Let’s say you’ve got a lot of Chevy parts laying around, as well as a funny furrin car that you can’t find parts for at Midwest Auto Parts, but that the girls all seem to like. Let’s also imagine you know which end of the wrench to hold, but not necessarily which end of the car in which to put the radiator. What’s a fella’ to do?
Offered up on eBay, this ’78 924 has had its Audi motor ripped out and replaced by an SBC. That’s not all that strange, and in fact it’s a relatively common conversion for the later 944. A thing that makes you go huh? is that while most v8 conversions manage to stuff both engine and cooling system up front, this builder couldn’t find room under the hood for the radiator, and that’s despite using an electric water pump.
Instead, this Porsche’s underside looks more like a Por-spa with copper pipe wending its way back to a rear-mounted radiator, necessitating some Ferrari Tesstarossa-grade grilling back there.
To keep things simple, the 924’s transaxle and IRS has joined the 2.0 engine in the scrap heap, and in their place is a TH350 and a live axle out of. . . oh let’s just say some sort of Camaro.
All that drivetrain shenanigans wouldn’t be worth a hoot in a haller if the Porsche still had the same old cracked dash and tired interior, so this car sports a custom instrument panel and some seats out of . . . oh let’s just say some sort of Camaro.
Who would make a dash like that? Plywood, that’s all I can guess, but the matching glovebox door is a nice touch.
What does this custom chariot cost you ask? Well the seller has set the Buy It Now at $4,500. Now, it’s conceivable that you could replicate this car for that – depending on the going price for copper pipe – but the question is, would you want to? If your goal is to offend the members of your local Porsche club, then you couldn’t do better if you individually crapped in each of their cars, but then again, it’s hard to say.
Check out while it lasts on eBay.
Chevrorsche 924 Proves American Ingenuity Isn't Dead – It Just Needs a New Hobby
By Robert Emslie
Jun 14, 2010
Kamil Kaluski
I think you lost me at "Camaro seats". I can tolerate a live axle, but I have standards, and those standards include "doesn't have herpes".
I'm only assuming they're Camaro seats, as everything else looks to be Chevy-sourced. The seats actually look to me like they're out of a Dodge Omni 024. And of course you know that 024 drivers are unlikely to catch STDs owing to the nature of their rides.
Yup, they're the same seats I had in my '85 and '86 Omni GLH.
The builder dropped a whole lot of "Yippie ki yay, motherfucker" on to Hans Gruber here, but unlike Die Hard, this is approximately the exact opposite of awesome.
I'm all for offending PCA members, but I'm failing to see the point of this over a Camaro. Maybe if it had t-tops.
I'd rather crap in the PCA members' cars. It would be more fun and I won't wake up the next morning to find this still in my driveway. Ugh.
Oh well, there's someone that will buy this. After all, Ebay proves that there is a sucker born every minute.
9" rear is a Ford…from somewhere between 1958 and 1987.
I'm all for building SBC/LS# swapped Euro cars with the goal of making them perform better and still (mostly) handle.
This whole TH350 + solid rearend swap nonsense is just lame, and basically validates the Euro-centric crowd's assumption that yank hardware is only good for going in a straight line kinda fast. The truly offensive way to do it is to build a legitimately better car from non-Porsche parts.
x2 on the 9 inch.
Sweet ride, if you're a mullet-wearing deutschebag.
Some of the best things in life are cross-breed. You got that peanut-butter and chocolate treat, Reese's Peanut Butter Cups. You got the Labrador-Poodle Labradoodle. This, however, is one of those that really make you stop and vomit in your mouth. A lot.
Yep, that's a Ford 9-inch. The whole thing needs to be crushed in a monster truck show.
I think the massive hood scoop really pulls it together.
Laugh if you want but down in the Ozarks, this is just the sort of thing that will help a feller push rod.
I surrender. That is awesome.
I wonder if the radiator in the back was a weight distribution play.
It's pretty impressive redneck engineering, and the concept of a V8 in the 924/944 is excellent, but there are better ways to do it (LS1). However, for using stuff that was probably lying around, it's pretty damn good, and would be tremendous fun to hoon.
If you want to stay in the VAG family tree, I know a guy who's putting a turbo Audi I5 into his 944.
Did all US-market 924s wear those awful reflectors on the side?
I wonder what's powering the blue Fiero in the background of the first picture…
Yep, can't blame the redneck engineering for those side lights/reflectors – those were standard Porsche issue for US-market cars.
Aw, hell, you guys are no fun at all. Sure, it's a hack-job. Yeah, the copper plumbing is stupid. Putting a 9 inch Ford rear end in a Por-sha is an unpardonable sin. Lastly, the 924 is probably the most unloved Porsche ever. However, this little bastard is worth around four grand, and will take more abuse than it ever could with the stock drivetrain. If I were to buy this fuckup, and tossed the keys to any one of youse guys, I'll just bet that not a one of you would hesitate to catch them, and go out and wail on this thing. I know I damn sure would, and would have a shit eating grin on my face the whole time. Admit it, I'm right.
Oh, 'Robber, you had me laughing out loud as I read this to Randy just now…! You deserve a Pulitzer for your efforts…!
What's more surprising here is a Fiero with both headlights down.
He actually wants MONEY for that?
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