Leslie 928 S2

This is the sad story of why this beautiful car, my first 928 love, had to be dismantled and sent to the great junkyard in the sky.

A few months ago, the inevitable happened -- we knew it was coming, just not when. The head gaskets blew out on the 5 speed. The car also needed a trans, torque tube, full engine gasket set, and tires and even after spending all of that money she would still have had a twisted frame. Thus, her name: Twister. And she leaked from every window and door and through the dashboard, too. Badly. You couldn't take the car out in the rain without being dressed for rain yourself.

We didn't know she was in this condition when we bought her, of course. She looked so damn fine, and the parts that we did inspect upon purchase didn't reveal what later turned out to be severe damage to many of the strong points of the car. Kevin (The Guy) discovered some of the bigger problems rather later.

One of the things he found was that Twister was at least two, if not three cars, put together. She had two different VINs, one in front, one in the rear. She had apparently been in several different accidents and had a history as a track car, based on the paperwork that came with her, so she'd lived a hard life. Her undercarriage had major unibody damage, so much so that the car was actually flexing up and down in the middle at the doors as it rode down the road. In fact, when he pulled the door sill plate on the driver's side, there was a crease right across the center of the door sill, and it was starting to rust there. Not good.

When he started dismantling her, he was horrified that he ever let me drive the car, because what he found was downright scary. Here are a few shots of the worst areas:

Upper left corner of hatch (guess it's no surprise she leaked here):


Upper right corner of hatch:


Check out the damage under the door sill of the driver's door:


and in the hatch area behind the driver's door:


And look how twisted up the trans tunnel is:


Gratuitous shot of trans on ground (sadly, the trans was pretty trashed, and the torque tube's splines were totally stripped off, so they were both an utter loss):


And here she is all stripped and getting towed to the junkyard:



(He almost got the windshield out....had it loose and flopping down to the last inch of trim, and then a stray piece of metal or something must have still been attached, and cracked it at the very last second, just as he was trying to pull it out. )







Good bye, my love....



And that's the end of my sad story. Join me in a moment of silence, please?

No_Substitute

*salute*

(That shell would make a damn fine lawn ornament in my neighborhood)

Leslie 928 S2

LOL...we tried to do that for a while. After a few days, one of the neighbors complained and the town made us take it off the lawn!!

Mike Frye

*head bowed and hand over heart*






Ahem, Wait! What about the doors!?!?


I'm sorry, it's the nature of the beast. Blood in the water and all.

I'm glad it's out of its misery and that every possible usable part will go to good use. Good luck with your new one!

Leslie 928 S2

Thanks Mike.

Yeah, those doors weren't all that great. They were not federalized, so didn't have the internal structural supports, one of the door handles was already broken at the hinge, and the door hinges themselves were a little bent from the whole car being bent. They didn't even want to close when the car was jacked up, anymore.

Richard K.

...

DonS

Thanks for making the statistical sacrifice for the rest of us. Hell, a two/three-for-one at that!

Leslie 928 S2

I don't think I understand that reference...but you are welcome for whatever service you feel we rendered!

Daniel Dudley

My only advice would be to get rid of all the bad parts, and what you don't need.

I still have a loft full of Fiat parts left over from the 70s and 80s. I could build several cars if I could find intact bodies.

Sorry for your loss, but boy am I glad you are not driving that thing. Who knows how the brakes and steering were cobbled up.

ColinB

I'd say you had a fortunate escape. Anyway, first loves never last, move on to better things.

Colin. 89GT.

Leslie 928 S2

LOL you guys. Daniel, if I ever see a Fiat around here, I'll let you know!

And Colin, that's so true, and I've already moved on. My dearest hubby has officially given me his formerly supercharged car, the car in my calendar picture (and avatar), now that he has found his dream black on black car. I love Pandora even more than Twister (though I do miss the five speed part). She's just so elegant.

DonS

Statistically somebody's cars gotta go the crusher, just glad (sorry!) it was yours and not mine.

Ispeed

Euro's usually have more skeletons in the closet, for some reason. Rode hard and put away broken. Just harder to find a good one.
The euro 928s were always that little bit better: better gearing, H4 headlights, better driving/fog lights, normal euro side marker light (vs. the US corner marker lights), more hp pre-S4, bilsteins from the factory, no rear bumperettes. Just as the designers and engineers intended before the US D.O.T. and emissions regulations got involved.