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Final Parking Space: 1980 Porsche 924 Turbo
You’re very unlikely to find a Porsche 911 of any vintage in the inventory of your local Ewe Pullet-style self-service yard these days (though I did run across one at the North San Jose Pick-n-Pull back in 2008), but 914s, 924s, 944s and 928s still show up in such places every so often. We admired a discarded 928 in Nevada last summer, and now it’s the turn of this extremely rare 924 Turbo in a Denver self-service boneyard.
The original idea behind the development of the 924 was that it would be sold as both the entry-level Porsche and the top-grade Volkswagen. This had worked to a certain extent with Porsche- and VW-badged versions of the 914, but when the 924 hit showrooms in 1976 it was a Porsche-only model while Volkswagen made the Golf-based Scirocco its sporty model.
Some very strict Porsche enthusiasts disapprove of the 924, in large part due to its use of an Audi engine whose cousins powered AM General DJ-5G “Mail Jeeps.” These very same fanatics also find a way to forgive the fact that the Porsche 911 traces its ancestry back to the humble Beetle, so I suggest we give the (relatively) affordable Porsche of the Malaise Era a modicum of respect.
For the 1977-1979 model years, the 924 was available in the United States with a naturally-aspirated two-liter engine rated at either 95 or 110 horsepower. By the era’s standards, that wasn’t terrible for a 2,344-pound car with excellent handling, but it made the 924 more of a sporty economy car than an Autobahn dominator like the 911 or 928. The 924 Turbo made its debut here as a 1980 model and it boasted a much-improved 143 horses.
This car appears to have been one of the earlier 924 Turbos shipped over from West Germany, going by the January date on the build tag.
The EA831 four-banger in the 924 Turbo received serious modifications to handle boost, including tougher connecting rods and crankshaft plus a Turbo-specific cylinder head. I suspect that this engine will have been pulled by some Front Range 924 enthusiast by the time you read this, despite this photo having been taken just last week.
You can identify a 924 Turbo at a glance via the NACA duct on the hood.
The duct was functional, allowing for improved cooling of the very hot engine compartment. The vents above the front bumper were 924 Turbo-only items as well.
A five-speed manual transmission was standard equipment. A three-speed automatic transmission was available but I’ve never seen a two-pedal 924.
The MSRP for this car was $20,875, or about $85,615 in 2025 dollars. The ordinary 924 listed at $16,770 ($68,779 after inflation). The cost of admission to new-Porsche ownership has never been cheap, although this car was peanuts next to the $37,930 Porsche 928 for 1980 ($155,563 in today’s money).
This removable top was a $395 option ($1620 today).
1980 car shoppers could get a new Corvette with the optional L82 engine and removable roof panel for a mere $14,951, or about $63,319 in current bucks. Meanwhile, a new Saab 900 Turbo started at $12,595 ($51,656 now). A road race between those three would be interesting to watch; I think the 924 Turbo would win, provided it didn’t overheat.
The odometer shows 34,956 miles, which might well mean this car has 134,956 or 234,956 actual miles.
There’s a 26-year-old smog-check report inside that shows the same mileage. Either this car passed smog and then got parked immediately afterward or the speedometer cable is broken.
These cars are notoriously difficult to repair, especially if you need to do anything involving the rear-mounted transaxle.
It’s a complete, rust-free example of a very rare Porsche, but it now serves as a parts donor for its still-driving brethren.
It covers the quarter-mile in 16.3 seconds!
The car magazines of the day said VW paid Porsche to design the car, then at the 11th hour decided not to market it. Porsche then decided to market the car since it was ready for production. Maybe the car mags got a twisted story?
It was also stated in the day, AMC bought the 2.0L engine, licensing and all, from Porsche/Audi and had the option of letting the latter build it under license.
Regardless what info is correct, seeing a vehicle of this type in a picapart scrap yard makes me wonder what’s the story behind it.
When my 944 was in its early stages of its death throws, it decided to chunk a few teeth off of the pinion gear. The first replacement was an ebay transaxle that had a bad 3rd gear synchro. The second replacement came from a godsend 924 at my local pick-a-part lot. I walked thru the entrance and it was literally right there. That transmission was considerably cheaper than the very cheap ebay transaxle minus the sweat equity of course.
I never found the 924/944 particularly difficult to work on. Although the transaxle is at the opposite end of the car as the engine, removal is fairly conventional. Need to do a clutch? just keep working forward and remove the torque tube and (front) bellhousing.
The donor 924 that I plucked parts from had a Porsche engine in it (same as my 944) so it must have been an option.
I suspect what you found was a 924S. That was a later 80s version (only 1987 and 1988 model years, I think) with a 944 engine. Oddly, there was a gap in the mid 80s when the 944 was the entry Porsche, but they brought out the 924S later.
This is definitely a 1980 Porsche 924 Turbo, equipped with the M471 Sport Package.
Ahh. I see you were replying to TG. Sorry… you are correct. The car TG is referring to was likely a 1987 924S, just as you said. I was referring to the yard car and can’t delete my previous comment. 🙂
The 924 you were getting parts from was a 1987 924S. Those cars were basically a 924 with 944 components.
I’m curious about the “Possible Bio” written on the door glass!
Probably had something looking like blood in it. Lots of junkyard cars have biohazard stickers on them, but they are usually wrecked.
In this case, I think it referred to all the (possibly hantavirus-infected) rodent droppings inside.
I was wondering the same thing!
I always liked these things but the better 944 was my favorite of this trio 924/944/968.
I worked for VOA in the 70’s and early 80’s and we could get the keys to some of press cars if they were available over a weekend.
I took a 924 with an automatic tranny home one weekend. It was not fast, THINK SLOW!!!, but it handled like it was on rails. It was a fun weekend!! I think it would have made a great Autocrosser.
It went back into the press fleet and was then sold to some unsuspecting buyer. These cars we not treated with the best drivers, but their maintenance was always up to date.
These cars being notoriously difficult to work on is a myth. Like any car, they have some things that are less fun than others, but as a whole, everything is reasonably accessible and laid out in a logical way.