Porsche 942
The Porsche 928 is a sports car -. GT four-seater coupe, introduced in 1977 and marketed by Porsche AG of Germany from 1978-1995 Originally intended to replace the Porsche 911, the company icon. 928 attempted to combine the power, balance and driving a sports car with the refinement, comfort and equipment of a luxury sedan to create what some Porsche executives thought would be a more attractive vehicle with the compact, quirky and sometimes difficult 911. Due to its high level of luxury equipment and power, came into competition with the range of Jaguar XJR and Mercedes-Benz SL-Class. Over time, the 928 was the model of the Porsche manufacturing more expensive.
The 928 design was very modern when it was introduced in 1977 and consolidated as timeless. Except for minor modifications, was built almost unchanged until 1995 Its characteristic features are visible but folded round headlights and very rounded behind.; recalls the shape of sharks. It was European Car of the Year in 1978. It’s the only Porsche and also the only sports of any manufacturer that has received this award.
It is one of several house models with front engine Porsche. The Porsche 924, 944, 968, 928, coupes; Porsche Cayenne or Panamera and four are coupes (924, 944, 968 and 928). Latter is the only riding a V8 standard engine.
Porsche is the first mass-produced V8 engine. This engine was a remarkable change in the company, accustomed to the famous 6-cylinder boxer engine of the 911.
During 1983 the 928S was the fastest car sold in North America, with a top speed of 235km/h. In 1986 it was the fastest production car in the world, having set a speed record of 277km/h in the salt flats of Utah (United States); and was advertised with the slogan, “The faster you can move without having to hire a flight attendant” and “The fastest way to get around without having to eat flymat”.
There were a total of 61,056 Porsches 928, of which 2,831 were GTS model. From 1992 GTS 928 S4 variant was marketed. The 928 were marketed successfully, especially in the U.S. market, for which it had been conceived in the first place, and enjoyed amazing longevity.
In the late 1960s, Porsche AG had changed significantly as a company, and executives including owner Ferdinand Porsche were pondering the idea of ​​adding a luxury touring production. The Manager Ernst Fuhrmann, Director Ferdinand also pressed for approval of the development of a new model, on the evidence and concern that 911, the flagship of the brand at the time, was quickly reaching its maximum potential and may soon no longer be improved. The sinking of the 911 sales that seemed to confirm the end of their model cycle of economic life was approaching. Fuhrmann conceived the new top model as the best possible combination of a sports coupe and a luxury sedan, something well equipped and comfortable enough to be easily driven over long distances that had the power, balance and manageability needed to be used as sports car. This is unlike the 911, which was a pure sports car.
Ordered by Ferry Porsche to come up with a concept viable production of the new model, Fuhrmann initiated a design study in 1971, defining the process the final specs for the 928. Several transmission designs were considered during early development, including design with rear and mid-engine, but most were dismissed because of technical and/or legislative difficulties. Having the engine, transmission, converter catalytic (one or more) and exhaust crammed into the small rear engine bay made emission controls and toughest noise problems they already faced with Porsche 911 and wanted to avoid. After deciding that the mid-engine design would not provide sufficient space in the passenger compartment, was elected transaxle design with water cooled front engine and rear wheel drive. He also had the advantage of an optimal distribution of pesos.
In this election Porsche also may have feared that the U.S. government will soon prohibit the sale of cars with engine in the rear, in response to consumer concern over safety problems with the Chevrolet Corvair and its rear engine. The issue of security Corvair was detailed in the book Unsafe at Any Speed ​​by consumer advocate Ralph Nader.
Porsche engineers wanted a large-displacement engine to power the 928, and prototype units were built with 5 liter V8 producing around 300hp (220 kW). Ferdinand Porsche wanted to use in this car’s 4.6-liter V10 with 88 mm in diameter, measures five-cylinder engine from Audi. This five-cylinder engine derived from the Volkswagen Golf EA827 basically a four-cylinder with another added. Several members of the Porsche board objected; its official objection was because they wanted to maintain some separation between Porsche AG and Volkswagen. Covert reason might be that your car would not star were powered by a variant of the humble VW Golf engines. Interestingly, this same proposed engine, albeit with greater displacement, was built over time and was installed in a production sports cars, the Lamborghini Gallardo. To this day, no Porsche has ever used an engine EA827 based. Until 2011 a version of VW VR6 engine in the Cayenne was used, but this engine is not related to the EA827 design.
