1993 Porsche 968 Cabriolet

When Porsche replaced the little 914, it was again with a car that had been designed hand-in-hand with Volkswagen. The 924 was the first front-engined, water-cooled car offered by Porsche and the trim little 2+2 hatchback coupe with the engine up front and transaxle in the back took up the mantle of "entry-level Porsche". Powered by a 2.0L SOHC four-banger that was also used in VW cargo vans, it was very much a creature of the Malaise Era.

In the early '80s the basic design was heavily revised and the VW/Audi-sourced truck motor was replaced with a 2.5L SOHC four that was essentially half of the V-8 from the flagship 928 grand tourer, with the resulting car called the 944. That car in turn carried the entry-level Porsche banner for most of a decade, receiving a string of upgrades that culminated in the 944 S2.

Rather than releasing an "S3" upgrade, the ultimate iteration of the 924 platform was given an entirely new model designator of 968. The inline four now displaced 3.0L and sported a DOHC 16V cylinder head and Porsche's new VarioCam variable valve timing setup. Like the 944 S2 before it, the 968 was offered in coupe and convertible versions, with the latter being fairly rare at only 4,374 sold from '92 through '95.

The 3.0L powerplant put out 237 SAE net horsepower and was capable of propelling the 968 Cabrio to sixty in the low six second range when backed with the six-speed manual transaxle, and about a second slower with the four-speed Tiptronic auto. Unlike the preceding 924 and 944, the 968 was built in-house at Zuffenhausen rather than at Audi's Neckarsulm plant. The convertible stickered at $51k, so something like $117,000 in current dollars.

This Polar Silver Metallic example was photographed in September of 2025 using a Canon EOS R and an RF 24-105mm f/4-7.1 IS zoom lens.