Iconic Cars: The ‘Risky Business’ Porsche

“Porsche. There is no substitute.”

Continuing our series of Iconic Cars, Tom Cruise’s Porsche.

It’s well-documented that any car in a successful film or film franchise is potentially going to pull big bucks when it finally hits eBay.

The green ‘928 in Tom Cruise’s 1983 black comedy drama ‘Risky Business’ is no exception, although for some, the film will be most remembered for Cruise’s mime to ‘Old Time Rock And Roll’ in his jocks and socks. The film and indeed, the scene that cemented Cruise as an all-American heartthrob to be reckoned with.

Cruise famously mimes to "Old Time Rock and Roll"

The car infact didn’t belong to Tom’s character Joel, but to his father… and the movie takes place when his parents leave him home alone. Cue scenes of reckless driving of Dad’s prize possession and it ending up in the drink.

Reckess driving

The ‘928 was originally designed to replace the 911, offering a powerful V8, upgraded comfort and rear wheel drive, but the 911 proved a difficult car to budge from top spot, despite its difficult handling and Spartan interior. However, the ’928 is also arguably the ugliest car Porsche had made up to that date (the Cayenne takes that title now). 

This said, it was also pretty quick; the late 80’s model was the fastest road-car in the world, recording a land speed of 172mph across the Utah salt flats, leading Porsche to market it as ‘about as fast as you can go without eating airline food’.

It also went on to win the prestigious 1978 Car Of The Year, ahead of the Ford Granada and BMW 7 Series, the only sports car ever to do so, which is testament to the technological and styling advances that designers Wolfgang Mobius and Anatole Lapine dreamed up in its creation.

A good vehicle choice then for the filmmakers, being as it was the zeitgeist, a perfect symbol of 80’s luxury, style and excess. And indeed, a lucky one for Porsche who, on the back of Tom and girl of the moment Rebecca De Mornay, found their Teutonic status symbol catapulted into the American conscious -and in a big way. It made far more of an impact over in the States than it did here purely because of the movie… and the fact that the pair of them went at it all over the car.

Four sharks, or ‘land sharks’ as they were known in the States, were used in the filming, three drivable 1979 models and a shell only, sans engine, for the unfortunate ‘car meet lake, lake, meet car’ scene.

 Washing the car goes wrong

In 2012, one of the featured movie cars was sold for a reported $49,000 to the Volo Auto Museum. A conservative price, some might say, although still well above the $7,800 one might expect to pay for a less illustrious model of the same age and mileage.

One of the other cars was owned by the Forney Museum of Transportation, until it was purchased by a Lewis Johnsen of Denver, Colorado. A huge enthusiast, Johnsen was intent on tracking down the actual Porsche from the movie with the registration plate ‘RB928’ and making a documentary about his odyssey in the finding of it, intent on entering the resultant film into the 2008 Sundance Film Festival. There are fans and then, there are fans.

Certainly, this particular Porsche is regarded by Porsche enthusiasts as the most famous Porsche in the world and so it is that it finds itself in that most rarified bracket of being a truly Iconic Car.