The first two prototypes running M28 V8 engine used a carburetor four bodies, but this was only for the initial testing. The cars were sold with the planned fuel injection system K-Jetronic. The oil crisis of the 1970s led to rising prices and fuel shortages, and in turn the concern in the business, the ability to use smaller engines after fuel was raised. A boost to the development of the technical specifications of 3.3 liter 180hp (130 kW) was given, but the company’s engineers was opposed to this possibility. Both sides finally decided on an engine 8 cylinder V 90 ° aluminum, 4.5-liter, 16-valve SOHC, 240hp (180 kW) (219hp (163 kW) in North America), who considered had an acceptable compromise of performance and fuel economy. Belt drive and trees cams. Double disc clutch, five-speed box connected to the motor through a high speed shaft. An automatic 4-speed gearbox was also prepared.
It took a great effort by the technical development of the chassis. One result of the efforts of Porsche in Weissach Development Centers was the design of the rear axle and was known as Weissach axle. Later in motorsport showed its limitations.
It was distinguished by its all-new chassis, the aluminum engine eight-cylinder V, mounted in the nose, different body parts in aluminum, doors, wings and bonnet, plus many unusual practical details in a car 240 HP (176 kW), normally simpler. Examples include electric wiper system pump or availability, as extra, air conditioning for cooling in summer, not only passengers but Chocolate also the glove, as pointed out by promotional leaflet. Another striking feature spherical retractable headlights were integrated into the bodywork or raised for use.
Great new sports car Porsche was presented in the magazine Christophorus in March 1977. Y was presented over the Motor Show 1977 Geneva before going on sale the same year as the model 1978. Though that soon won acclaim for its comfort and power, sales were slow. Base prices were much higher than the previous top-end 911 and the design of front engine water cooled 928, did not like to many Porsche purists.
Distribution began in the fall of 1977 and can boast of many awards in his career. Readers of the magazine Sports Stuttgarter Autozeitschrift elected Car of the Year and the British Motor Show in Birmingham, received a gold medal from the British Institute of Travel & Tourism awarded by manufacturers, evaluating the design variables, quality and comfort all sports cars. The biggest success was the choice Car of the Year Europe 1978 by an international jury of journalists, ahead of the BMW 7 Series and the Ford Granada.
Fuhrmann’s replacement, Peter Schutz, decided that the 911 and 928 should remain together in the market, arguing that the 911 still had potential in the production of the company. Legislation against rear motor vehicles also failed to materialize. Although the 928 has generated a group of avid followers, never sold in the numbers Fuhrmann had originally planned and production was discontinued in 1995.
In motor racing, the 928 was only used by private teams in the VLN – races at the Nurburgring.
The 928 V8 engine mounted on a water-cooled front layout and available gearbox on the rear axle with drive to the rear wheels. It was originally a 4.5 liter cilindraba designed with a single overhead camshaft per cylinder head and 237hp (176 kW/240 PS) and 219hp (163 kW/222 PS) in the version for North America. Porsche updated fuel injection engine electronics mechanics models although U.S. in 1980 remained power thereof. This design marked a major change in direction for Porsche (started with the introduction of the Porsche 924 in 1976), whose cars had until then used only boxer engine 4 or 6 cylinders installed in the rear and air cooled.
Porsche design and mount a new propulsion system called “transaxle” (field of rigid transmission with rear axle) in the 928 to help achieve optimal weight distribution front/rear in a 50/50. Although heavier than the unwieldy 911, balance weight, more neutral and more power gave similar performance on the track. The 928 was considered the softest car to drive at the time. Ae manufactured with changes a manual five-speed automatic transmission or derived from Mercedes-Benz, originally with three speeds and four speed from 1983 in North and 1,984 in other Latin markets. More than 80% of the production was the automatic transmission. The exact percentage of cars with manual gearbox from the factory is not known, but it was between 15 and 20%.
The chassis, designed by Wolfgang Möbius under the direction of Tony Laphine was mainly made of galvanized steel, but the doors, front fenders (wings), and the hood were aluminum in order to make the car lighter.. He had a major trunk area accessible through a large tailgate. The new polyurethane bumpers were integrated into the nose and behind and coated with paint body color, one unusual feature for the time, which contributed to the car a strong visual impact and reduced the drag coefficient. Porsche opted not to offer a convertible variant but some aftermarket modifiers offered convertible conversions.
