Porsche 924

The Porsche 924 is a sports car produced by Porsche in Neckarsulm, Germany, from 1976 until 1988. A two-door, 2+2 coupé, the 924 replaced the 912E and 914 as the company's entry-level model.

Although the 928 was designed first, the 924 was the first production road-going Porsche to use water cooling and a front-engine, rear-wheel-drive layout. It was also the first Porsche to be offered with a conventional fully automatic transmission. Like the 914, the 924 began as a joint venture with Volkswagen (VW). Although VW canceled plans to sell a version under its own nameplate, opting to market the independently-developed Scirocco instead, the 924 was assembled in a VW-operated plant and initially used a VW engine.

The 924 made its public debut in November 1975 and a turbocharged version was introduced in 1978. In response to increasing competition, Porsche introduced an upgraded version with a new Porsche-built engine as the 944, which replaced the 924 in the U.S. in 1983. In 1985, VW discontinued the engine used in the 924, prompting Porsche to use a slightly detuned 944 engine instead, drop the Turbo model, rename the vehicle as the 924S, and reintroduce it in the U.S. The 924 was a sales success, with just over 150,000 produced.

The 924 was originally a joint project of Volkswagen and Porsche created by the Vertriebsgesellschaft (VG), the joint sales and marketing company funded by Porsche and VW to market and sell sports cars (Ludvigsen: Porsche, Excellence was Expected). For Volkswagen, it was intended to be that company's flagship coupé sports car and was dubbed "Project 425" during its development. For Porsche, it was to be its entry-level sports car replacing the 914. At the time, Volkswagen lacked a significant internal research and design division for developing sports cars; further, Porsche had been doing the bulk of the company's development work anyway, per a deal that went back to the 1940s. In keeping with this history, Porsche was contracted to develop a new sporting vehicle with the caveat that this vehicle must work with an existing VW/Audi straight-four engine. Porsche chose a rear-wheel drive layout and a rear-mounted transaxle for the design to help provide 48/52 front/rear weight distribution; this slight rear weight bias aided both traction and brake balance.

The 1973 oil crisis, a series of automobile-related regulatory changes enacted during the 1970s and a change of directors at Volkswagen made the case for a Volkswagen sports car less striking and the 425 project was put on hold. After serious deliberation at VW, the project was scrapped entirely after a decision was made to move forward with the cheaper, more practical, Golf-based Scirocco model instead. Porsche, which needed a model to replace the 914, made a deal with Volkswagen leadership to buy the design back. The 914 was discontinued before the 924 entered production, which resulted in the reintroduction of the Porsche 912 to the North American market as the 912E for one year to fill the gap.

The deal specified that the car would be built at the ex-NSU factory in Neckarsulm located north of the Porsche headquarters in Stuttgart, Volkswagen becoming the subcontractor. Hence, Volkswagen employees would do the actual production line work (supervised by Porsche's own production specialists) and that Porsche would own the design. It made its debut at a November 1975 press launch at the harbour at La Grande Motte, Camargue in the south of France rather than a motor show. The relative cheapness of building the car made it both profitable and fairly easy for Porsche to finance. While criticised for its performance, it nevertheless became one of Porsche's best-selling models.

The original design used an Audi-sourced four-speed manual transmission from a front wheel drive car but now placed and used as a rear transaxle. It was mated to VW's EA831 2.0 L inline-four engine, variants of which were used in the Audi 100 and the Volkswagen LT van (common belief is that 'the engine originated in the LT van', but it first appeared in the Audi car and in 924 form has a Porsche-designed cylinder head). The Audi engine, equipped with a Weber/Holley carburetor, was also used in the 1977–1979 AMC Gremlin, Concord, and Spirit, as well as the AMC postal jeeps. The 924 engine used an all new Porsche designed cylinder head combined with Bosch K-Jetronic fuel injection, producing 125 PS (92 kW) in European spec. United States vehicle emission standards limited the engine to just 95 hp (71 kW), which was then improved to 110 hp (82 kW) in mid-1977 with the introduction of a catalytic converter and a slightly higher compression ratio. North American models also featured prominent low-speed impact bumpers that lacked integral fog lights at the front, and round reflective side-marker lamps front and rear. The four-speed manual was the only transmission available for the initial 1976 model, later this was replaced by a five-speed dog-leg unit. An Audi three-speed automatic was offered starting with the 1977.5 model. In 1980, the five-speed transmission was changed to a conventional H-pattern, with reverse now on the right beneath fifth gear.

In 1980, the North American model received some minor changes including a three-way catalyst and slightly higher compression. Nonetheless, the strong Deutsche Mark and US inflation severely hampered sales, as a well equipped 924 now easily could cost twice as much as the considerably more powerful Nissan 280ZX.