Copyright © 1999

Porsche Club of America Out For A Spin September, 1999 Bruce Corwin Bruce968@PorscheNet.com

 “It’s all in the numbers” as they say. This month we celebrate the Northeast Region’s 40th anniversary with a wonderful weekend of concours, rally and of course a very nice dinner. And the region is quickly closing in on 1500 members! There is something magical about these numbers, like watching your car’s odometer turn 100,000 or having the Dow Jones break through 10,000. This seems to be a busy year for such things with the year 2000 coming along in a few months. I understand that the third millenium doesn’t really start until January 1st of 2001, but it seems to have been moved forward to January 1st of 2000 by popular demand – it’s just not the same unless all those digits turn over! And did we ever decide what the next decade is going to be called? After “The Nineties” is it “The Zeros”, “The Single Digits” or what? Sometimes numbers can be a problem.
 
Porsche is soon approaching a number problem. Their numbering system began in 1930 with the number 7 (so that people would think they had prior experience.) Well, they worked their way up to bigger numbers; we all remember 356 and 550 for example. Back in the sixties they started the new system with model 901 (which was later renamed to 911). Various projects had numbers up to 954, at which point Porsche realized they were going to run out of numbers fast, so they began assigning the 9 series numbers only to cars. In the seventies we had 924 and 928. By the Eighties we were up to 944 and the 962 racecar. This decade we’ve had the 986 Boxster, and the 993 and 996 variations of the 911. It seems to me that pretty soon we’re going to get to model 999, and then what? Maybe they’ll go backwards and reuse some 9 series numbers. If you know the answer, please drop me a note. Porsche seems pretty set in their ways (“The 911 will always be our high-end car”, “The engine must be in the back”, that sort of thing). So I can’t imagine that in the year 2005 we’ll see an ad for “The Porsche 1003, the car for the Zeros!”
 
In this issue of the Nor’easter, I’m sure there are plenty of stories about the annual Porsche Parade which was in Canada this year. So I will the story of my trip to Canada in August. Except instead of piloting my Porsche North toward Mont Tremblant, I was driving a 15 passenger Dodge rental van West, to Niagara Falls. It was like one of those Brady Bunch episodes where they all drive to the Grand Canyon or something. Onboard, my wife and I had our three sons and two nieces. We also brought our housekeeper and her fiancée. The Brady’s always included Alice in their vacations, although I seem to remember they left Sam the butcher at home.
 
Most of the attractions at Niagara are on the Canadian side, and there are quite a few of them. The falls themselves are spectacular whether viewed in daylight or by multi-colored illumination at night. 212,000 cubic feet of water flow down the river, each second! A cubic foot is about 7 gallons. Interestingly “only” 100,000 cubic feet actually goes over the falls, with the remainder generating electricity. At night and during the off-season, the water flow is reduced to 50,000 cubic feet. The river splits into two portions shortly before the falls with 10% of the water going over the American falls and 90% going over the Canadian (Horseshoe) falls which are 167 feet high and 2200 feet wide. Quite an impressive sight that can be viewed from the railing at the edge of the falls, the “Maid of the Mist” ship or a platform at the base of the falls, or follow a tunnel to see the view from behind the falls. Overall it was a tiring, but good trip. After 9 or 10 hours of driving each way with a truckload of kids, I can tell you that the $260 AC/DC TV/VCR at BJ’s was the bargain of the millenium!