Car and Driver and 914 Options

[bkrantz]

I just saw this today, a mildly interesting piece in C&D comparing old and new Porsches, including a 914-6.

https://www.caranddriver.com/features/a3901...ions/?source=nl

[Maltese Falcon]

Hi Pete @horizontally-opposed lots of good memories in the Black '74.
C/D magazine Don Sherman, in an arranged meet, greet, ride along in my customer's '77 924 with fresh MSDS turbo system, almost melted it down at OCIR one day; in front of the distraught client that just flew in from SLC !
We agreed that I would drive it through the 1320. He says "Just throw me the keys, I want to take it around the parking lot". Customer says OK...then Don zips it down the 1/4 mile, hitting the rev limiter on every shift; then at the end of the track he points the 924 at us and Jumps all over it in the wrong direction.
It barely idled when he brought it back. I was able to nurse it back to life, clamps and hoses blown off, simple things (luckily) and told him Thanks for the afternoon, nothing to write about here. Collected Tom (customer) and went to Knotts for fried chicken lunch (IMG:style_emoticons/default/biggrin.gif)
That day I learned a lot about editors (with no respect for machinery), how they are accustomed to driving Press Cars, too risky for my budget. Greg Brown (editor) and Les Bidrawn at "European Car" used to dig our 100+mph drives down Veteran in WLA, he never asked to drive any of my projects. I've never thrown the keys to my cars to anyone except my Son, and my air-cooled tech .
(IMG:style_emoticons/default/number40_914.jpg)

[horizontally-opposed]

Hi Pete @horizontally-opposed lots of good memories in the Black '74.
C/D magazine Don Sherman, in an arranged meet, greet, ride along in my customer's '77 924 with fresh MSDS turbo system, almost melted it down at OCIR one day; in front of the distraught client that just flew in from SLC !
We agreed that I would drive it through the 1320. He says "Just throw me the keys, I want to take it around the parking lot". Customer says OK...then Don zips it down the 1/4 mile, hitting the rev limiter on every shift; then at the end of the track he points the 924 at us and Jumps all over it in the wrong direction.
It barely idled when he brought it back. I was able to nurse it back to life, clamps and hoses blown off, simple things (luckily) and told him Thanks for the afternoon, nothing to write about here. Collected Tom (customer) and went to Knotts for fried chicken lunch (IMG:style_emoticons/default/biggrin.gif)
That day I learned a lot about editors (with no respect for machinery), how they are accustomed to driving Press Cars, too risky for my budget. Greg Brown (editor) and Les Bidrawn at "European Car" used to dig our 100+mph drives down Veteran in WLA, he never asked to drive any of my projects. I've never thrown the keys to my cars to anyone except my Son, and my air-cooled tech .
(IMG:style_emoticons/default/number40_914.jpg)

^ Sad to hear, but par for the course in a lot of my industry. But it ain't all of the industry.

I wasn't allowed out of a parking lot in my dad's '64 VW Bus until I could get going—repeatedly—without touching the throttle. Clutch only. His point, over and over and over: Be smooth, have sympathy (he was an engineer, and drove that bus as his daily for 30 years, 1973-2003). Turned out Hurley Haywood, my first driving instructor, wanted me to be smooth too. Turned out, so did David Murry, my favorite driving instructor ("Ok, now you need to work on being smooth getting off the brakes").

There are a lot of people in my industry who view every drive in someone else's car as "their opportunity" rather than a privilege and responsibility. Example: I get a call to let me know a 911 GT2 won't be delivered on time because both turbos failed. So I think, ok, I've owned turbo cars for years and years—and while modern turbos can fail, it's really rare. But wait, BOTH turbos failed? How does that happen?? So I ask. Turns out, an editor was done for the day, and decided to do donuts on the rev-limiter in first until the rear tires were finished. Who does that? And how does it serve readers again? Another: I was sent out to ride with a writer in a Ferrari V12, because the editor who had the car didn't trust the guy. Not far from the office, on cold oil, he goes full throttle to redline up the first onramp. I mentioned "cold oil!" and the basic response was one I heard too often: "Relax, it's a press car."

No, it's a car. And if that isn't enough, it's someone else's car. Doesn't matter who it belongs to. Also: Beating on a car doesn't make you quicker. I have never understood the appeal. But it's hardly just journalists…

Ah yeah: GB is good people. I appreciate him more and more as the years go by.
And: I've been privileged to ride and drive with some of the greatest, but none came close to the smooth speed and sympathy of Linge in an Abarth GTL. None.