In the specifications page for the 944, the car was priced as tested at $21,000, comparable to the Corvette. Options included leather sport seats and a digital AM/FM Cassette radio. The engine showed 143 HP and 137 torques at 3,000 rpm – and the article mentions that with peak torque so low, you don’t have to push it to the redline.
One of the most common 944 sunroof failures occurs in the latches in the roof. The cable engages a nylon gear in each latch, spinning it and driving the latch up and down. When something goes wrong, this $10 gear is the failure point – nylon vs. metal.
For the 944, there were actually two engine designs on the table – a 3.5L V6, which was essentially a 928 engine with two cylinders missing, or an inline four cylinder, half of a 928 engine.
A few weeks ago we had a 944S come into the shop with a leaky hatch – not at the top, but the owner complained about exhaust smell into the cockpit.
The D-Production version of the 924 was a factory kit that made the 924 into an SCCA D-Production monster. Al Holbert, Doc Bundy and others campaigned these cars in the early 80’s at SCCA events all over the country.