This is a coffee table built around a Porsche M28 V8, the engine used in the Porsche 928 in various displacements throughout its 18 year production run from 1977 till 1995.
The coffee table has a tempered glass tabletop supported by four padded metal posts which are mounted directly on the engine itself. The engine is finished in the Sunoco livery of yellow over blue, and the central intake manifold rises up through a cutout in the glass.
When it was unveiled at the 1977 Geneva Motor Show the Porsche 928 was destined to be the successor to the Porsche 911. As history played out that never happened, and the 911 defied the odds by outliving the front-engined usurper. Image courtesy of Porsche.
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.
This Porsche M28 928 V8 is painted in Sunoco livery with yellow over blue, it has the Sunoco logo painted on both cam covers, and it has a tempered glass tabletop supported by four padded metal posts with the intake manifold rising through a cutout in the center.
The listing for this M28 notes that it no longer has its internal components, it no longer needs them of course and this will also mean it’s a little lighter and easier to move around when needed. It measures in at approximately 35″ long, by 31″ wide, and 21″ tall and it rides on six heavy duty caster wheels.
If you’d like to read more about it or register to bid you can visit the listing here on Bring a Trailer. It’s being offered for sale out of Napa, California with no reserve price, and it comes with a shipping crate.
Images courtesy of Bring a Trailer
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