Johan's 1982 924

My 924 story

13 April 2004

As a current Porsche owner I knew the importance of a background check - so I asked the seller about the condition and background of the car, he told me he bought it new for his wife's 40th birthday and owned it ever since, and that it was in good condition except for the passenger seat which was torn. That as well as the fact that it was just two days before my own 40th was good enough for me.

 Me and Charel (a friend) got on the first plane from Pretoria to Durban (with about 30kg of tools just incase emergency repairs was needed on the way back) where the seller met us. 

The car was unfortunately not exactly in the described condition but the seller was willing to negotiate so we came to an agreement so after a cup of coffee  some money was exchanged and we left in the 924. The car did very few kms in the last nine years and was obviously not serviced. It Smoked badly and the clutch was barely working, engaging 1st and reverse was a challenge. 

The V-belts was in a very bad state so we had them replaced before the return trip home of about 650km. Finding a workshop willing to help in a unknown town on a Monday before a Public holiday-Tuesday was no easy task. Once we had that sorted the next problem was finding a v-belt that fitted, the second spares shop fortunately had an  alternator belt, as the air conditioner was not working anyway we just cut the belt for fear that it might break and get in the way of the alternator's belt.

We could not travel all this way without going to the beach.

We left Durban around 12h00 that day and every thing went well till we had a flat right front tire about a 100km into the trip. Fortunately I was prepared with a aerosol inflator so we where back on the road in no time. Every thing went well for about 50km when the wheel was flat again. This is where I found Charel's abilities handy, he drove the car at an easy 120km/h with a total flat front right tire for the next 30km (ignoring my concerned remarks) where we could have the tire repaired. We thought it good to have the spare which was also flat repaired at the same time. From there things went well for the next couple of hours with the 924 behaving perfectly (with me behind the wheel this time). That is till just after dark, I had the car refueled and after leaving the filling station the car started vibrating it got worse quickly. I pulled over and got my torch from the boot (always prepared you see) to find that it had turned on by itself in the toolbox and the battery was totally flat. It was still about 150km home so we decided to slow right down and see how far we get. We reached home at 75km/h in about two hours with no further problems. 

The next day we found about a liter of water in one of the tires which caused the vibration. How it got there remains a secret, as does why it only bothered us the last 150km.  At this time I also found that with all the tools we took along we had no wheel spanner so the torch and spare wheel would have been of no help anyway.

The beginning of a new relationship.  

It was actually not a planned purchase. Its al this guy next to the car (Charel) who call himself my friend's fault. He saw the car advertised on the net and told me about it. He wanted to buy it but had a bike to sell first, as he was afraid it might be sold before he sold the bike we agreed that I would buy it and when he sold the bike he would buy it from me. As time passed he borrowed the car a couple of times for weekend trips and decided that it was not really what he wanted, at the same time I felt in love with it so we agreed that I would keep it. I had a 924 previously, also a '82 model which I sold sometime after upgrading to a '90 928 S4 - a great car but, and this is where the 928 owners are going to differ from me - it is just a little too good. At 160km/h the 924 is fun while at 260km/h the 928 just cruises. At the speed where the 928 starts to get the adrenaline flowing things are getting real dangerous. 

To me Porsche is about fun and as time went by I realized to me the fun factor is higher in the 924, so when it became clear that the bike is not going to be an easy sell I decided not to sell the 924, but rather keep it for myself and do a total rebuild with some modifications - I never could get myself to modify the 928 as it is in just too nice original condition and I missed my E30 325iC which was also a self build / modified car terribly. If you once owned a personalized / self modified car I don't think you will ever be satisfied with any off-the-shelf car no matter how great it is.