The 928 qualified as a 2 +2, has two small seats in the rear. The two rear seats can be folded down to enlarge the luggage area, and both front seats and rear sunshades possessed occupants. The front seats have legroom as a front wheel drive car because the rear transmission, though the rear seats are small due to the prominent hump gearbox and only are suitable for children or adults in a short trip. The 928 was also the first vehicle in which the instrument is moved along with the adjustment of the steering wheel in order to maintain maximum visibility of watches.
The 928 includes other important innovations like the exclusive “Weissach axle” which alters the convergence of the rear wheels under heavy load by tilting the wheel into the axis of rotation and reducing the risk of skidding, or engine block made of aluminum a silicon alloy cylinders in machining which reduces weight and provides high durability and wear resistance at the same (although subsequent machining difficulties if failures).
The design and development efforts paid off Porsche for Election to the European Car of the Year 1978 where the 928 was chosen ahead of the BMW 7 Series and the Ford Granada.
The 928 is the only sports car so far to have won this competition, where winners are often primarily hatchbacks and sedans of the leading European manufacturers.
This is a test of how advanced the 928 was compared to its contemporaries.
The Porsche 942 was a special edition of 928 submitted by the company as a gift to Ferry Porsche on his 75th birthday in 1984. Also known by name 928-4, 928S. Had additional 254 mm wheelbase than the normal 928 production model, including an extended roof over the rear seats to better accommodate tall passengers, headlights very advanced technology, the motor 5 liter 32 valves before introduced to the U.S. market and the front and rear of the S4 model two years before going into production.
Three years later, in 1987, the 928 extended 25 cm to 4.77 meters, which had been presented to the company’s founder in its 75th birthday, was presented as a “Feasibility Study”. In 1984 the car passenger access had been resolved with two normal doors. In the new study the vertical pillar was deleted and the second pair of doors open in opposite directions. The new doors, narrower leaf apparently opened in the same way that The Mazda RX-8 in the early 2000. “H50 study” at the time he disappeared, leaving few traces. Two decades later, with the launch of the Porsche Panamera, and larger four-door prototype 928 four-door 1987 became more important.
An extra car was a manual with data comparisons between special and standard version. Weight was increased in all four doors with 75kg. The turning radius was extended to 12.5 meters. Porsche also increased the rear track by 25 mm to 1,564 mm, while the front track width was the same. The designer of the four-door was Anatole Lapine.
Porsche since 1986, with the company car preparation produced some 928 special AMG gauges more. Unlike the 942, they had the usual optical illumination at 928. One of them was presented to the founder of American Sunroof Corporation (ASC) and CEO Heinz Prechter. ASC was later partly responsible of making Porsche 944 S2 cabriolets.
Porsche Racing Department never officially entered or prepared the 928 in competition or officially. Only once he decided to clear the 928 genes racing. Prepared Porsche which would be called 928GTR to compete against the then dominant 911 (993GTR) on the track. In order to present the 928 without offending the sensibilities of their traditional customers 911/993GTR, Porsche was ceded to the private race team Max Moritz Racing, customer associated with Porsche for a long time and based in Reutlingen, to get him into the Cup as a semi-official car.
It was no surprise that the chosen drivers were: Bernd Mayländer, Manuel Reuter (Porsche Pilot tester) and Harm Lagaay (then head of the Porsche Design Studio). Vittorio Strosek sponsored Max Moritz with its ultralight components and sport exhaust. The car was officially entered by Porsche-Club-Schwaben. The approved minimum weight and had to be done was 1,370kg (3,000 lb).
Lagaai reported that the car was very competitive and able to hold off most 993GTR, although the engine was just set, after being chosen from a sample set of high-performance engines in Weissach. In the last race of the season at Hockenheim ran with dry crankshaft. As the car also supposed to run in 1995, was prepared to continue their success in the competition in the 1995 season. A new engine was set, selected from the same batch of high-performance engines tuned as before. In 1995 the production of the Porsche 928 came to an end, and the car therefore did not run in the new season.
The late Max Moritz kept at 928 in his collection of historic cars. It was put into service again until after his death, when the family sold the car in October 2004 – with only 24,500km on the counter (Porsche Weissach is the only documented owner).
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