Good morning! Today we’re taking a look at a couple of German coupes from the “greed-is-good” decade. Originally junior-exec-level yuppie rides, these two have weathered the years more or less intact, and are now considered – gulp – classics.
Yesterday, we looked at a couple of rides from a less prosperous, but somehow friendlier, decade: the 1970s. I sort of guessed that the Pinto wagon was going to be a hard sell, especially against a Volvo 242, but I thought the vote would be a little closer than that. Oh well. Count yourselves lucky, though – I almost put in a non-running Vega wagon instead of the Volvo. Maybe I should have. This was too easy of a choice for most of you.
Me, I’d rather have the Pinto. I don’t mind those Volvos, but I absolutely despise rust-through. I’ve seen corrosion take too many good cars, and I know I’m no good at mitigating it. Besides, I’ve always kind of wanted to tear an engine all the way down and rebuild it, and a Pinto four-banger seems like a safe choice. If I screw it up, nobody will care but me.
Throughout the 1980s, one country’s cars signified that the owner had “made it” (or inherited it) more than any other: German cars. You could see it reflected in pop culture: Think Jake in Sixteen Candles, Maddie Hayes in Moonlighting (yes, it was actually her car, if you remember right), Jennifer Hart, or Ferris Bueller’s dad. If you wanted something to look really special or fancy, you went for a Ferrari or a Rolls-Royce, but a well-to-do character’s “normal” car always seemed to be German.
Those old ’80s German cars did seem to be pretty good, certainly built better than German cars of a couple decades later, but for a long time, nobody wanted them. Now, with the Gen X nostalgia machine running at a frenetic pace, those former status symbols are getting desirable again, and creeping up in price. But man, are they tired these days. Let’s check out a couple of them.
1986 Audi Coupe GT – $4,500
Engine/drivetrain: 2.2 liter overhead cam inline 5, five-speed manual, FWD
Location: Walnut Creek, CA
Odometer reading: 331,000 miles
Operational status: Runs and drives, passed smog
Audi was on a roll in the 1980s, before 60 Minutes and their hit piece torpedoed sales. The Quattro was winning rally races left and right, the redesigned 100 (5000 here in the US) set the style for the next decade of large sedans, and sales were strong. But one car you didn’t see very often, even back then, was the Coupe GT. It shares a bodystyle with the legendary ur-Quattro, but lacks the turbocharged engine and all-wheel-drive of the rally legend.
What it does have is Audi’s legendary five-cylinder engine, positioned longitudunally at the very front of the car and driving the front wheels through a five-speed manual. It’s not a ton of power, but it was on par with the smaller offerings from BMW and Mercedes, and that five-cylinder exhaust note has always been something special, even with the stock exhaust. This one has been making music for more than 300,000 miles, though it has been rebuilt at some point. The seller doesn’t offer a lot of information about its condition; I get the feeling they’re flipping it and don’t know much.
The interior is showing its age, that’s for sure. The seats are toast, the stereo and speakers are missing, and for some reason it has a Quattro dashboard. Of all the parts to swap over from a Quattro, why the dash? It’s not beyond saving, and it might look better after a good cleaning.
On the outside, the stars of the show are those amazing period-correct Ronal Turbo wheels. It has a full set, including a fifth in the trunk for the spare. Aside from those, however, it’s a bit faded and beat-up. Not terrible, but not the prettiest thing on the road. I kind of want to go look at this car just to see the other cars parked on the seller’s property: I see a couple other classic Audis, an El Camino, and a first-generation Acura NSX. Who is this guy?
1987 Porsche 924S – $3,700
Engine/drivetrain: 2.5 liter overhead cam inline 4, five-speed manual, RWD
Location: Oregon City, OR
Odometer reading: 143,000 miles
Operational status: Runs and drives, but tires are very old
Have you ever wanted to be looked down upon by an entire group of owners? Do you like paying a premium for parts, for a car with only okay performance? Does it sound like fun to ignore all of that bullshit and just enjoy a good-looking classic sports car with really great handling? Have I got the car for you! The Porsche 924S, baby brother to the slightly-more-respected 944, is based on the old 924 from the ’70s, but with a de-tuned version of the 944’s 2.5 liter engine in place of the old VW-derived 2 liter.
Canted over to the right side of the car like the Audi’s engine, the 924S engine drives the rear wheels through a rear-mounted five-speed manual transaxle. Moving the gearbox to the rear is a time-honored trick to improve a car’s balance; it’s one of the keys to the 924’s good handling. This Porsche runs and drives all right; it has been mostly parked for many years, but it has been started and driven once in a while to keep the juices flowing. The tires, however, are 12 years old, which puts them in “Maypop” territory, so the seller suggests trailering it straight to a tire shop. Good advice, I think.
Inside is where it needs the most work. There’s no carpet, it’s dirty, and the top of the dash has so many cracks it looks like someone attacked it with an axe. Carpet kits are available, as are dashboard caps, so it’s not a lost cause. It’s another one of those cars you could drive while you tinker with it.
The headlights are shown in the “up” position, and it sounds like that’s because one of them won’t go down. A new motor is included, though. There are a couple of dents, and it could use a good polish, but it’s clean and rust-free, and it has those great Porsche “phone dial” wheels.
