Today I saw a post from Bring a Trailer promoting a 1985 BMW 524td Feuerwehr emergency car for sale that once again reminded me of my passion for European emergency vehicles. They’ve appealed to me for as long as I can remember, probably due to a Lego “Light and Sound” kit I had as a kid. Feeling like I’m overdue in featuring a European police car for Good Find Friday, I’ve chosen this 1979 Porsche 924 “Polizei” Tribute for today’s post.

Porsche police cars, at least authentic ones, are very pricey in their most commonly offered 356 or 911 variants. LIke any working vehicle that’s had a hard life, many of these cars have been retired or lost to time, but fortunately various enthusiast groups restore and preserve the survivors. Owing to their rarity, these cars can be priced at twice the value of a comparable non-police vehicle.

To suggest that the Dutch, German and other police forces were abusing taxpayer money in buying Porsches as emergency vehicles is quite erroneous. Economical cars were more often used. Base-specification cars from Volkswagen, Audi, Mercedes-Benz and more were more frequently used in regular duty. These former-police cars also pop up from time to time, and are often more affordable, but are not Porsches.

There are examples of more entry-level or cheaper Porsches being requisitioned for use as emergency vehicles. Evidence can be found that the Porsche 914, 912, and 924 were all utilized for police duty at one point in time, just in much smaller numbers. In fact, Porsche has built a very cool register to document Porsche police cars used from 1950 to 2018 where you can find many historic photos of vintage P-cars in police livery. To date, there are 402 Porsche 911 registrants, but just ten Porsche 924s.

While this particular vehicle isn’t an original 924 police car, it has been very lovingly converted to a police-spec car and is now for sale by a dealer in Belgium for €18,500 or $20,875.

I’m no expert in authenticating a genuine Polizei vehicle and the listing notes it’s not an exact replica, but based on the photographs this car seems to have been convincingly converted to a police-specification Porsche 924 by the owner. Exterior features specific to its police conversion include green and white visibility paint scheme, Polizei markings on the doors, car numbers on the roof, front siren horns, rear “Stop” message and a blue rotating beacon mounted on the roof.

The hood is emblazoned with the coat of arms of the German state of Rhine-Westphalia. Heraldry and crests are frequently affixed to European emergency vehicles, not unlike the city or state seals used in the United States.

Moving to the interior, police features include controls for the exterior lights and sirens, handset and public address controls, and radio mounted into the glove box.

Police car owners often populate their interior with other collected memorabilia, and this owner is no different. The rear trunk space showcases a fire extinguisher, hand signal, and police uniform.

The listing mentions the car retains its 2-liter engine putting out about 125hp. The engine in the 924 had a custom cylinder head and Bosch K-Jetronic fuel injection in contrast to other applications in Audi, Volksagen and other makes. No engine photo is provided.

The average price of a 1979 Porsche 924 is based on sales over the last 4 years is about $10,625. The highest price realized for a 1979 base 924 was $16,925 for a production race car sold on Bring a Trailer last year. Across all base-model 924s regardless of year the average price is $11,400.

There are no recent sales of Porsche 924 police cars to reference as comparables, but based on the trends seen with other genuine former police Porsches as well as other rare Porsche 924 cars, a genuine example would probably be priced in the $30K+ range. My instincts tell me it would be much higher than the data suggests, however, and you’d see a real 924 police car priced between $60,000 and $70,000.

When comparing the asking price of $20,875 to the average price of a 1979 Porsche 924, the price seems high. However, much money and time was spent in acquiring the vintage components required to convert this car to a respectable replica of a genuine Autobahnpolizei vehicle. You probably would spend at least as much as the asking price to build your own.

As with any vintage car purchase, however, a detailed inspection and understanding of the car’s overall condition would help determine if the car is a good buy or not. With something like this, though, emotion probably trumps rationality. Something holding this car back will be that it’s a tribute and not a genuine police car. On the plus side, it will attract plenty of attention at car shows and could potentially generate income as a movie and TV rental.

I know that if I could spring for it, I would! Have a great Memorial Day weekend, everyone.

Wolf and Mare provides car finding, appraisal and auction services for sellers and buyers of collector European cars. We also provide importation services. Give us a call or drop us a line!