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Posted by: dr914@autoatlanta.com May 21 2010, 10:20 AM

http://www.excellence-mag.com/issues/184/articles/the-strenger-six

Posted by: avidfanjpl May 21 2010, 10:34 AM

Nice story! Steve has great iron!

I need to get to Tampa to see it in person. And the beige example too!

Maybe even hear it run?

John

Posted by: carr914 May 21 2010, 10:35 AM

I knew it was going to happen, but not this soon. And now the Fucher won't take my calls.

Congrats Steve

Posted by: jasons May 21 2010, 10:57 AM

Great story. As much as I would love to own a car like that, its really meant for a guy like Steve.

Posted by: Justin Fischer May 21 2010, 12:05 PM

Great story and a beautiful car...

Posted by: Drums66 May 21 2010, 12:10 PM

Nice going!.....it always go's to their Fuchin heads(too soon)

Posted by: Phoenix 914-6GT May 21 2010, 12:14 PM

Congrats Steve. I'd keep ignoring T.C. too if I were you

Just kidding T.C. (post whore)

Posted by: azbill May 21 2010, 12:18 PM

Talk about obsessive, never give up this is it Congrats Steve. Enjoy the car.

Posted by: smg914 May 21 2010, 03:56 PM

Thanks to all for the positive comments. The excellence photographer spent 7 hours with me taking photos of the car. I can't wait to see all the photos that will be in the article. The article will be in the August Issue (there is no July issue) and it will be on the news stands and in bookstores on June 8th.

Today I sent this note to Bob Chapman who wrote the article and took the photos for excellence.

Bob,
I just saw the article on the excellence website and my wife and I really enjoyed reading it. Thank you very much for writing such a great article about a very special car and at the same time your words will give the reader a good sense of my passion. This is a very exciting time for me. As you know from talking with me, "It's all about the car." I look at my ownership of this car as a responsibility. I am the lucky person that by fate and certainly some perseverance and being at the right place at the right time, (or what I call, "Being in the loop") willingly accepted the responsibility of preserving a piece of 914 history. This article is a significant contribution to the process of keeping special vintage cars like the The Strenger Six, alive and well.



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Posted by: jsayre914 May 21 2010, 04:35 PM

Very nice, bueatiful car. I would love to get my car on the cover of a magazine. that is super cool.

mabey i could get mine on the cover of high times or somthing

Posted by: Thomas J Bliznik May 21 2010, 04:53 PM

Steve,

Congratulations, You are a special 914 person & I am happy for you.

We all owe thanks to Pete Stout for his love of 914's. EXCELLENCE Rocks

Tom

Posted by: bcheney May 21 2010, 05:29 PM

Congrats Steve....you are so deserving.

Posted by: carr914 May 21 2010, 05:53 PM

Steve finally took my call, but his head is the size of Clearwater, as the next time I called, I was screened by his beautiful wife Janie. Screw him, I'd rather talk to her anyway.

Anyway, I know for a fact that this article was a repayment of a favor owed. Did anybody see Godfather? Gaglione? comeon.

I'm just glad I got the important stuff out of the car ( the Factory Date-Stamped Recaros) before the numb-nuts knew what he had.

Come-on, Godiva Chocolates & Poems - to a guy .... from a guy


Anyway I did let it get on my lift once.

T.C.

Posted by: watsonrx13 May 21 2010, 05:56 PM

Congratulations Steve....

BTW, I have seen, heard, touched the GT and the Beige car and they are SO much more impressive in person.....

-- Rob

Posted by: URY914 May 21 2010, 06:53 PM

All this sweetness is making me ill.....

Posted by: r_towle May 21 2010, 07:49 PM

I am just thrilled that Peter Stout and Excellence finally discovered the Internet.

Rich

Posted by: bandjoey May 21 2010, 07:51 PM

About a year ago when I was looking for pictures of cars, to decide on my paint color (originally signal orange), I came across a pic of your car in the drive. It's a rear shot, with a silver car in the front of the drive.

I put that on my desktop and look at it every day. Your car is beautiful! When I win the lotto, I'll have a conversion done to match your great original!

Congratulations!

Posted by: rick 918-S May 21 2010, 08:02 PM

Great read! Can't wait for the mag to arrive in the mail!

Posted by: carr914 May 21 2010, 08:05 PM

Must be this shot in my driveway

Posted by: bandjoey May 21 2010, 08:39 PM

That's it. Hundreds of people looked at my desktop over this last year wanting to know about the car. Bring it to MUSR!

Posted by: bigkensteele May 21 2010, 08:49 PM

Got it in the mail today, well before June 8th!

