By all accounts, last weekend’s “Racing Into Spring” Club Race at Lime Rock Park was a great success. Over 100 racers from 17 PCA regions and 4 different PCA zones attended, as well as over 800 spectators. I’d like to take this opportunity to thank all of the volunteers who made this event possible. This was Joe Kunecki’s first year as Club Race Director and he did a sensational job “keeping the wheels rolling”. I hope that some of you who are reading this were able to attend, and if not, there is always next year.

Whenever I attend a major club event like this one, I am always amazed by the level of commitment that I see from our volunteers who give up a full day (or two) to help pull these types of events off. I spent a good portion of my time on Friday and Saturday working at the front gate with a terrific group of members (including my wife, Meryl), some of whom traveled long distances just to be there and help out. Many of the conversations we had while working centered around when we purchased our first Porsche and joined CVR. That got me to thinking about my own long journey over the years with the Porsche brand and the Porsche Club of America. 

I still have strong memories of the first time I walked into a Porsche showroom and saw a Conda Green 911S sitting on the showroom floor, with its houndstooth seats, low stance and Fuchs wheels, looking totally otherworldly. If memory serves me, the price was about $25,000, a staggering amount for a student paying for college and working at a $125 per week job. Since the Porsche Manhattan showroom was directly across the street from my office, needless to say I became a frequent presence there (probably more frequently than they would have preferred), befriending several of the sales specialists that worked there and pestering them with many questions about the Porsche brand.

Fast forward a few years later, I was driving a lowered 50HP 1966 VW Beetle “sportscar” with an Empi exhaust and bumpers replaced by lengths of 3-inch diameter pipe front and rear. I was looking to upgrade to a “real” sportscar, but a Porsche 911 was clearly out of my price range. 

While living in NYC, I was visiting my parents in Rockland County, NY when I passed the local Porsche Dealership on Route 59 and saw an older metallic brown Porsche coupe sitting out front in their pre-owned area. A quick U-turn put me in their lot talking with one of their salesmen. That coupe turned out to be a 1968 912 and they were “only” asking $3,100. After a test drive and a bit of negotiation we settled on a price of $2,945. I gave them a deposit of $100 (yes, I wrote $100) and I was then the proud owner of a Porsche. Final price with sales tax (and $8 license fee!) was $3,070.80.

My father was shocked (to say the least) that I would spend $3,000 dollars on a five year old German car. I remember his exact words… “for that amount why don’t you get yourself a nice new Plymouth?”. 

Looking back over the years, I still think buying that 912 and joining PCA soon thereafter (Metro Region) was one of the smarter decisions I’ve made. Of course, moving to Connecticut and joining the CT Valley Region was an even smarter decision.

CORRECTION

I’m sorry to say that one of our sharp-eyed CVR members pointed out a fairly serious mistake in the 2023 calendar that I put together for the club.

The dates on the month of August are wrong. Since it would be far too costly to re-print and mail I have included a one page PDF “patch” for the month of August with this article. This can be printed out at full size on your home printer and affixed to the calendar with tape or staples.

August Calendar patch instructions: Click the link below to view and download the patch