Prescott’s car life is fascinating.  Chevrolets were his focus in his early years.  His first car was a 1955 Chevy Bel Air convertible.  His introduction to Porsches occurred during high school when one of his classmates was given a beautiful red 1956 356 A Speedster.  Prescott remained faithful to Chevies, however, until he emerged from his chrysalis upon completion of graduate school in 1967.  His priorities were impressive even back then; immediately after graduation, he purchased a 1965 slate gray 356 SC coupe.  He then proceeded to buy appliances for his new home in Westport!  In 1968, he bought another Porsche, a 1963 356 B Super cabriolet in heron gray, a 58-year-old car that his family still nurses.

Nineteen sixty-seven was Prescott’s first year of membership in CVR PCA. He was not a member in 1969 and 1970; he rejoined in 1971. Cumulatively, he has been a club member for fifty-two years. He is one of 18 members/associate members who have been with CVR PCA for fifty or more years. From 1971 to 1982, he did not participate in many club activities. He was involved in his career in consumer marketing. Among other professional experiences, he performed advertising consulting for Coca-Cola and Bristol-Myers, as well as marketing management for Playtex. Later in his own business, he published reference books and how-to books for free-lance writers.

Although Prescott was not involved in many club activities in his early years of membership, he was never without at least two Porsches. During this time, he began collecting Porsche sales literature, factory memorabilia, posters and Porsche-model toys. The collection grew over the years to approximately 5,000 pieces. He sold most of the collection to the famous Porsche collector, Ranson Webster, for his eponymous museum. Prescott subsequently rebuilt his collection to 4,000 pieces, which were sold in 450 lots over two days in a Sotheby’s online auction last summer. Both of his collections were an avocation. For other collectors, they might have been developed more with an eye to speculative income. They were quite valuable.

In addition to the collections, Prescott developed a library of complete sets of Road & Track, Car and Driver, Sports Car Graphic, SCCA’s Sports Car, Automobile Quarterly, Excellence, 356 Registry, Panorama and other publications. He gave the library to a next-generation family member in 2018.

In 1982, Prescott saw vintage racing in action at the Monterey Motorsports Reunion (then known as the Monterey Historics), which still occurs at the beautiful Laguna Seca Raceway in Monterey County, California. The races are part of the Monterey Car Week that includes the Pebble Beach Concours d’Elegance. Porsche was the featured marque for the first time at the Historics in 1982. Spectating vintage racing inspired Prescott to attend a CVR Monthly Meeting the next month with the objective of participating in driver education. Guided by husband-and-wife team, Linda Goodman and Eric Grossman, both of whom ultimately served separate terms as CVR presidents, he purchased a 1973 black 911 RS. He participated in 22 DE events in 1982 and 1983; Eric was his first instructor. Prescott became an instructor by the end of 1983.

Thirty-eight years of DE, time trials and racing followed. Prescott has driven in series hosted by the Sportscar Vintage Racing Association, Historic Sportscar Racing and Historic Motor Sport Association. He has also driven in PCA Club Races and Sports Car Club of America Regionals. His 1965 two-liter 911 ex-TransAM SCCA race car was affectionately known nationwide as the “Race Roach.” Surviving multiple owners, the car was in twelve verified wrecks. No original body panels remained on the car with the exception of the roof, which was badly dented. Some of Prescott’s other race cars were a 1972 911 ST 2.5 liter, a 1969 356 Super 90 GT and a 1985 944 Turbo Playboy/Escort Series showroom-stock race car. He also owned and raced an ultra-rare 550 Spyder, which was a Weinsberg-body, flat-front prototype that was one of three Porsche-factory entries at 24 Hours of Le Mans in 1954. It won its class and placed twelfth overall.

At the same CVR Monthly Meeting in 1982 where he was the beneficiary of Goodman and Grossman’s guidance, Frank Carrington, former CVR president, asked if anyone had been to the Monterey Historics.  The story goes that, after a long pause, Prescott hesitantly raised his hand.  Frank asked him if he took any photos of the event.  Prescott responded that he had taken about 200 Kodak Ektachrome Slides. Two hundred slides!  He was invited to show them at the next Monthly Meeting.  His presentation was memorable.  His affability, knowledge and passion for Porsches were enthralling.  In addition to his captivating presentation, he wrote an eight-page article in Challenge about the Historics.

I have identified several of Prescott’s traits to which his success may be ascribed.  I believe his transcendent trait, however, is that of communicator.  He is impressively articulate in conversation.  He is an engaging raconteur.  If Ken Burns decides to film a documentary about CVR PCA, Prescott would be an ideal narrator – – a Shelby Foote of the Porsche World.  He is in demand as a speaker and public-address announcer.  He has been the guest speaker at CVR Annual Meetings and, for many years, has been a principal announcer at CVR Club Races and Porsche Rennsport Reunions at Daytona International Raceway and Laguna Seca Raceway.

So, saying goodbye to Prescott as the club’s historian was difficult for me. I will still see him, but less frequently. I am comforted knowing he will remain a Porsche guy to infinity. His garage today has two 356s. One of them is the heron-gray 1963 356 B Super I describe in the third paragraph of this article; the other is a preservation (original, unrestored) 1965. He has a preservation-winning 1968 911 coupe and preservation-winning 1972 911 coupe. For driving fun, there are a 964 Carrera RS, a 993 Carrera RS, a 997 Club Coupe and a 997 GT2 RS. His daily driver is a Cayenne GTS. When Prescott is not attending to his stable of cars, he is active internationally in importing and selling Porsche models he has always admired: 964 and 993 RSs and RSRs, 993 GT2s and 954 Turbo S Flachbaus and Leichtbaus – – all performance cars that Porsche never imported into North America when they were new.