Seventies V8s In Two Flavors: 1976 Chrysler Newport vs 1978 Porsche 928

Good morning! Today we have another pair of cars with the most gossamer-thin connections between them: Both of today’s choices have V8 engines, and hail from the 1970s. Apart from that, they have very little in common. But why let that stop us from comparing them?

Yesterday’s front-wheel-drive European coupes were more evenly matched than I expected. In the end, the Italian drop-top won the day, though I expected it to win by more. Like me, a lot of you really would like to know exactly why it isn’t drivable. But I think, when it comes to Italian cars, the fact that it isn’t rusty is more important. Mechanical parts just bolt on; rust repair will drive you insane long before it drains your bank account dry.

Personally, I’d have a really hard time choosing. I’ve always wanted an Italian car, but a Lancia Beta would not be my first choice, or second. (Maybe fourth or fifth.) And the Quantum hatchback isn’t the same as my beloved Scirocco, or the Dasher that my family used to have, but it looks kind of similar if you squint. In the end, Ziggy would probably say there’s about a fifty-four percent likelihood that I’d take the Quantum leap.

Now then: Today is one of those days I expect to be a complete blowout, but we’ll see what happens. Without further ado, I present to you two very different ways of putting eight pistons in two banks ninety degrees apart.

1976 Chrysler Newport – $2,450

Engine/drivetrain: 400 cubic inch overhead valve V8, three-speed automatic, RWD

Location: Eugene, OR

Odometer reading: 74,000 miles

Operational status: Runs and drives, but needs electrical/steering column work

I did a double-take when I saw this car. One of the most uncomfortable car rides of my life happened in the supremely soft and welcoming interior of a Newport (or maybe New Yorker?) almost exactly like this. I went to Thanksgiving dinner with a girlfriend in college, and her dad and I did not get along. I can’t even remember what I said or did, but he was not happy about his daughter dating the likes of me. But he wasn’t about to come across as petty or unwelcoming, so we went to dinner anyway, all piling into his white two-door Chrysler, driving through a Minnesota snowstorm at precisely 55 miles per hour in complete silence. Good times.

But she ended up breaking my heart anyway, so to hell with what her dad thought. Let’s check out this car. What we have here is the last of the really big Chryslers, before they were downsized in 1979. It is smaller than the model that preceded it, in much the same way that a jackhammer is quieter than a Mötley Crüe concert. It’s still a massive, heavy car. To power such a beast, you need displacement, four hundred cubic inches of it, to be exact. Whatever faults Chrysler may have had in the ’70s, the big-block B engine was not one of them. Nor was the A-727 Torqueflite transmission behind it. This one is in fine operating condition, and breathes through a custom true dual exhaust.

Behind the wheel, things aren’t so rosy. The seat upholstery is toast, and the wiring under the dash “has been butchered,” according to the seller. The windshield wipers are inoperative, and the ignition switch is wired to a good old toggle-switch-and-push-button arrangement. The column-mounted gearshift is also damaged; the seller says the detents are gone and it’s hard to figure out what gear it’s in.  Whether these issues are connected to the car’s salvage title they don’t say, but it does sound a bit like a recovered theft.

But it’s big, it’s badass, it’s cheap, it’s rust-free, and you can drive it home, if you can find Drive. They don’t make ’em like this anymore, which is probably a good thing, but I am glad there are still a few around.

1978 Porsche 928 – $4,500

Engine/drivetrain: 4.5 liter overhead cam V8, five-speed manual, RWD

Location: Silver City, NM

Odometer reading: listed as 12345, so probably unknown

Operational status: Runs and drives great

I love finding cars in places they don’t “belong.” In the comments of a recent “Autopian Asks” post, I mentioned seeing a newish Ram pickup street-parked in Paris, just a few blocks from the Louvre. It’s a vehicle that’s as common as dandelions here, but seeing it in that setting made it remarkable. Likewise, a bright red Porsche 928 wouldn’t even raise an eyebrow in the circular driveway outside Caesar’s Palace (or wouldn’t have in the ’80s), but it’s not the sort of car you expect to see someone driving around in the desert. (But then neither is a DeTomaso Mangusta, I suppose.) And yet here it is, outside of the tiny town of Silver City, New Mexico.

And if the seller is to be believed, it runs beautifully. It has had recent work on the fuel system, and wears new tires. The seller claims to have driven it back and forth to California “many times.” By all accounts, the 928 is a wonderful highway car, and the idea of blasting across large swaths of the Southwest in one does hold some appeal for sure. Even better, this one has a proper five-speed manual gearbox instead of the automatic so many American ones were stuck with.

The desert sun has had its way with the clearcoat, and I’m willing to bet that the dash top is a mass of cracks under that carpet cover, but it still has that 928 presence. These weren’t desirable Porsches for a long time, but pretty much anything with a Porsche badge on it is worth something these days. This car seems like a really good deal, considering the market.

It also includes quite a few extra 928 parts, including an engine and a transaxle, fenders, doors, and another set of those “phone-dial” wheels. As expensive as this typical “Porsche Tax” tends to be on parts, any extras thrown in with a car are a welcome sight.

So that’s what we’ve got for today: American king-sized personal luxury versus state-of-the-art-in-its-day German grand touring. Two different ways of making use of the melodious pulse and relentless torque of a V8 engine. Which one do you prefer?

(Image credits: Craigslist sellers)