Those of us who grew up in the 80s remember a nearly beardless Tom Cruise in the film that launched him to stardom, Risky Business, a 1983 film in which he became a successful businessman overnight, taking advantage of a trip his parents took.
The car he drove in the film was a 1979 Porsche 928, which is now up for auction. The vehicle is one of three units used in driving scenes in the Warner Bros film that launched Cruise’s career. Producer Jon Avnet has said that Cruise learned to use the gear shift precisely in the 928, as it was equipped with a five-speed manual transmission.
For those who have seen the movie, the 928 was the source of several memorable scenes. We love this one. After a chase scene where Cruise in his 928 escapes the reach of the bad guy in a Cadillac DeVille Sedan, Cruise pulls up to the curb, approaches Rebecca de Mornay’s leading lady and says, “Porsche. There’s no substitute.”
Later, after the luxury car is salvaged from Lake Michigan (the fourth unit used), the manager of the Porsche dealership where they go to get it repaired tells Cruise and his friends another brilliant line: “Who’s the commander of the submarine?”
The car’s original body was green, but when it arrived at the set the production company painted it gold. With chassis number 9289201213, it was one of 2,275 Porsche 928s built for the USA in 1979.
A brief history of the Porsche 928
In the late 1960s, executives including Ferry Porsche began to consider adding a new model to the range. Falling sales of the Porsche 911 forced managing director Ernst Fuhrmann to initiate a design study in 1971 for a high-end grand tourer.
Several layouts were considered, including mid-engine or rear-engine designs. The former did not allow enough room in the passenger compartment and a rear engine made emissions and noise control difficult. Hence, a front-engine, rear-wheel drive layout with a transaxle was chosen.
The engine chosen was a 4.5-litre, single-overhead-cam, water-cooled, front-mounted V8 (internal code M28), with a Bosch K-Jetronic fuel injection system. Combined with the transmission, axle and differential in an integrated assembly at the rear, the new Porsche 928 achieved a nearly 50/50 weight distribution. Had 240 HP of power, accelerated from 0 to 100 km/h in 6.8 seconds and reached a top speed of 230 km/h.
This combination of sports coupe and luxury sedan was technically different from the rest… and had the right to look different. The folding and retractable headlights borrowed from the Miura, flared wheel arches and curved flanks caught the eye. Among them, the producers of Risky Business.
Why a Porsche 928 in Risky Business
The “Auto das Jahrzehnts” or car of the decade, as it was called, the Porsche 928 was aimed at a different kind of person. In 1983, just before Ferris Bueller’s life, All in one day In Cameron’s father’s Ferrari, Chicagoan Paul Brickman was directing a young, unknown actor from upstate New York named Tom Cruise in Risky Business.
Cruise played a high school senior played by Tom Cruise hiring the services of a prostitute. The other protagonist of the film was this gold Porsche 928. Why this car? Because a high-end GT could be an everyday vehicle for a successful Chicagoan, more exotic than a Ferrari and less “mundane” than a 911.
Of the three 9128s used to drive, only two made it to the chase scene through downtown Highland Park, Illinois, and this unit was used for many of the key shots, including the final shot where Cruise looked directly into the camera and uttered the famous catchphrase, “Porsche, there’s no substitute.” It was also the unit that shot the assets, hence the nickname “filler car” used in the montage to fill in the gaps in the driving sequences.
After its use in film production, it was returned to California, painted white, and passed through several California owners before it was rediscovered by documentary filmmaker Lewis Johnsen of Denver, Colorado. He purchased it sight unseen in the mid-2000s and documented his search on film The Quest for the RB928 (Risky Business 928).
The 928 later arrived at a collection on the East Coast, where it underwent a major cosmetic and mechanical renovation, for which the receipts are kept. It was purchased by its current owner in 2021 at the Barrett-Jackson auction held in Houston, Texas, for a price of $1,980,000, and was stored in a climate-controlled garage for the past three years. Until August 16, 2024, when it was auctioned again by Bonhams, it is expected to fetch between 1,400,000 and $1,800,000.