These cars aren’t going to impress anyone these days except car nerds, but really, does anyone’s opinion matter besides car nerds? They’re both fun to drive, they’re both rare these days, and neither one is a lost cause. So what’ll it be – the de-tuned rally god, or the slightly-watered-down Porsche?
(Image credits: sellers)
Porsche for me. Less mileage, seems to need less work and is more cool.
The 87 924s is, or could be, slightly quicker than the 944. This concerns the improved aerodynamics that were retained without the 944 bulges. Legend has it that Porsche changed the 5th gear ratio to slow down the 924s as it was not acceptable to be quicker than the 944. The 924s suspension is also taken from the Turbo 944 (951) and is more robust than the plain jane suspension. Kevin Rhodes wrote that these cars (924 and 944) are a nightmare to wrench on as everything is shoehorned in. They truly are. Give me a mid-engined Boxster any day to work on over the 944.
How can you choose anything other than the Porsche for the price? It carries more weight.
I owned an ’87 924S. Lovely clean car with only 60K miles on it when I bought it. Had a PPI done on it and everything. And it was, far and away, THE most expensive used car to attempt to sort out I have ever owned – and I failed at that, and ended up losing my shirt selling it on. Everything broke, everything leaked. The oil cooler failed, and then the head gasket blew. The clutch disintegrated (stupid rubber center clutch). It wasn’t supposed to be a project, but it very rapidly turned into one. They are UTTERLY hateful to work on. That narrow body was simply not designed to hold the physically MUCH bigger Porsche 2.5L motor that was installed with a shoehorn, and didn’t have the changes that Porsche made when they created the 944, so many things are a struggle. Doing anything around the clutch or gearbox is a nightmare. The timing belt service technically needs a VERY expensive Porsche tool to set the tension properly. The parts that are shared with Rabbits and Beetles are almost free, but anything you need to get in a Porsche box (of which there is MUCH) will teach you in short order that the “Porsche Tax” is as real as a heart attack.
Lovely car to drive when they are working right, but the juice isn’t worth the squeeze. Not that I want a 330K mile Audi either – yikes.
By Crom, the tensioning tool has gotten expensive! I thought they were expensive when they were $600 or so…
Anybody prepared to pay 4.5k for that Audi wants locking up. Anyone CHARGING 4.5k for that Audi wants firing directly into the sun. Fucking hell. What is wrong with people?!?!
I had a pair of first generation Audi 5000 back in the late 1980s. You never ever see those nowadays, I’m wondering if Audi bought them all back, cause they weren’t that great. OK to drive but had a serious rust problem, at least for me.
And, the 60 minute sudden acceleration thing….
I wish they could suddenly accelerate
I bought my first one because I desperately wanted a Quatro coupe but could not in any way shape or form afford that, so this was the next best thing. Then I wrecked the first one, and stupidly bought a second one.
That was the second gen “Aero” 5000, not the first gen.
The first gens were just horribly unreliable and somewhat rust prone. And they sold very few of them to start with, a very long time ago now.
I did not have the Aero version. I liked the square ish one much better. But rust
The Aero 5000/100 was fully galvanized – they don’t rust much. Everything else fails on them though. I had a friend with an ’89 that I used to help wrench on as he was mechanically helpless. Absolutely horrible. My favorite thing – the electric cooling fan circuit was *unfused*. So when the fans got old and started drawing too much power, the whole harness melted down and let the magic smoke out. That was fun to fix… Also the only company that could manage to make a 100% bought in from General Motors air-con system unreliable. Even the HVAC control panel was right out of the GM C-platform cars.
I like the square ones too – a friend in high school had a 5000S Turbodiesel inherited from Dad as his first car. Very cool! When it ran anyway, LOL. The transmission grenaded on that one.
I’m only choosing the Porsche because it’s slightly less ready for the scrap heap.
Two definite projects with German parts to source? NOPE.
Definitely the Porsche…I like those a lot better plus it has the pop up lights. I still kinda like the Audi too
TBH I love both of them. That said, the 924 is a steal. Get a carpet kit, do the timing belt and balance shaft belt, make sure the torque tube bearings are good and enjoy that sucker. It’ll be sorted for $5k, less if you do your own work.
I have a white 87 924s and its easily the best classic I’ve ever owned. At this point, people are just so excited to see one actually driving that they aren’t throwing shade– it’s a proper porsche. I get a ton of enthusiasm from people everytime I drive mine, and non-car people just see a cool old porsche at this point.
In college there was a professor living in the apartment above me and my roommate who was engaging, audibly, in uh, let’s say discouraged practices with a TA and maybe a student or two. He drove a red 924, so I always thought of those as douche mobiles, but that Audi’s interior looks pretty rough.
I had a coworker with a really nicely taken care of 944 Turbo, and yeah, I “slightly respected” it more.
Last time I saw wheels like those on the 924 were on a 928, if memory serves.
I never once had a college professor, or teacher, would even be remotely qualified for on approved activities
Always wanted the 924 in red, figure it wouldn’t break the bank to have that done along with the dent repairs, right?