Posted by: ConeDodger May 22 2010, 03:21 PM

I chatted with Pete and a friend, Ernie at the 914World Limo Build Day about that very subject. I mentioned that a searchable index of past issues would be nice and while I can't say that will happen, Pete did say that they are working hard on the website.

Great article by the way...

Posted by: effutuo101 May 22 2010, 05:23 PM

such a wonderful car. Well done!

Posted by: Gustl May 23 2010, 01:43 AM

very nice article

can't wait to see the magazine

Posted by: mojorisen914 May 23 2010, 06:12 AM

Sweet!!!

Posted by: 914 May 23 2010, 08:49 AM

Steve,
I called on the M471 too but was too late,you got it.. Its a real keeper
even with out the original engine the history on it is amazing !!
I own a 70 914-6 with 75K original miles and real clean.The funny
thing is the owner interviewed me too before even looking at the
car.I still own the original 71 914-4 I bought when I was 18 years old
back in 1977,it only has 85k on it.Again congratulations on the
Excellence article...
Take Care,914

Posted by: carr914 May 23 2010, 02:02 PM

Funny thing, it was on Armando's Site for at least a month before it was on PCA.org. Steve is both deligent & Lucky. I guess I have been spoiled, I get to see this car, the Sahara Beige, the World's liteweight Champ, and all my GT parts all the time.

Obviously I was busting on Steve earlier, WE have been friends a long long time.
My only regret is he gave up his 32 year ownership of a Real -6 in order to get this car. Man, you coulda the trifecta, the GT, the Gaglione -6, and the Sahara Beige.

A Good Car, A Great Guy

Posted by: 914 May 24 2010, 11:48 AM

I lurk on Armando's Site Too.. I saw the Gt to but thought it was one of those
high $$ cars.Never thought it was a M-471 Car.Armando's site is a great
914-6 resource,a lot of pictures..
914

Posted by: RoadGlue May 24 2010, 01:40 PM

"It didn’t work. The car remained partially disassembled, pushed to the back corner of a warehouse. Gaglione was at wit’s end; three years earlier, he thought he had an agreement to buy it. “I even advertised my 7,000-mile 1985 Carrera and sold it to the first person that called.” A few days later, he was on a plane, cashier’s check in hand to purchase the 914-6 at the agreed price. “I presented the owner with the check only to hear, ‘Steve, I’ve changed my mind. I have decided not to sell the car.’”

Let me guess... the first M471 resides in Novato, right? If so, that guy loves to dick with people.

Posted by: SirAndy May 24 2010, 01:44 PM

If so, i've touched it. More than once ...

Andy

Posted by: smg914 May 24 2010, 02:48 PM

There's been so many positive comments about the car, the article and even a few about me, that I feel compelled to thank everyone again. So a big THANK-YOU from the car and from me too!!!!!!!!!

To be honest, the story of my 19 year pursuit could actually be a book. So many things happened during that period that it just couldn't all be told in a magazine article, mostly due to space limitations. Although, I couldn't tell a lot of the story because it would have shown that I was willing to do just about anything to get a factory M471 6 and some of my ideas may have been incriminating. But I think the story still gives a good sense of how focused and persistent I was. It literally consumed my life for most of that period.

I still can't believe my dream came true. I've had at least one 914 in my life every single day since March of 1973 and I can honestly say the passion is stronger today than ever.

Long Live the 914!!!!!!!!!!!!!!




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Posted by: Ferg May 27 2010, 09:51 AM

Got mine in the mail last night, great read!

One question Steve, was it raining during the photo shoot? Engine bay picture showed water droplets in the bay. Just curious.

Ferg

Posted by: smg914 May 27 2010, 10:06 AM

Ferg,

It's so funny that you ask about the rain issue. Most people that know me well, know that my cars "never" get rained on. My last 914-6 that I owned for 28 years was never driven in the rain. I guess I will never be able to say that about the M471 car.

When Bob Chapman flew into Tampa to take the photo's, the weather that day was very overcast. Not one ray of sunshine the entire day. It was in February and because of the long cold winter we had in Florida, everything was dead and brown. Tampa looked like upstate New York in the winter. We spent 7 hours together taking photographs of the car at various places in Tampa. At the end of the day we were heading to my house and it began to rain. When we got to my driveway and it began to poor. Bob said that he would like to take some photos with the car wet. So the car sat out at the end of my drive way getting soaked as he took some additional photos. I was freaking out but after a week or so I was able to fully recover. Life is good again.

Posted by: smg914 May 27 2010, 10:09 AM

For anyone that doesn't have a subscription to excellence magazine, the August issue should be in the newstands and bookstores on June 8th.

