The Porsche 924 is 50

[inconsistant]

*Everyone’s favourite Porsche, the 924 was launched 50 years ago in November 1975. 
 

Let’s celebrate by having a roll call of all the 924s on here, as well as 924s owned in the past and your 924 related stories please!

 

Here’s mine, owned for 5 years. It’s a 1981 X reg 2 litre.

 

[Snipes]

[Spottedlaurel]

My 924 story has a slightly unexpected outcome. Back in the mid '80s my stepdad bought this mushroom-coloured example:

 

He must have had it until at least 1987/88, as I remember having a drive of it when I was still learning. Not entirely sure if L-plates were fitted, oops.....

I remember being squeezed into the back when we hit something like a loose cats eye on the recently completed A12 Chelmsford bypass. Made a fair bang and dented the floor under his seat runner.

He claimed it was 10mph slower with the lights up on a local straight 'private test road', at 110mph vs. 120mph.

At some point he and my my mum wanted just one car, so they got rid of the 924 and her Mini Mayfair in favour of a Sierra XR4x4. I then saw the Porsche a few years later just outside Ipswich, still mushroom as far as I recall.

Back in 2011 @greengartside saw it for sale on eBay, by which time it was black. Since then it's undergone a slight change of appearance:

https://www.historics.co.uk/auction/lot/lot-235---1982-custom-anniversary/?lot=16839

Still listed by DVLA as a 1982 Porsche with a 1984cc engine, but now with a 5.7-lite Chevy V8.

[petermcpete]

[Rusty_Rocket]

My old crock.

 

Has the maddest Pasha trim you'll ever see and twin Weber 40s.  Neither are particularly pleasant.  I bought the car 'as is' on ebay a few years back, so can't take credit for the work.  It requires constant attention really, way more so than my 1975 BL Mini, but is now useable.  Was a non-runner when it first arrived.

I have zero history for it, but do know it has spent most of it's life off the road (hence the carb conversion...)

Everyone thinks it's Guards Red.  Sadly not, it's Venus Red, a colour that was dropped after only a couple of years! (and the same shade as found on early Audi UR Quattros).

[Dobloseven]

Drove past my regular MOT place last week and noticed the one belonging to the owner that has languished in a corner of the forecourt, waiting to be"done up",for as long as I can remember,has moved closer to the garage.He's got a bay tucked away,where he does his own stuff,so here's hoping....... Perhaps the anniversary has spurred him on.Looking forward to seeing what he does with it.

[Lacquer Peel]

I loved the driving position and handling balance of @dome's old one, even though it was a bit weathered. 

Perversely I'd like to fit an actual van engine to one, the 2.4 straight six diesel from a VW LT

[5speedracer]

11 hours ago, Spottedlaurel said:

My 924 story has a slightly unexpected outcome. Back in the mid '80s my stepdad bought this mushroom-coloured example:

 

He must have had it until at least 1987/88, as I remember having a drive of it when I was still learning. Not entirely sure if L-plates were fitted, oops.....

I remember being squeezed into the back when we hit something like a loose cats eye on the recently completed A12 Chelmsford bypass. Made a fair bang and dented the floor under his seat runner.

He claimed it was 10mph slower with the lights up on a local straight 'private test road', at 110mph vs. 120mph.

At some point he and my my mum wanted just one car, so they got rid of the 924 and her Mini Mayfair in favour of a Sierra XR4x4. I then saw the Porsche a few years later just outside Ipswich, still mushroom as far as I recall.

Back in 2011 @greengartside saw it for sale on eBay, by which time it was black. Since then it's undergone a slight change of appearance:

https://www.historics.co.uk/auction/lot/lot-235---1982-custom-anniversary/?lot=16839

Still listed by DVLA as a 1982 Porsche with a 1984cc engine, but now with a 5.7-lite Chevy V8.

Quite honestly and genuinely WTF!

[Spottedlaurel]

4 hours ago, 5speedracer said:

Quite honestly and genuinely WTF!

Indeed, seems like an unusual starting point. Is it a kit, the work of someone with a fevered imagination, or merely something happening to use the ID of the 924?

[Peter C]

Back in the early 1990s, when I was about 19 and lived in west London, I had a Guards Red 924.

Good old days.

[dome]

12 hours ago, Lacquer Peel said:

I loved the driving position and handling balance of @dome's old one, even though it was a bit weathered. 

Perversely I'd like to fit an actual van engine to one, the 2.4 straight six diesel from a VW LT

Yeah mine needed a set of shocks and probably some other bits to get the best out of it. 

The bar was set pretty high for me, I've had 2 early 944s, both square dash models with no power steering and they were some of the sweetest handling things I've ever driven. And no K-Jet🫣

I wanted to love the 924 but never bonded with it. 

