 is one of those cars that, like the Karmann Ghia or the first gen BMW M3 has timeless styling. It looked good back in the eighties, it looks great now and it will still look good fifteen years from now.

As I was shooting this car at the show I heard someone compliment the owner on his nice "new" Porsche, and I quote (hence the finely placed quotation marks). In response the owner said something along the lines of heh yeah 1981 like new alabaster...

I'm not sure if he really said alabaster but is sure sounded like it. Anyways that goes to show how modern these cars are, and how ahead of their time they were. They were the the fastest production car in 1987, able to reach speeds of 184 miles per hour. Very fast for 1987, and today for that matter. Something that Jeremy Clarkson appreciated very much in one instance.

These cars are something more than just another Porsche, they are the new age of Porsche we are seeing right now, the Panemera is a front engined rear wheel drive, albeit four door Porsche, just like the 928, Porsche knew what it was doing with its cars before it knew what it was going to do with its cars in the future, and this car is one of the best examples I have seen to date.

 The owner made sure to point out the original miles on the odometer, which I found astounding, considering this is a gt car made for extensive long trips. Also he pointed out the comedy of how Porsche fitted a speedometer that read only 85 miles per hour considering the top speed is double that. I believe this is the same cluster that was used in the 924, a much slower and more fitting car for this speedometer.

It's as if Porsche was trying to build something that resembled the slow 924 for the insurance companies and concerned mothers, but then stuff a 300hp V8 and an LSD for when the owner needed a rush or had an emergency much like Jeremy Clarkson in the above link.

These cars, were made to be an escape for the white collar, something they could take out looking like they were driving something tame and boring but really be driving a monster in a sheepskin, these cars changed the way people looked at the Porsche. It was so civilized and refined it changed the way people looked at there cars in general, from modes of transportation to something with a soul.

I personally find the first generation cars to be pretty ugly but the facelift in the mid/late eighties makes all the difference for me, but if I hadn't seen the face lifted version of the car I would still like this car very much. Here is another commercial for you to enjoy, these are some of the commercials that sold me on the car initially.

Joshua Sewell

Instagram: josh_sewell_photo