Auction site Cars & Bids has hosted numerous engine-swapped cars since launching in 2020, but this relatively humble-looking 1982 Porsche 928 is one of the wildest builds we’ve seen so far. The minor exterior modifications hide a major surprise under the hood: a V12.
V8 swaps are reasonably common; V12 swaps are much more unusual, largely because the pool of available 12-cylinders is pretty shallow and most cars weren’t designed with such a big engine in mind. Here, the seller detoured the usual suspects on the industry’s V12 shelf, like the N74 that powered late-model variants of the BMW 7 Series, and chose a 5.0-liter sourced from a Toyota Century and called 1GZ-FE.
That’s not a typo: Yes, there’s a Toyota called Century and yep, it’s was once V12-powered. It was never sold in the United States, it was mostly distributed in Japan where it was positioned as the brand’s flagship, and the 1GZ-FE engine never ended up in another model, which makes this swap even more unusual. The 5.0-liter has a 60-degree angle, which likely explains how the seller managed to shoe-horn it into a 928, and a little bit of internet detective work lead us to a 20-page thread on enthusiast forum Rennlist that documents most of the swap.
Stock, the Century’s V12 develops about 283 horsepower and 354 pound-feet of torque, though most historians agree that those figures are underrated due to the gentlemen’s agreement Japan’s major carmakers shook hands on in the late 1980s. In this 928, it features several modifications including an MS3Pro standalone engine management system and a three-inch exhaust system, so it sounds absolutely epic.
It gets better: While the Century was only offered with an automatic transmission, this 928’s cavalry reaches the rear wheels through a six-speed manual transaxle sourced from a fifth-generation Chevrolet Corvette. What we’ve got, then, is a V12-powered, stick-shifted 928, which is high on the list of sentences we never thought we’d write. The auction description lists several other modifications, such as 18-inch wheels from a Panamera, Wilwood brakes, a carbon fiber front splitter, an Audi TT-sourced rear spoiler, and seats from a 930-generation 911 Turbo.
Bidding stands at $7,777 with six days left to go in the auction, so there’s plenty of time for that figure to increase, and the auction includes over 270 detailed photos as well as videos. And, this 928 is offered without a reserve, meaning the highest bidder will take home a really, really cool build.
Here’s a suggestion for the winner: There are several dates left in the 2023 edition of the Hot Wheels Legends Tour.
