1995 Porsche 928 GTS

This car, Lot 109, sold for $263,200, including buyer’s premium, at RM Sotheby’s Miami, FL, auction on December 10, 2022.

We profiled a similar 928 GTS in the April 2016 issue. A lot has changed in the collector car world since then, particularly in the sentiments towards the 928 among collectors and resultant pricing. But first, the backstory.

Nein eleven

By the early 1970s, Porsche was afraid that the 911 was doomed by converging forces. Government regulation and creeping Ralph Naderism, especially in North America, challenged the rear-engine 911 with its inherent trailing throttle oversteer. Porsche also feared pending updates to emissions standards.

In that environment, the 928 was conceived to replace the 911. The project was overseen by the new President of Porsche, Ernst Fuhrmann. Previously, Fuhrmann had engineered the four-cam engines used in 1954–65 Porsche race cars (Spyders, 904s, etc.) and 356 Carreras. He was the first non-family-member to lead the firm.

Vast resources went into the new design, but the 928 grew bigger and heavier than Ferry Porsche had envisioned. Fuhrmann and his team considered the competition to be grand-touring cars from BMW and Mercedes. Not all Porsche’s engineers agreed with the intended move away from the lithe 911, and some intra-department rancor ensued.

The plan fails

Even worse, once introduced in 1977, Porsche’s customers did not readily adopt the new 928. Its sales never exceeded 5,600 units a year through 1995, while the 911 persisted at higher levels. From 13,849 units in 1977, 911 sales tailed down to 8,757 in 1981, then climbed to 21,814 in 1985, falling below 14,000 only in model transition years through 1995.

Ferry Porsche realized the mistake, fired Fuhrmann, and in 1980 hired American Peter Schutz. Born in Berlin, Schutz’s family escaped to Havana, then Chicago. An engineer via the Illinois Institute of Technology, the bilingual Schutz worked at Caterpillar and Cummins, then Deutz in Germany. He built a reputation as a consensus builder. With fervor, he and development chief Helmut Bott undertook to save the 911. As we all know, it survives even today.

One last hurrah

The 928 was periodically updated, with the S, S32/S4 and GT variants. In 1989, with the 964-series 911 on deck, the supervisory board mandated a cessation of all work on the 928, save one last round of improvements. Those modifications gave rise to the GTS.

This final 928 was an excellent car. With 5.4 liters pumping out 345 hp and 369 lb-ft of torque through 32 valves and a 10.5:1 compression ratio, the revised engine pushed the hefty 928 from 0–60 mph in 5.3 seconds and 0–100 mph in 13.1 seconds, with a top speed of 170 mph. To harness the power, improve handling and add a more-muscular look, the rear end was widened by two inches under flared fenders with 17-inch wheels spanning 7.5 inches wide up front and 9 inches in the rear.

Additional design changes included a body-color rear wing, a full-width taillight bar and Cup-design side mirrors. The GTS was still a grand-touring car. It came loaded with almost every imaginable accessory and a fulsome $86,000 price tag as delivered in the U.S. Porsche sold 2,831 of them worldwide from 1992 to 1995, 460 of which came to North America.

Manuals matter

One decision for the GTS proved to be impactful: Porsche offered both a 5-speed manual gearbox and the traditional 4-speed automatic. In these days of ubiquitous fly-by-wire automatic transmissions, guess which 928 GTS gearbox is the darling of collectors now?

The GTS also boasted competitive performance, helping later acceptance (though not really helping sales in the day). Porsche 928s found a following in Generation Xers who saw “Risky Business” as teenagers. Long derided as the German Thunderbird, the 928 gradually came to be seen as a desirable Porsche, if it had been well maintained.

Trending upward

Our 2016 profile of the GTS featured a 1995 in Polar Silver over Marble with 23,686 miles and a 5-speed manual gearbox. It sold then for what we thought was a fair $132,000. Since that sale, we can find 152 GTSs that came to the public market, of which 42 had 5-speed manuals. Although condition and prices are all over the spectrum, it seems that manuals often sell for a 50% premium.

At RM Sotheby’s 2022 Monterey auction, a pristine 16k-mile 1995 GTS in Midnight Blue Metallic over Classic Gray with a manual gearbox sold for $406,500. It ticked the important boxes. The color combination was also important, as blue paint continues to draw impressive premiums on almost any collectible Porsche, while contrasting gray or tan interiors seem to be more popular than black or blue. On the other hand, this car had five owners (albeit all collectors) and a couple of mild modifications that could be undone.

Solid six-figure market

Other top sales include a Bring a Trailer auction in May 2022, where a three-owner 1994 GTS, a manual in black over black with 38k miles, sold for $168,928. RM Sotheby’s sold a two-owner Polar Silver-over-purple 1992 GTS with 10k miles (17k km) for $157k in 2019.

Our subject car falls into second place at $263,200. This 928 GTS was obviously a premium example from the scarce 1995 model year. It was sold new to Kuwait and had a complete service history. We can’t call it well bought, but that previous $406k sale cuts into its “well sold” stature. Let’s settle on market correct, then.

Six-figure 928 GTSs are clearly here to stay — and we expect that all these manual examples will soon be joined by some automatics. ♦

(Introductory description courtesy of RM Sotheby’s.)