[Lacquer Peel]

1 minute ago, dome said:

Yeah mine needed a set of shocks and probably some other bits to get the best out of it. 

The bar was set pretty high for me, I've had 2 early 944s, both square dash models with no power steering and they were some of the sweetest handling things I've ever driven. And no K-Jet🫣

I wanted to love the 924 but never bonded with it. 

A diesel would remove the burden of K-Jet. The people faffing around with K-Jet systems must be masochists. 🫢

[rml2345]

K-Jet is fine when it's working...

[barefoot]

It works perfectly on my 944. A seemingly forgotten car these days that when new answered all criticism of the 924. It'll be interesting to see if anyone can be arsed to enthuse about it when it too is 50.

[rob88h]

…[Copy Paste from my thread]
 

Harrison’s History - #15 Porsche 924S D443 VKJ

Towards the end of 2011 I did a load of Man Maths, sold the R5, and bought myself a Porsche 924S. I’d intended to get the 2.0L for cost reasons, but things escalated and I ended up with a 924S with a stupid insurance bill. It was in pretty good nick and I didn’t have much work to do on the car (until the point where I had too much…). It was great to drive and I started making up trip ideas just as an excuse to get out in it, including touring the suburbs with my brother in his TR6 and my now ritual biennial Land’s End to John O’Groats tour. It was on the latter when disaster struck.

My friend and I had been intending to visit all the cardinal points of mainland UK on our long-way-round return North for Christmas. We’d got out to Lowestoft ok (furthest East) and we made it all the way up to the “Welcome to Scotland” sign on the A1 by the first evening. We’d stopped for a photograph of the sign and upon re-starting up the bastard cambelt slipped and all kinds of piston to valve hell occurred. The RAC man who turned out at 11pm on Christmas eve’s eve confirmed “It’s totally f***ing f***ed mate, big time”. Somewhat annoying because for the first time ever before buying a car I’d asked some basic questions like “when was the cambelt done?”, rather than just turning up and paying full price like I normally do. Long story short, the RAC put us in a hotel overnight and the next day a recovery man took the Porsche back to Gainsborough (my mum’s – I felt bad getting the recovery guy to drive to Essex and back from the Scottish boarder on Christmas eve! Also, nothing say’s “I’m home for Christmas” like “Can I leave a knacked car on your drive indefinitely”). The cambelt hadn’t actually snapped, but the tensioner had collapsed and the cam timing had jumped to collaterally retarded. Eventually I sold the car to a 924 specialist who was intending to engine swap or brake for parts for only £300 less than I bought it for. I chalked this one up to experience.

[Alusilber]

Still got mine, still got an ever-increasing to-do list…

[N Dentressangle]

30 minutes ago, Alusilber said:

Still got mine, still got an ever-increasing to-do list…

That white looks superb

[stuboy]

the 924 is a very smart looking car

[dome]

10 hours ago, barefoot said:

It works perfectly on my 944. A seemingly forgotten car these days that when new answered all criticism of the 924. It'll be interesting to see if anyone can be arsed to enthuse about it when it too is 50.

I definitely will, I loved all 3 that I've had. 2 square dashes and an S2. The S2 was a completely different animal. An amazing car. Definitely more grown up and capable then the early ones but more fun? Hmm🤔

I'd love to try an early 924, no spoiler, single mirror😍

What model is your 944? I didn't think any had K-Jet.

[barefoot]

It's an '87 944S. Is it L jet?

[ProgRocker]

50 years on and the 924 has aged very well.

[EyesWeldedShut]

This was ours my wife's. Came off eBay around 2003 - ran it for 3 or 4 years as her commutahcar. Dash badly cracked, seats falling apart and interior plastics very brittle. Never did manage to get the sunroof drains to fully drain so always parked it on a slope.
Quite a nice thing - would have another but they're not as cheap as they were - so we she now has a twenty year younger SLK.

[dome]

On 26/11/2025 at 22:19, barefoot said:

It's an '87 944S. Is it L jet?

I think all 944s use Mo(t)ronic. Well advanced for its time. 

[barefoot]

2 hours ago, dome said:

I think all 944s use Mo(t)ronic. Well advanced for its time. 

I stand corrected, according to wiki the 944S has; 

'Performance figures included 0-100 km/h (62 mph) being achieved in 6.5 seconds (Best) and a 232 km/h (144 mph) top speed due to a 1,296 kg (2,857 lb) curb weight. It also featured an improved programmed Bosch Digital Motronic 2.1 Computer/DME with dual knock sensors for improved fuel performance for the higher 10.9:1 compression ratio cylinder head'.