I had a '79 924, 5 speed. Great car in an number of ways but definitely
lacking in others. Very rigid, tight body, buzzy engine. Greatest asset was
fuel economy. Got around 35 mpg driving it home from Florida. I though the
gas was broken. Was fairly easy to work on. Many obvious VW parts including
the rear suspension and brakes, all Beetle.    The AC installation was a bit
funky. Voltmeter was replaced with a concentric fan/temp control.

Overall it was a sporty economy car. The 944 was a much better breed.

>From: Richard A Jones <Jones@COLORADO.EDU>
>Reply-To: Richard A Jones <Jones@COLORADO.EDU>
>To: vanagon@GERRY.VANAGON.COM
>Subject: Re: NVC Might be of interest to some Porsche for sale not mine
>Date: Mon, 18 Aug 2008 20:08:06 -0600
>
>>They called the 924 a "toilet" at the dealers and shops way back when
>
>They shouldn't have called it that--they should have called it
>a "Volkswagen."
>
>The 914 was designed by Porsche for VW.  It was sold as a VW in
>Europe.  For some reason, VW decided not to bring it into the
>US, so Porsche sold it here as a Porsche.  The car Porsche
>designed to sell as a Porsche was the 916, but very few were
>made.
>
>The follow-up project was the 924, but in this case, VW canceled
>before it went to market.  Porsche decided to go ahead with their
>investment and bring it to market as the 924.  When the 944 came
>out, everyone said it was the car Porsche would have designed for
>themselves from the start.
>
>The pancake engines of the 914 (1.7, 1.8 and 2.0 litres) are
>similar to the 2.0 of the T2s and T3s, but have bigger valves
>and different intakes.  Plus, they bolted to the FRONT of the
>tranny since the 914 was mid-engined.
>
>Richard