I saw my first 928 in 1979. I thought it was the most beautiful thing I had ever seen. After 22 years of lust, I finally decided to buy one in August, 2001.

Shopping with a $10K budget, and with strict requirements that the car be a 5-speed and not red, I had a tough time. I found a few locally - one which was maroon/maroon (yech), on which was silver/black - but needed a head gasket (run! run like the wind!) and then one day I found a black '83 S on the Rennlist classifieds. Chicago was her home, and the description said that the car had been "pampered all its life". Asking price - $8,900.00, which in my opinion was reasonable for a car with "flawless paint" and "interior with no rips or cracks".

I flew to Chicago on August 17, 2001, after several conversations with the very nice prior owner (PO). When she rolled out of the garage, I could see that the paint was indeed flawless, although the front spoiler hung at an odd angle (broken center mounts). The interior was in good shape (saddle leather) but the no rips thing...well, true, except for the 1" gouge in the back of the driver's seat. Oh, and the original carpet had faded to an ugly disco orange. Oh, and as a kicker, he had removed the cat and replaced it with a straight pipe, thoughtfully plumbed for the O2 sensor.

I pulled out my handy-dandy 928 buyer's checklist (located here) and went to work. Cruise doesn't work, only the defrost w/hot air works, speedo sticks, driver window doesn't go down or up, passenger mirror doesn't adjust, headlights didn't retract (PO noted that the relay was bad), 1 and 2 gear synchros a little rough, power steering leak (apparently from the resivour), massive stereo wired by a truly sick individual (who also destroyed the gearshift surround on installation), and a "bang" on brake application from the front left wheel area.

Uh oh. The dollar signs started spinning, and I kept a running tally of the cost of repairs by a dealer/mechanic. PS didn't look bad, and the "bang" was from a missing sway-bar bushing. No problem, but lots of work to be done.

I bought the car at a substantial discount. Am I insane? Probably, but this stuff all is stuff I'd heard about and knew how to fix, thanks to Rennlist and the various 928 owners who have tips websites. (This page is up as a thank you to those people and a contribution to those who come after)

Drove back to Minneapolis without incident. Began to feel the 928 magic at every gas station, where I encountered two previous 928 owners at one truck stop. They touched the car with a very strange tenderness - I felt like I had made a good decision.

Until about a week into ownership. Let's break this down by part.

Window and mirrors. Easy as hell. Disconnected wires in the driver's door panel. Time of repair: 5 sec. Time to figure out, remove and replace door panels: 1hr.

Cruise and defrost/HVAC problems: heater control valve, $29.00 at German Auto Works in Minneapolis. Install time: 20 min.

Headlight retraction: Checked all wiring to the motor; ok. Reversing the wires dropped the lights down. Removed relay, opened and refreshed the solder joints inside. No more problems.

1 and 2 gear synchros: The cruelest thing you can do to a car is to store it! She was just cranky from underuse. They have loosened up substantially. I will soon replace the gear oil with Redline and get a new clutch master cylinder (see Devek's web page for the cause of the synchro failures).

Stereo: oh, here we go. I decided to start from ground zero with a complete remove & replace. I removed over 100' of cable, connecting 10 speakers, 1 subwoofer, two amps, a cd changer, head unit, and equalizer. Seems a bit excessive, no? Rewired the entire thing in one marathon 16 hour session, which included a refresher into resistor use (no crossovers between the mid and hi speakers, only in-line resistors (12 to be exact). Stereo rocks; new Eclipse head unit. Also got a crash course into interior panel and carpet removal.

Power steering leak: ...wasn't from the tank. This is MY FAULT for not looking closely enough. It was the f'n RACK that was leaking. How did I find this out? The rack boots exploded all over I-35W on my way home from work, leaving me power steering-less. No big deal on the highway, but for 15 blocks of city streets it was hell. I got a rebuilt one from 928 International w/tie rod ends and bushings, and replaced it myself over the course of 3 dirty, oily, hot, bus-riding days. My definition of hell - buying your dream car and riding the bus for 3 days while it sits there, helpless.

The mystery bang from the front: Oh yeah, the sway bar bushing was missing. So, apparently was my brain. I missed the missing bolt - not a real important one, only one of the two BOLTS HOLDING THE LOWER CONTROL ARM TO THE CAR! I declared myself an idiot, and took the car to Mike Holman at Holman Automotive, who did some miscelaneous welding, rethreading, and massaging, plus an alignment. PO mentioned in later e-mail that he had run over "an oil filter" at speed, and he must have hit the world's largest oil filter, because you could track the damage from the filter all the way under the car. Total bill from Mike (I provided the parts)...a very reasonable $150.00.

I am now in full mechanic mode, and have also replaced all vacuum lines, cleaned all electrical contacts, gotten the oil pressure sender to work, fixed the sticking speedo, adjusted the idle and air/fuel ratio, replaced the airbox straps, check valve for the brake booster, missing clock, clock/gearshift trim panel, restored 3 fuel injectors to full-time operational status, cleaned 18 years of grease from the engine, replaced about a dozen light bulbs, and yet have so much more to do...

I guess she demands what any good woman does - attention and affection, a willingness to look after her troubles, and frequent cash outlays :-) ...and in return you get the unconditional joy of the best GT car ever.