Minneapolis Street Sighting: Porsche 924S

Porsche-- it means exclusivity, performance, and speed, right? Well, with the 924, a buyer did indeed acquire all three of those. Exclusivity? Yep. Just wait till the rear wheelwells rust out. Parts are a bear to find, but it'll at least be guaranteed that when fixed, your 924 will likely be the only one in your neighborhood. Performance? With a VW Beetle-based four, not much was there, but it was adequate enough to plop the Porsche crest on the hood. Speed? Yes, the 924 was indeed available with both a five speed manual. Oh.. that's not what you meant? My bad.
Anyway, the Porsche 924 was introduced in 1975 to replace the cult-loved 914. Instead of having a traditional rear-based engine, the 924 (and 944 and 968) had a front engine/rear drive layout. Whether this was due to non-enthusiasts complaining about haphazard driving in inclement weather, I'll never know. What is known, however, is that 924S differed from its earlier brethren. Instead of offering the crappy 95-110 horse version of the Audi four, it came with the same 2.5 as the later (and somewhat more expensive) 944 cars. Although the engine made 165 horses in the 944, it was detuned to a more meager 150. While not awful by any means, surely its less than expected from a company known for performance. For the 924, not much of said "item" was there.
Most people loathe the 924 for the main reason I discussed above. As odd as a car geek I am, I have a love/hate relationship with the cars. I have liked the 944 since I was little, but as I get older, I tend to favor "first iterations" of a car more. As goes with the philosophy, I am starting to get an acquired taste to the 924 more and more.
This example was not perfect-- far from it to be honest. While it does appear to be mostly intact, there is evidence of a quick repaint, especially on the wheels. While I do watch Wheeler Dealers, and generally respect what they do, I couldn't help feeling that the owner got his idea of black spraypainted wheels from that show. Okay, so the black painted wheels aren't terrible by any means, they're not quite what I would do. I would honestly put the teledials common on 944s and 928s on this example. Cliche Porsche wheels, I know, but I like them. And I think they'd do this car wonders.