Written on May 19th, 2011 at 9:14am by Pepper Girl
We’ve seen Porsche billboards before, but this is the first time we’ve ever seen a Porsche predicting the end of the world.
I wonder if they used water paint??? At least they didn’t use a 911…
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[Source: @SloppyMcCheese via Reddit]
Written on May 6th, 2011 at 2:16pm by Pepper Girl
Ever since the pictures of the “floating Porsche”were first published on the web, speculation has run rampant about the person or people behind what is now legend and the outcome of this obviously beloved machine. PorschePurist.com had a chance to speak with the car’s owner earlier today and here’s what we learned.
You can hear it in his voice as he assures me my call is welcome and not too early, “this is a fine time to talk, we’re still fighting the flood and trying to get ready for Derby in the same breath.” By “Derby” he means the Kentucky Derby and he and his wife (along with many others in the area) are preparing for it in earnest, flood waters be damned. When you live in a flood zone, along a river, you prepare for certain contingencies, “It was a crazy spring, we normally have a flood after the snow melts up in the West Virginia mountains and Appalachia and all that. We got through that one. I had the Porsches out in the garage and lo-and-behold we came with another big storm that was unexpected.”
Unexpected is right. NOAA or what you might know as “The National Weather Service” predicted the river would crest at a height of 24 feet. Very high water indeed, but nothing the area hadn’t seen before. Well, with four days of continuous rain, NOAA was forced to adjust their calculation and do so in a big way. They now calculated the river to crest at 34 feet; a full 10 feet higher then what was planned for. “That change in calculation was announced and boy everyone was scrambling. Everyone along the river was scrambling to find new ways to take care of their property and that’s when my buddy Smokey came in,” said Musselman.
“Smokey” is the mechanic of one of Bill’s boating buddies (you probably noticed the marina right next to Bill’s house in some of the earlier pictures). Using the original predictions from NOAA, Bill had jacked the 1992 Porsche American Roadster (Bill purchased the car in 1992 and it’s apparently the only “Fly Yellow” one of the 250 made) onto blocks giving it plenty of height and what should have been enough to manage the original predictions. As the rain continued for days on end, the river continued to rise. Bill’s house sits at the end of a point on the river in a marina community. The access road through the marina sits on much lower land than his house and consequently floods sooner. When the flood waters started lapping against the bottom of Bill’s garage door Smokey suggested they might want to try something different than the blocks.
“You know, I’ve got a bladder that takes a 27-foot boat. Let’s just put this sucker up on that,” said Smokey. “So, we did that, Easter morning, 7 AM and there was my easter egg basket,” proclaimed Musselman. In case you’re wondering Easter Sunday was April 24th. That means the Porsche sat on the float, tethered to the house and exposed to the flood waters, for close to two weeks. When I told Bill about the rumors his now famous Porsche had sunk and asked him to verify if she survived he said, “Oh Yeah. I’d say. I got her down and cranked her up and she’s happy as a lark.” When I asked him where the 964 was now he said she was back in the garage. You mean the house wasn’t damaged? “Oh no, it’s got a concrete foundation that’s 17 feet high and the walls are a foot and a half thick. The water just went into the lower level which it’s designed to do and then you wash it out.” The house itself sits on top of the massive concrete structure. Now that’s solid design.
There was one last rumor I wanted to dispel. It had been reported that Bill was some type of boat captain, perhaps even captain of the Belle of Louisville and that was why he was so well prepared for this event. Explaining this to Bill and asking about his career path Bill simply laughed and said, “no, no, one of my buddies is though [captain of a steamboat]. I don’t think many passengers would get aboard with me after seeing my car on a raft. I’ve been around boats all my life, but this is my first car-boat.”
Built by AirDock, Smokey and Bill used 3 bladders that make up a system for supporting a boat up to 27-feet in length and 7500 lbs in weight. With the turbo bodied cabriolet weighing in at less than half that amount, the bladders worked perfectly. “Two of the three bladders were in the back where the engine weight is. It was very well balanced. It was surprising.” Each bladder has ropes that tie/lash them together and then there is a separate pump going to each section (look closely at the picture above and you can see three air lines coming out of the pump housing).
With the storm over and the water receding, life is slowly returning to normal. “The water has dropped drastically, it’s dropped 12 feet,” said Bill. The 964 is now back safe in the garage and sits next to Bill’s 2011 Porsche Carrera S. Having survived two floods (the house flooded once before in 1997) and 20 years under one roof and one owner it’s pretty safe to say this very collectible Porsche is a survivor.
