1977 Porsche 924: The Porsche they love to hate
1977 Porsche 924
It’s the Porsche everyone loves to hate. By what’s been said and written about the original Porsche 924, one would think it had square wheels, power by Vegematic and styling only a commissar could love.
Admittedly, it has a proletarian heritage. The 924 was originally a project to be a solely Volkswagen successor to the similarly maligned Porsche 914. However, new management at VW nixed the VW sports car project, but it was promptly taken up by Porsche for itself. The VW connection, of course, explains a lot of things, things like the MacPherson struts from the Volkswagen Super Beetle and VW Rabbit lower A-arms for the front suspension, and Beetle semi-trailing arms, complete with torsion bars and VW 181 (the Thing) halfshafts at the rear.
More things like an 1800cc four from the Audi 100 (sold here as the Audi Fox) bored out to 2.0-liters, fitted with a sohc head and used in the VW LT Transporter and eventually AMC’s Pacer and Spirit. Things like the Audi’s four-speed standard transmission, nominally for front-drive applications, moved to the rear to serve as a transaxle, and Audi 100 front disc calipers and Beetle rear drum brakes. Has there ever been, on paper, a vehicle more unlikely to be successful than this, what one observer called a “factory kit car.”
Then again, this was Porsche. And weren’t the first Porsches, those now fabled in song and story, merely hot-rodded VW Beetles?
Consider also the unorthodox drivetrain layout. Porsche preferred front engine/rear drive for balance, discarding rear-engine or front-drive configurations. Mounting the transaxle at the rear better balanced the car, with a slight bias towards the rear without passengers. But Porsche mounted the clutch at the front (leaving the stock Audi transmission’s bellhousing oddly empty at the rear). With the driveshaft not having to spin with the clutch disengaged, inertia effects on the engine were reduced—though gearbox synchronizers had to work harder.
The driveshaft itself was a mere 0.79 inches in diameter, running in a 3.3-inch closed tube rigidly attached to the engine and transaxle, and having no universal joints. Collateral benefits claimed at the time by Porsche were increased crash safety (all of the drivetrain mountings absorbing the impact), better isolation of exhaust noise from the body (the exhaust system being hung from the tube), and finally, flex in the skinny driveshaft would help absorb throttle surge, characteristic of emission-controlled engines in the mid-‘70s.
The engine was essentially sound, the iron block basically and over-bored Audi 100 with a new aluminum head. A cross-flow design, it was Heron type with the combustion chamber formed in the piston crown, the valves set vertically in a flat head surface. The belt-driven single overhead camshaft directly actuated eight inline valves.
Though the European version developed a reasonable 125 horsepower (this was 1976), the smog-strangled Stateside motor produced a meager 95 horses at 5500 rpm running on 91-octane unleaded. Tested by Road & Track, the 1976 Porsche 924 turned the quarter mile in 18.3 seconds and did 0-60 mph in 11.9 seconds. (For comparison, the Alfetta GT and Datsun 280Z tested with the Porsche 924 did 18.4 and 17.3, respectively, in the quarter, and 12.0 and 9.4 for 0-60 mph).
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Category: Times Were
But what a kick to drive. I still haven’t driven anything that could do a 4 wheel drift around a freeway interchange at 65+! I bought mine brand new in 1978 in Pensacola, FL. My wife and I dated in it. It went with us to Virginia, Hawaii, California, Massachusetts, Virginia and back to Florida. It will soon be moved again to West Virginia. I drove it to work every day until about 1990, it sat in our driveway for five years, we resurrected it in 1995 and I drove it every day for 4 more years before the driveshaft vibration ate up the second clutch in 5,000 miles. (That’s why the 944 got two extra bearings in the drive tube.) We still have it and hope to resurrect it again. I see very little on the road that can compare.
It was 1977 when I walked with my mom to the local Porsche dealership to pick up our 1977 1/2 924. In ’83 I learned to drive in that car and took it out of the garage many times…without permission! It has sat in her garage since about 1986. I am headed back to NJ to pick it up next weekend. I’m bringing it back to Lafayette, LA and getting it running again. What a joy to drive. I will later fully restore but the condition is still quiet well. The picture in this article is dead on our 924 with the sunroof! I will be posting on the official site soon.
I have a 14 year old boy who just bought a 1977 Porsche 924 for 200 dollars it has 34,000 miles on it and had set in a barn for 20 years or so. We have got it running and the body is ready to be painted. I need a drivers side window and wondering any sites or places I could find parts. Also what would possibly be the value of this car when finished painting and has new window?
your son should get rid of that car and go and put it back in the barn where it belongs, finish painting it and but it up as a project car for someone who has the time for a piece of crap car like that you will have problems left and right with it… he should buy something that wont die in a year of being used