Porsche 928 Studie H50 (1987)

Porsche and the German aftermarket company AMG created a prototype custom 928 four-door sedan in 1986. One cannot help but think that this variation was a prototype for a new 928 that would have created an entirely new market niche, further differentiating it from the 911, but it most likely ended up as the basis for the Panamera introduced in 2009.

This uncommon and odd car was handed to Heinz Prechter, founder and CEO of ASC (American Sunroof Corporation), whose big automotive aftermarket organization, situated just south of Detroit, had a tight association with Porsche, according to current Porsche designer Harm LaGaay. The craftsmanship of this conversion is superb, matching or exceeding the famed fit and finish of a new Porsche. To match the external paintwork, the entire cabin, for example, is lined in luxurious burgundy leather.

This rare factory bespoke Porsche was offered with no reserve at the RM Monterey auction on August 16, 2002, and sold for $44,000, roughly four times the market rate for similar-vintage 928s.

It wouldn’t be the last time the 928 was used as a four-door. Porsche itself tested a four-door sedan in the late 1980s. Under the supervision of Porsche’s design director Ulrich Bez, stylist Harm Lagaay created the 989, which was more of a true four-door than any of the previous one-offs. While the prototype was never produced, many of its design features were: the canted headlamps were utilized on the 1993 to 1998 “993” version of the 911, and the wraparound tail lamps undoubtedly impacted those of the 1998 to 2005 “996” 911.