MCU 53X - 1982 924 Manual.
A factory-stored 924 with a near-mint interior, forklift damage, and 70K on the clock. Bought on a gamble. Started on old fuel. Here's how it began.
This is the introduction to the first car in this blog series—although it’s actually the second 924 I purchased, not because I wanted another 924 project, but simply because I couldn’t pass it up. This car had sat since 1988 in a factory, sheltered from the elements but not from forklift forks, pallet trucks, and a bustling workshop that left it peppered with dings and scratches. These scars explain why it was parked so early in its life: not a crash that caused injury, but enough to bend the front panel and valance, shatter the bumper, and distort the front tub. I have no idea why it never went through insurance, but perhaps that’s a blessing—in 1988, even a six-year-old car might have been written off for less.
Beneath the slightly faded, scratched, dented, and cracked exterior lies a complete time-capsule Porsche 924. The interior, aside from a driver’s seat that’s suffered minor rodent damage, is as new—no dashboard cracks, a common plague on these cars. With just 70,000 miles on the clock, this 924 is astonishingly rust-free (wait until you see the introduction of my other 924). Original paper part stickers still cling to suspension components, and the paint on the rear beam looks like it left the production line yesterday.
So, the big question: does it run? I purchased the car in February and I’m writing this in June, so these posts are retrospective for now. It arrived as a non-runner, but I only agreed to buy it if I could get it going. Having known the previous owner for years, I’d already tried—and failed—to start it, which narrowed down the problem to everything downstream of a fresh fuel pump and filter. Armed with a Bosch K-Jetronic distributor from my other 924, a set of used but working injectors, and a fresh can of petrol, I drove 70 miles to tackle the challenge. It fired up, I bought it, and here we are.
What did it cost? I didn’t buy it outright—it involved a swap and I purchased some parts at the same time but at a rough estimate it owes me about £1,900. Is that a good deal? Probably not, but if anything goes wrong I can recoup my investment just on the interior alone. And let’s be honest: where else are you going to find a nearly never-driven 924?
