Automakers
are manipulating and controlling what we smell in a new car...and don't
want to smell. They've realized that the aromas can make or break
the sale of a new car. That "new car smell" is a mixture of the organic
compounds that are emitted from the rubber, leather, plastic, cloth and
chemicals used in a car.
Ford has not tried to enhance
this new car odor but is working to isolate the individual components to
ensure that production changes do not detract from the overall sensations.
They've developed the "E-nose 4000" smell-analyzing computer to augment
the human noses used at the Analytical Section of Central Laboratories
in a suburb of Cologne.
GE Plastics Europe, a major
supplier to many automakers, has a separate lab where their "expert noses"
work only 15-30 minutes every few days. More than that and their special
ability is used up. These noses are also in demand for wine tastings.
GE is using these noses, full-time workers with a highly developed sense
of smell, to keep foul smells out of your car and tailor specific odors
to client requests.
Others like G.M. and DaimlerChrylser
have said that the "new car smell" is not under discussion. Dr. Sassmannshausen,
head of the Cologne lab warns that a quick squirt of an auto-supply store
fragrance can immediately wipe out all of their careful work.
Member Profile of the Month
Vic Zeller is a 98th percentile
Northeast member. That is, having past his 25th anniversary with
the region, only 2% of our members have been around longer than he.
And those twenty-six years hold quite a Porsche story.
Chatting with a neighbor
one day, Vic learned that his brother had an OLD Porsche that he was trying
to sell, a 1960 Cab. As we well know, one thing led to another and
Vic found himself the owner of his first Porsche for $300. Hell,
how could he go wrong? A pair of rotors cost me almost that much
just yesterday.
I'm sure the reader can see
it coming. That '60 Cab had plywood under the driver's seat, both
front fenders flopping around in the wind, and some bad valves. That
began Vic's continuing education in restoring old Porsches. The valves
got replaced properly as he had some VW engine repair experience, but the
rest was, in his words, "very primitive". The front fenders got bolted
on with angle iron.
Within a year Vic had his
second Porsche, this time a '64 356 Roadster. And in the past thirty
years he's owned more than FIFTY Porsches, many of them in his words, "wrecks
and junks". The repair and restoration has been an ongoing, evolving,
almost living thing. Which ever car or cars were the "projects' of
the time, were the recipients of parts from other Porsches, bought and
sold specifically for that purpose. Maybe this was the forerunner of recycling,
throw nothing away that may have a use.
With each project, Vic's
skills developed as he learned "on the job". This one needed a new
floor pan, so welding skills were learned. That one needed a new
rag top so convertible building skills were developed. This has always
been a labor of love, never a business. In fact, it took many years
before Vic began to "break even" with his hobby.
Today Vic and Margie have
an '87 911 cream puff that needs no work, turn the ignition and they're
off to another Rally or Ramble. Of course, once project cars are
in the blood there's no anti-body for the affliction and a '57 Speedster
is waiting to be worked upon. We've all heard or known of relationships
that have been torn apart by Rally conflicts. But not the Zeller's,
as they're one of those couples who enjoy, and get along well working together
in a Rally. Margie is an outstanding Navigator and together with
Vic's Driving, they've won many Rallys.
Vic has been a Science Teacher
at Bristol Community College for "too long" in his words. Margie
is presently a Sr. Software Engineer after having taught Computer Science
at UMass Dartmouth. The Zeller's have nothing but good words and fond memories
of all the good times shared with Northeast, PCA and 356 Club friends.
Of course looking forward to more of the same keeps us all going.
Sobering Thought of the
Month
Did you know that two-thirds
of people who lived to be 65 in the history of the world are alive today?
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