Junkyard Find: 1983 Porsche 944
The Porsche 944 is an excellent example of the kind of car that’s worth pretty decent money when in great condition … and worth scrap value beyond a fairly strict threshold of perceived thrashedness. I see plenty of 944s at the fixed price, high-inventory turnover, self-service yards (not to mention many more blowing up in 24 Hours of LeMons races), but I don’t feel inspired to document these cars in their final parking spaces most of the time.
This beat-to-crap early 944 in a San Jose yard, however, caught my attention for some reason.
I think it was poignancy of the I LOVE TO PARTY sign, which was one of innumerable responses to the BABY ON BOARD signs that appeared everywhere in the middle 1980s and then (to everyone’s great relief) all but disappeared before the end of the decade. Who didn’t like to party in a 944?
These cars are pretty quick on a racetrack with a good driver (though it took from 2006 until 2013 before one of the dozens of LeMons 944s finally grabbed an overall win). However, the 2.5-liter engine in the 1983 model had just 143 horsepower. That’s just five horses more than what you get in the 2016 Kia Rio, but was pretty decent in 1983 (when the considered-awesome-at-the-time Mitsubishi Starion had a mere 145 hp in its TURBO TURBO TURBO engine).
If we are to judge by all the built-up schmutz in this car, it sat unattended in California’s great outdoors for many years. If I had to guess, I’d say that either the timing belt or the clutch (both four-figure repair jobs if you go to a shop) went out.
Nobody will buy metric oil-pressure gauges in the junkyard, even if they are the standard 2-1/16″ size. The nice VDO clocks, however, don’t last long in these yards, and most of them work fine (in stark contrast to most junkyard car clocks, I’ve learned the hard way).
The best roads in America are waiting… and so is your Porsche.
Murilee Martin is the pen name of Phil Greden, a writer who has lived in Minnesota, California, Georgia and (now) Colorado. He has toiled at copywriting, technical writing, junkmail writing, fiction writing and now automotive writing. He has owned many terrible vehicles and some good ones. He spends a great deal of time in self-service junkyards. These days, he writes for publications including Autoweek, Autoblog, Hagerty, The Truth About Cars and Capital One.
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There's a nice Guards Red 944 here in Greenville SC. I'm always happy to see it- my favorite Porsche. I remember around 1984 or so C&D matched it against the Z28 for Best Handling Car honors. The Camaro won 2 categories; the 944, 3. Those were exciting times- never knew what would be beside me at a stoplight, or just ahead of me on a mountain road.
What did we call those reflector things they sold for cars like 944s (the big reflector between the taillights)? They were kinda cool, except that you had to relocate the license plate to the bumper, which usually required a crappy mount like the one here, plus adding some ugly license plate lights, to be legal. They were available for other cars, too, like Celicas and RX-7s.