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Porsche
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Fall in New England is the very best time to own an old Porsche. The days are bright and sunny, the nights are cool and there is no need for either air conditioning or a heater. The sun warms up the inside of the car if you leave it parked at Home Depot and all you have to do is roll down a window once underway if it’s too hot inside. Of course you can’t just jump in and drive off because there is always someone there peeking in the window that needs to ask a couple of questions. The questions seem to come from only two types of people. They either had a 356 somewhere in their past or knew someone that did. The first question is almost always “ what year is it?”. It doesn’t matter that the bracket around the rear license plate says 1964 356 and they’ve walked around the car twice. It’s a place to start and an easy question to throw out; they don’t have to be a gearhead. I can understand why folks ask about the year. They’re trying to remember where they were in their life when that bathtub of a car was first noticed, high school, college or just some period many years ago. It seems to bring back only pleasant memories. Somehow, after the years roll by, that flat in the middle of nowhere without a lug wrench or losing a ring and pinion on the way to see a girlfriend doesn’t seem like the end of the world like it did at the time. The incident is just a story that can be recounted to a stranger found driving one of the little tubs. The second question is a little tougher. People seem to want to know how long I’ve had the car. Would it make a real difference? I guess that if I said that I had only had the car for a short time they might think that they could go out and buy one easily, which of course they can. Well, maybe not real easy, based on what I see on Ebay, but it can be done. However when it’s been determined that I’ve had the car for over 25 years they appeared resigned to the fact that they will never have one. Having missed the chance to buy one years ago when they were cheap, it’s just not in the cards of their life anymore. They might have gotten a ‘Pass Go, collect $200’ or even a ‘Get out of Jail free ‘ card. But nobody ever dealt them a ‘Get a 356’ card. It just wasn’t in the deck that they were using. That’s really a shame because for what amounts to very little money these old Tubs really are fun to drive around. A decent average “driver” is somewhere in the mid teens which is about $12,000 less that the average car in this country and that’s a Toyota Camary. Not to take away from the Camary but if you drive one through town nobody will ever know that you were there. How exciting is that? Drive a 356 through town and people stop, look, and remember. Even little kids on their way to a Pee Wee soccer game in a minivan yell, “cool car” out the window. They don’t even know what kind of a car it is let alone what year it was built. It just looks “cool”. Certainly modern cars are a major improvement over what was built in the ‘50’s and ‘60’s. Any Corolla can out brake, out handle and out accelerate a 356 but who cares? They’re not half as much to drive around on a Saturday afternoon in the suburbs. You don’t have to go fast, with the traffic how could you? You don’t even have to have a place to go. The second or third run to the hardware store is fine. Any excuse to get out into the cool fall air with a 356 will bring a smile to the drivers face. If you’d like to be included in that merry little band of Tubbers that we call the 356 Registry group you could even participate in what has become an almost weekly event in the fall, a tour. There is strength in numbers for the timid as most of the Registry members never go anywhere without a tool kit and emergency repair kit, and most important, the ability to use both. Most issues can be addressed with a fan belt or the location of the gas tank reserve switch or just a simple adjustment to a cable. These cars, while exotic forty and fifty years ago, are really very simple by today’s standards. Just think about it, there is only one key. The same key fits everything, which is to say, the doors and the ignition. The key only has teeth on one side and you car get a spare at any hardware store for $3.00. There is no security system, the paranoid pull the coil wire and stick it in their pocket. An oil change only takes four quarts, they have a ten gallon gas tank and will get over thirty miles per gallon the road. The faster you go the better the mileage gets. Or at least it seems. But it’s not about driving fast; it’s about just driving. Enjoy this beautiful New England weather and Keep the Faith. |
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