This is a Porsche M28 V8 engine that has been turned into a coffee table, and finished in the iconic Rothmans racing livery that so many motorsport Porsche’s have carried since 1982.
The M28 engine was the company’s first V8, it debuted in the Porsche 928 and remained in production for almost 20 years – from 1977 until 1995. Over 61,000 of them were made, and they offered a true grand tourer experience a level above the Porsche 911 of the period.
This is a Porsche M28 V8 engine that has been turned into a coffee table, and finished in the iconic Rothmans racing livery that so many Porsche’s have carried since 1982.
History Speedrun: The Porsche M28 V8 Engine
The Porsche 928 was first shown to the world at the 1977 Geneva Motor Show to a generally positive reception, though its price point was much higher than the Porsche 911 and some purists did grumble about the switch to liquid-cooling.
Porsche’s intention for the 928 was for it to replace the long-in-the-tooth 911 which had seen its sales declining in the 1970s. The 928 was a more modern front-engined, 2+2 grand tourer that was well placed to compete with the likes of Jaguar, Maserati, Aston Martin, Mercedes-Benz, BMW, and even Ferrari.
The plans to cease 911 manufacturing never materialized, much to the relief of many in the motoring world, and both the 928 and 911 would sell side-by-side for almost 20 years from the late 1970s well into the 1990s.
The M28 engine that powered the 928 would be introduced with a displacement of 4.5 liters and 219 bhp for the North American market with 237 bhp elsewhere. The swept displacement and power output would both increase over the production cycle, eventually reaching 5.4 liters and 345 bhp.
The engine that this coffee table was made from is one of the later double overhead cam versions, as opposed to the earlier single overhead cam. It would have originally had a displacement of 5.0 liters and four valves per cylinder for a total of 32.
The Porsche M28 V8 Coffee Table Shown Here
This coffee table has been built around a Porsche 928 M28 V8, with the partially assembled engine finished in a powder-coated Rothmans racing livery. The block wears blue, the cylinder heads, valve covers, and intake manifold are white, and the exhaust manifolds have been done in metallic bronze.
Porsche and Rothmans script accents the intake manifold and camshaft covers, tying the whole piece to one of the most iconic motorsport liveries of the 1980s. The internal parts have been removed in order to keep weight down to an acceptable level.
The M28 engine was the company’s first V8, it debuted in the Porsche 928 and remained in production for almost 20 years – from 1977 until 1995. Over 61,000 of them were made, and they offered a true grand tourer experience a level above the Porsche 911 of the period.
A 3/8-inch-thick tempered glass tabletop measuring 38 inches long by 34 inches wide sits on padded stems with round pads, and a central cutout allows the intake manifold to pass through the glass. The entire assembly rolls on six lockable caster wheels, making it easy to move around while keeping it firmly planted in place once positioned.
This Porsche 928 V8 coffee table is now being offered for sale out of Scranton, Pennsylvania, at no reserve on Bring a Trailer and you can visit the listing here if you’d like to read more about it or place a bid.
Images courtesy of Bring a Trailer
Articles that Ben Branch has written have been covered on CNN, Popular Mechanics, Smithsonian Magazine, Road & Track Magazine, the official Pinterest blog, the official eBay Motors blog, BuzzFeed, Autoweek Magazine, Wired Magazine, Autoblog, Gear Patrol, Jalopnik, The Verge, and many more.
Silodrome was founded by Ben back in 2010, in the years since the site has grown to become a world leader in the alternative and vintage motoring sector, with well over a million monthly readers from around the world and many hundreds of thousands of followers on social media.