Posted by: Ferg May 27 2010, 10:22 AM

I kinda figured that was the case, I feel the same way BTW, my car got poured on this spring, at a PCA BBQ I took a risk by driving it knowing the weather was iffy and lost. Still have more undercarriage work to do before the Concours next month because of it

Again, very cool article.

Ferg

Posted by: kevin311 May 27 2010, 11:04 AM

Hey steve
Beautiful car! I live in Oldsmar and deliver pizzas for the Hungy Howies just around the corner from Mirek's Porsche. Driving past that place has haunted my dreams for years,
Now i have my own 914 and now they'll be haunting my wallet.. lol, their good folks over there. They have a silver 959 in there right now,
Again, amazing car, would love to see it in person someday

Kevin

Posted by: URY914 May 27 2010, 11:41 AM

Automotive photographers love to shoot in wet conditions. The moisture really makes the colors pop and also make the roads, be them asphalt or concrete to be more uniform in color.

Posted by: smg914 May 27 2010, 12:20 PM

Thanks Kevin and welcome to the cult. Mirek likes to use Glasurit paint and that suited me fine. He has done a lot of quality work for many 356 and early 911 cars in the area and I'm very happy with his work.

Posted by: JmuRiz May 27 2010, 12:21 PM

Got mine last night, awesome car...always did love those stripes!

Random notes:
-The 356 Cab article is a local guy's car...amazing car restoration project.
-Jake Raby's IMS kit for the 996/boxster motors is in the tech article too.

Posted by: smg914 May 27 2010, 12:36 PM

That's exactly what Bob Chapman said when it started to rain. I desperately wanted to put the car in the garage but he was too busy taking photo's.

By the way, there are two vintage photos (from 1972) of the car in the article. It doesn't mention this in the article or the caption but in the black and white photo, the person outside the car leaning over by the driver's window is Erich Strenger. He's talking to his wife Ursula who is sitting in the driver's seat.

A couple of months ago I was contacted by a guy living in the UK. He told me that back in 1972 the Porsche Club of the UK was going on a trip to tour the Porsche factory. He was a graphic artist and decided to contact Erich Strenger (who was Porsche's graphic artist) to see if they could hook up. Graciously Erich agreed to meet him. When they did meet, they really hit it off and Erich invited him back to his house. Later Erich said, I want to show you something in the garage that I recently purchased. It was the M471 GT. The guy took 6 photos of the car and kept them all these years. He emailed me all 6 photos that were taken in May of 1972. FANTASTIC!!!!!!!!!!!

Posted by: Ferg May 27 2010, 12:50 PM

Neat!

Posted by: URY914 May 27 2010, 01:00 PM

Posted by: URY914 May 27 2010, 01:01 PM

Posted by: Thomas J Bliznik May 28 2010, 12:50 PM

I received my EXCELLENCE magazine today & the (7) page article is better than first mentioned. The opening two page photo is special, paraphrasing my 5-year old granddaughter "it's over the moon"!!!!!

Great compliment to our 914's. My question on the Strenger six???? Why does everyone refer to cars this way When will it be Steve's Six????

Steve, I want to grow up to be just like you.

Tom

Posted by: Nürburg Nomad May 28 2010, 02:36 PM

Great article... now all that's left to do is have some period correct German Bilstein logos made up in Vinyl for historic car shows!

http://www.flickr.com/photos/lwr/3360336896/

Posted by: carr914 May 28 2010, 03:31 PM

I've got them, but Steve is a Puss, so he'll never put them on. I'm a Man, so they will go on my car



And, Thomas, there has been a Gaglione -6, it is the car he sold to buy this one

T.C.

Posted by: Nürburg Nomad May 28 2010, 04:01 PM

Heh Nice! Although I find the German Bilstein logo slightly more appealing; who doesn't love a good Gasdruck Stoss-Dampfer?

Posted by: smg914 May 28 2010, 06:01 PM

I'm really pleased that you enjoyed the article Tom. The article about your car in the August 2002 issue of excellence was done very well too.

Erich Strenger will always be remembered by all the fantastic racing success posters he designed. However during his 38 year career with Porsche he contributed many other great things. He not only designed the Porsche crest (according to his good friend Gerhard Blendstrup) and the P-O-R-S-C-H-E name plate that we all recognize, he was co-founder of Christophorus magazine, and he designed most of the early 356 brochures.

