Porsche 928 sells for £228K at Bonhams auction

Porsche 928 sells for £228K at Bonhams auction

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rich888

Original Poster:

2,610 posts

206 months

Sunday 9th October 2016
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Bonhams auction house recently sold a 1987 Porsche 928 CS for just over £228,000, it was one of only 5 manufactured for Porsche's factory drivers.

This particular 928 Club Sport was first registered by the Porsche Factory in June 1987 as Derek Bell was initially reluctant to take delivery because it was left-hand drive and thus not ideal for use in the UK. Around a year later, he relented and took delivery of the car, which was registered in the UK in February 1988 as 'E709 LOW'. Porsche did make one concession and installed an mph speedometer instead of the standard km/h speedometer at Derek's request. Bell kept the car until February 2005 (the longest period any of the prototypes spent with its original owner) and had covered approximately 42,000 miles before selling it to the next owner, Justin Pressland. The car was purchased from Mr Pressland by the current vendor - the JFD Collection in Belgium - in 2009.

More info at: https://www.bonhams.com/auctions/23596/lot/27/


010101

1,305 posts

155 months

Monday 10th October 2016
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Fascinating.
It would be interesting to know where it is going.

g7jhp

7,000 posts

245 months

Monday 10th October 2016
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Crazy price just because there are only 5 928 Club Sport.

It's a manual 928, but is it really 'the best' manual 928?

Surely a manual 928 GTS would be a step forward?

Bo_apex

3,026 posts

225 months

Monday 10th October 2016
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g7jhp said:
Crazy price just because there are only 5 928 Club Sport.

It's a manual 928, but is it really 'the best' manual 928?

Surely a manual 928 GTS would be a step forward?
GTS has more torque, but I've found the GT is buzzier to drive due to better cams etc, and is much closer to the CS, except it has sound proofing.
GT almost feels Italian in delivery eekbiggrin


rubystone

11,254 posts

266 months

Sunday 23rd October 2016
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Back in 1987 I availed myself of the hot showers in what is now the tyre paddock at Le Mans. After completing my ablutions I noticed a pair of white 928s parked nearby and wandered over to have a look. Both had narrow Rothmans coloured pin-striping but aside from that were unadorned.

I discovered later that I had been using the showers in the driver's paddock (!) and that these cars were Bell's and Stuck's. I took a couple of photos but can't find them now. Both were on German plates.

At first I assumed that this car was Derek's from that era, but I see that it wasn't UK registered until 1988 and is bereft of the stripes. In 1988 the factory cars had Shell sponsorship, so I guess it's possible the car was de-striped and that Bell may have used the car in 1987 on the continent?


Bo_apex

3,026 posts

225 months

Monday 14th November 2016
quotequote all
rubystone said:
Back in 1987 I availed myself of the hot showers in what is now the tyre paddock at Le Mans. After completing my ablutions I noticed a pair of white 928s parked nearby and wandered over to have a look. Both had narrow Rothmans coloured pin-striping but aside from that were unadorned.

I discovered later that I had been using the showers in the driver's paddock (!) and that these cars were Bell's and Stuck's. I took a couple of photos but can't find them now. Both were on German plates.

At first I assumed that this car was Derek's from that era, but I see that it wasn't UK registered until 1988 and is bereft of the stripes. In 1988 the factory cars had Shell sponsorship, so I guess it's possible the car was de-striped and that Bell may have used the car in 1987 on the continent?
good anecdote, and good that the shower police were not on duty biggrin

Geneve

3,930 posts

226 months

Monday 14th November 2016
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Derek did have a white 928 in the mid-80s - an S2 IIRC, with the narrow Rothmans stripes, and a patina of enthusiastic use.

Once saw it at Malaya Garage (the then Porsche dealer in Billingshurst), parked next to John Watson's black RST

sim16v

2,177 posts

208 months

Wednesday 16th November 2016
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rubystone said:
Back in 1987 I availed myself of the hot showers in what is now the tyre paddock at Le Mans. After completing my ablutions I noticed a pair of white 928s parked nearby and wandered over to have a look. Both had narrow Rothmans coloured pin-striping but aside from that were unadorned.

I discovered later that I had been using the showers in the driver's paddock (!) and that these cars were Bell's and Stuck's. I took a couple of photos but can't find them now. Both were on German plates.

At first I assumed that this car was Derek's from that era, but I see that it wasn't UK registered until 1988 and is bereft of the stripes. In 1988 the factory cars had Shell sponsorship, so I guess it's possible the car was de-striped and that Bell may have used the car in 1987 on the continent?
It's well documented that Derek Bell left the car in Germany, on German plates so that he didn't have to pay import duty and it was over a year before it was registered in the UK, so most likely the same car.

Cheburator mk2

3,066 posts

206 months

Thursday 17th November 2016
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Geneve said:
Derek did have a white 928 in the mid-80s - an S2 IIRC, with the narrow Rothmans stripes, and a patina of enthusiastic use.

Once saw it at Malaya Garage (the then Porsche dealer in Billingshurst), parked next to John Watson's black RST
It was an S - the car was sold with head gasket failure and no stripes to a collector of sorts. I was almost drafted in the restoration process, but time constraints ruled me out. Since then, the car was sold on and now has been restored to full glory, and belongs to an avid Porsche collector.