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Porsche
Club of America
By Tom
Tate
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The steady progress in cars is seen everywhere. Not just in the Porsches that we drive but in all the cars on the road. The bottom feeding Toyotas and Nissans are better in every way than the four speed antiques that we insist on preserving. They go faster, stop quicker, handle better and use less gas in the process. But of course we don't tinker with the old stuff because we think it's superior, but because it was superior in its time. Nothing cornered like a 356 in the '50's. Remember that we were up against Buicks that had all the engineering of a brick or Fords that could go well but couldn't turn or stop. They were still on bias ply tires well into the 60's. It was always a kick to watch that American Iron get smaller and smaller in the mirror on a curvy mountain road. And you didn't have to work hard at it either. As much fun as it is to tinker, I have to admit that the new cars are a wonder. Every year they get smoother and faster. At this years Zone one Autocross the top cars overall (with one RS exception) were 993's or 996's. The 996 was a 2001 Twin Turbo that was blindingly fast. On a 1 1/2-minute course (total) they were three and four seconds faster than any other car. And they really didn't look that fast. Of course that's really a skill that takes many years to learn. It's really about driving smoothly. But the real surprise was how a car that was bigger and heavier than the models before it could go so quickly. And what's even more amazing is that I know that five years from now the 2007 models will be even faster than any thing that we have now. Like the man says " there will always be someone faster". Maybe that's another reason to play with old cars. There's no search for the newest chip or bigger brakes. Coilovers and crank-fired ignition don't mean anything to us. The biggest update we can do is drum drakes to disc. And that is easy to avoid since it will ruin the originality of the car. It won't really stop any faster anyway. Our time is spent on inspecting stickers on screwdrivers to see if they are reproductions or original. While no restoration is ever really done, once the car is painted and back on the road it can be enjoyed for years. The ongoing search for the correct radio or tool kit won't interfere with those weekend rides through the fall countryside. You can be reading VW Trends or European Car, looking at someone else's project instead of searching Pano for the name of this year’s hot engine builder. The old bathtubs can never really be outdated since they were outdated twenty-five years ago and have come back. Even 914's with their little VW souls are now looked upon as a classic. They were never held in that high esteem when they were new. Early 911's are even on some wish lists. This is after overcoming the short wheelbase drawback that caused everyone to push them into the back of the barn in '69. Suddenly they're just 'nimble'. Not dangerous like we were told many years ago. What the heck, collectors before us restored Ford Model T's with mechanical brakes and thought that it was fun to drive them around. I guess that it all depends on what looks good to you. Hopefully something does strike your fancy and you can help keep another treasure on the road Keep the Faith! |
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