That may have been me [
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The first models we noticed suffering from rear wheel arch, sill and lower front wing rot were the 86 Turbos and 88 Turbo S models about 15 years ago when the 944 was almost otherwise unheard of as suffering except around the rear number plate lamps and the tailgate latch areas.
The weird thing is, it seems like these 86 turbos and 88 turbo S models either really suffered badly, or almost not at all and the examples of those two models which are around today are nearly all in really fantastic condition, but at one point years ago, it seemed that about half of those models were suffering to an acute level.
I was just being trained during the run out of the Turbo S model and contrary to official stories there were 944 Turbo S cars being assembled at Zuffenhausen when I was there and only Turbo cup cars at Weissach.. All the ones I had seen at Zuffenhausen were Silver Rose cars, I was not at Neckersalm in 88 so can not comment on if there were any Silver Rose cars there in production or just the slightly later non silver rose 944 Turbo S models.
Looking back, the Turbo S cars which seemed to suffer from rot were all Silver Rose cars, and I do know all the Turbo S cars had their bodies built up at Neckersulm, or at least they had come through there, but as I was not in the paintshop I do not know if the Silver Rose cars I had seen being assembled at Zuffenhausen were painted there, or at Neckersulm.
So my theory, which could be complete tish, is that the cars which suffered the rot, in particular the silver roses which suffered with rot, were possibly transported from Neckersulm to Zuffenhausen in white base, protected or not, who knows, and may have therefore suffered somehow through not going straight from primer to paint to production line in one hit.
The thing that makes me wonder about this is once I was told that 1987/1988 Fords rusted because of a trade dispute left many cars exposed outside in primer only while they were stockpiled/bottlenecked and unable to be painted.. this could be a myth.. But it made me wonder at the time I heard it that maybe the movement of 944 silver roses from one plant to another had something to do with it..
But then again, maybe 1988 was a bad year for steel.. who knows.
Other than those 86 turbos and 88 Turbo S models which seemed to suffer, it was another ten years before we started seeing any 944's really suffering from rusty rusty sills, other than the odd car which needed small repairs, often cosmetic, for rust bubbles, which often would seem like an accident repair had seen areas sanded back down to bare metal and presumably removed the galvonised coating.. Then around 2010 we started seeing 944's suffering sill rot and lower front wing rot coming from the inside out.
Interestingly when we did start to see the sills and wings rotting from the inside out, it was always 944 S2s and 944 turbos as a rule and I have always put this down to the plastic under sill/wing trims/skirts which the S2 and turbo wear, collecting dirt which may block the drains and hold damp dirt against any exposed areas at the bottom of the wing.. But more likely, because they rust from the inside out, I believe it was the former.
968's have a different side skirt of course, which may not cause the same issues as the s2 and turbo trim/skirt
We have seen non turbo and S2 models suffer from rotten sills and front wing rot, but I think that in many cases is down to eventual blocking of the drains again and accumulation of mud in the lower wing.
On the "lux" thing.. I tend to refer to non S2 and Turbo models as a "lux" simply because it was next to impossible to buy a non turbo or s2 944 without the lux spec in the UK, many of the non lux uk spec cars were either ordered in Germany by servicemen with a tax break on buying a car in germany to uk spec, or someone in the uk ordered it from a uk opc and made a point of not wanting a sunroof.. So sorry if it does niggle anyone me using the term lux, but it is just used for clarity that is is not a turbo or s2 that I am talking about.. Calling it a 944 Base, vanilla or bog-standard as well as any other term might come across to non turbo or s2 owners as somehow talking down their cars which are special in their own right.
Pre 80/81 924's rotted out so quickly due to there being only partial galvonising, that I am pretty sure of.
