The Transaxle Story: Almost 1,5 h of interesting stuff about Transaxle Porsche

It is all in the details...

Today I installed the ashtray. The stamped steel bowl is freshly media blasted and cad plated.
To me, this is important - even though I don't even smoke, but the looks of this thing make me happy:

Multi spoke Rials back from media blasting!

Today I received a Whatsapp image from my fellow friend Jens, the "Master Blaster" Kraft, who finally managed to remove the plastic-like paint from the Rial rims. The next step is polishing and some color...

 Excellent job, as always!

New headliner

When I bought my car, the original headliner was cracked and missing in some places. Luckily, a brand new original headliner came with the car. Yesterday I took my time and after ~7 hours the new headliner was in. I am well chuffed with the result. No wrinkles or waves!

First step was to roughly layout the headliner and affix it with clamps.







Then I started gluing from the front towards the back, then the Targa cut out.

I am well chuffed with the result. No wrinkles or waves!







At the same time I exchanged the rear interior cards, some "pro" installed a set of Blaupunkt speakers (some + 20 years ago) and butchered those rear interior cards. As they also took their toll due to leaking Targa seals (deformed and moldy), they had to go:







The car also came with a nice set of used spares. Now the interior only needs a good clean, then I am ready for the MOT-like TÜV inspection to get it back on the road. This is a challenging task, as even minor mods need be approved by an engineer. Things like wild engine swaps or using wheels of a different make and model - almost impossible here in Germany...

40 years of Transaxle Porsche: A visit to the Porsche Museum

Last weekend I made a trip to the Porsche Museum to visit the special exhibition to celebrate 40 years of transaxle. It was my 2nd visit and I can recommend this trip to every gear head!
It all started with the 924, which was the first transaxle Porsche on the market. Here is a prototype (originally a co-developement between VW and Porsche, known as EA425 for a VW Porsche 914 successor, this prototype was built in Weissach by Porsche in 1974),

At that stage the 2 liter engine got 100 PS and luckily, a lot changed until Porsche finally took over the project from VW to make it its own.

This is an early production model which Porsche just recently bought back from the original owner. It is unrestored and in unbelievable good condition:

since 1977 Porsche worked on Targa version of the 924 - similar to the 911 Targa.

In 1979 Porsche presented the 924 GT on the Frankfurt Auto Show:

As a study it had a mother of pearl paint job and bright red leather...

(The hood scoop which is mentioned on this plate was not mounted on this one, but there is a color mismatch, so I assume this is not the original hood)

Then, one of my all time favorite Porsches, the 924 GTS, only 59 were ever made:

and finally, the pinnacle of the 924, the GTR

Porsche 924 GTP - the new developed 944 hidden under the  924 look 

Some really interesting 928 models:

The convertible:

another prototype, even with projector lights:

and an all aluminium bodied 928:

and the famous Trigema 928:
This is a race car which was developed by 2 Porsche engineers, which worked in the chassis and suspension dept. They proposed to use a 928 in endurance racing and got a used test vehicle. They were allowed to modify it to their needs. They even took care of the sponsorship and got a deal with Trigema. The only precondition was, that they should transport the vehicle on an open trailer, so everybody could see the sponsor logos! 

In 1983 it won 3 of 5 races of the VLN endurance championship - and even more interesting, in 1984 it reached an overall 15th in the 24 hours of Daytona - with basically a used serial production car!  

 

Another interesting prototype was this 968 Roadster study (which was later skipped in favor of the Boxster):

The body lines were much more curved, the cut line of the doors are different, the front resembles a bit of the 911 of that time...

and here are my top favorites :

A world record racecar - which unfortunately never raced, as the Mercedes C111 (for the 2nd time around) broke some of the world records which Porsche was aiming for. Literally, only days before the vehicle should start for the first time, the whole project was binned and the car never saw a race track...

This is by far the meanest 924 I have ever seen, it looks so "outlaw" - and was made by Porsche! 

Aerodynamic fender skirts, lexan windows, weight optimized...

Look at the exhaust pipe!

and a 944 prototype with 4WD and an inline 4 cylinder in the rear: 
(sorry for the blurry pic, it was direct sun light outside the window!)

the engine was a VW prototype inline 4 with flat laying cylinders:

some more engine details:

the gear box had a tag attached with the gearing of the 5 speed trans:

I guess there is a next time for a trip to the Porsche Museum, hopefully next time with my own 944...