So until anyone can list all the great things I contributed to the marque, I say, "Long live the Strenger six"

Posted by: smg914 May 28 2010, 07:00 PM

I can't see putting the Bilstein and Shell stickers on my car but all the photos I have back to early 1972 show both front quarter panels (above and behind each wheel opening) having a version of the sticker shown on this Strahle GT (see photo below). The sticker that was on my car had "STRAHLE KG" on the top of the triangular sticker. At one point I was considering having a couple of these stickers made.



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Posted by: orthobiz May 29 2010, 05:38 PM

Glad to see the car profiled, Steve. You've greatly improved my life by helping me when I bought my 74 1.8 liter a few years back, I'm still using "your" wheels... Thanks for everything you've done for the 914!

Paul

Posted by: smg914 May 29 2010, 10:16 PM

It was my pleasure Paul.



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Posted by: Maltese Falcon May 30 2010, 02:48 PM

Props to you Steve on the great find and the "Excl" article. When the 986 Boxster was launched back in 1997, Porsche couldn't find enough filing cabinets to keep all of this archival 914 stuff hidden from the new mid-engined Boxster ads. Instead the ads depicted the 986 heritage stemming from cars like the 550rsk and the era of James Dean ! The great 914s that historically ran the gauntlet of speed contests throughout the world, and their great drivers and team owners are now getting their day. I will proll'y see the magazine in the mail on Tue., but I'm sure that Pete S.( also an avid 9146 gearhead) and staff have done a great job on the car !
Marty

Posted by: thomasotten May 30 2010, 04:44 PM

I love the car, especially the satin black painted accents!

Posted by: carr914 May 30 2010, 08:24 PM

It's not Paint

Posted by: smg914 May 30 2010, 08:54 PM

It was a vinyl accent stripe kit shown here back in the early 70's.


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Posted by: carr914 Jun 3 2010, 05:29 PM

Just wanted to point out what a publicity hound Steve is

Here is the Gaglione 6 on the Cover of the Porsche Profile (that he should have never Sold)

Posted by: carr914 Jun 3 2010, 05:34 PM

Steve with his 4Cyl RaceCar on the Cover of Panorama

I believe his cars have also been on the Cover of Florida Trends, Tampa Bay Business Journal & Playgirl

Posted by: carr914 Jun 3 2010, 05:41 PM

Another of Steve's cars, an Original 6 turned RaceCar turned StreetCar. Now owned by our friend Frank - I don't think this made the cover of anything

Posted by: carr914 Jun 3 2010, 05:45 PM

And of course the Sahara Beige ( tucked behind my car).

This was the day I permanently damaged Steve's hearing when I passed him doing 6,000 rpm with the Full Song broadcast by my MegaPhones

Posted by: bandjoey Jun 3 2010, 08:12 PM

Well, Nominate that one for Car Of The Month. We don't want the string broken just because he sold the car.

Posted by: 914 Jun 3 2010, 09:06 PM

So who was the lucky one that bought it?? I bet it was really clean...
914

Posted by: carr914 Jun 3 2010, 09:20 PM

I don't think Frank is a Member of this Forum. As nice as it is, I don't think it ever met the strict Gaglione Concours criteria.

Posted by: carr914 Jun 3 2010, 09:30 PM

Another friend of ours, Joe bought the car, But sold it last year. As I remember it went to Minnesota, Iowa or Illinois.

It was extremely clean, but also driven. Steve was the 2nd owner and owned it for 32 Years (? or close). Steve's wife, Janie, was upset when that car left, as it was their Date car.

Posted by: carr914 Jun 3 2010, 09:33 PM

Of course, Steve forced George to put this Ultra-Flattering Picture in the AA catalog

Posted by: smg914 Jun 3 2010, 09:37 PM

Yo TC...... you are a funny guy brother. The only guy that is funnier than you is Paul. Now that is one funny dude. Anyway, thanks for posting the photos of my old six and the race cars. They sure were fun days. In a perfect world I would have kept my old blood orange 70 six (and probably the white 70 six too) but as we all know, "the world isn't perfect". Heck I wish I still had my old signal orange 1970 911S that I sold back in the 70's.

Posted by: smg914 Jun 3 2010, 09:47 PM

Thanks for posting that fabulous photo of myself TC. I took that photo myself with my left arm stretched out trying to get the camera as far away from my face as possible. Dam, I hope I'm not that ugly.

Here is a photo of Ralph, Me and Armando.


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Posted by: URY914 Jun 4 2010, 06:36 AM

Oh yea, you look MUCH better is that photo. BTW America's Most Wanted monitors this forum so posting your picture here may not be the smartest thing to do.

Posted by: Cairo94507 Jun 4 2010, 07:36 AM

Absolutely great story, photos and car. Congratulations. I have read the article twice so far.