We would like to give a special thanks to the owner of this lovely and now very famous Porsche for taking the time to speak with us.
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Written on May 4th, 2011 at 11:33am by Pepper Girl
A Porsche owner near Louisville Kentucky took every possible precaution to make sure their Porsche would be high and dry even if their house wasn’t. With rising flood waters rapidly approaching their home and no where to go… genius struck. What better idea than to tether a float to your home, drive your Porsche on and inflate it to ride out the high water. From the looks of the picture below, the water is at least four or five feet up the garage door. Kudos to the owner of this Porsche! UPDATE BELOW and at Interview with Floating Porsche Owner.
How far have you gone to keep your Porsche from damage?
UPDATE May-4-2011 9:06 PM: According to the local PCA chatboard, where this Porsche is located, the owners efforts, while heroic, didn’t save this Porsche. We’re waiting to hear back from the owner or someone close to them to verify, but that’s what’s being reported on the PCA chat service. We really hope it’s not true…
UPDATE May-6-2011: The rumors were wrong! The floating Porsche 964 survived. Read the interview with the owner of the floating Porsche for more pictures and details.
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[Source: Dede Seward on Facebook and Hugh Tacket via Porschebahn]
Written on April 14th, 2011 at 2:00am by Pepper Girl
Our first two Photo Caption Contests were such a success we’re going to keep them going. The last photo inspired more than 90+ entries. We’re hoping that this month’s photo will do even better. Take a look at the picture below (we chose it thinking the captions should be a lot of fun. For those of you who aren’t familiar with him that’s Richard Sloan of SloanCars.com) and then check out our simple rules. If your caption is picked you’ll win a Waterless Spray on Car Wash Kit courtesy of Griot’s Garage.
Griot’s Garage, once again generously offered to sponsor this contest with some of their best selling product. Simply click on the left side of the banner above to learn more about the product or on the right side to watch a short video that shows how the Spray-On Car Wash works.
The contest ends on April 21, 2011. If we pick you as the winner, we’ll notify you via email and/or by commenting below to arrange shipping (so be sure you give us a good email address and be sure to subscribe to comments).
We have lots more good stuff to give away, (e.g. Flying Lizard team gear, cases of Mobil1 oil, Gift Certificates for Service Work, RC Cars, Die-Cast Models, Books, etc., etc.). What we need are great pictures to use for future contests. If you have a funny or interesting Porsche related picture you think is a good fit for our caption contest send it along to us at captioncontest@porschepurist.com. If we use your photo we’ll send you a PorschePurist shirt just to say thanks.
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[Picture Source: SloanCars.com]
Written on April 3rd, 2011 at 4:52pm by Pepper Girl
Every year, without fail, numerous online ventures set-up some fairly elaborate April Fools’ Day pranks (think Google Motion Mail). The automotive industry is no different. While there were a number of notable pranks, below is a short list of those Porsche related and a link to the original article. Be sure to pay attention to the details and read the various comments posted by the readers on each of these sites. At times, these can be as funny as the story itself.
This headline really needs no introduction. Simply click here to read all about Jimmy Johnson’s latest ride.
This well written spoof takes advantage of Porsche’s proclivity toward introducing more and more variants of each model line-up and suggest a 4 cyl Panamera built to compete with Honda and Toyota. You can read the full article for yourself here.
In this short spoof by our friends at Total 911 Magazine, Editor Phil Raby forecasts the ultimate demise of the venerable Porsche 911. Check out the full post at Total 911.
Jalopnik pulled off one of the more complex stunts of the day when they announce that AOL and AutoBlog had joined together to purchase the Gawker Media property and quickly rebranded the entire site as “Autoblognik”. Appropriately, the newly named site when on to post a number of satire type posts including this one that might not be too far off the mark.
While I’m sure there were more than just those listed above, they were the four that caught our eye. Do you know of any other good Porsche Related April Fools’ Day jokes?
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[Picture Source: TopSpeed.com]
Written on February 14th, 2011 at 3:27pm by Pepper Girl
In a post last week we talked about how Mercedes seemed to have borrowed liberally from Porsche in their Super Bowl advertisement. That got us to thinking about Porsche and their approach to advertising.
Over the years Porsche has produced a fair amount of print advertisements and TV commercials (some, like the one above, more memorable then others). While we’ve seen a fair amount of them, we know there are lots more we haven’t seen. As a result, we’re asking for your help. Take a minute and comment below with your thoughts on the best piece of Porsche marketing you’ve seen – video, print or otherwise (if you’re reading this via email you’ll need to click on the title of this post to visit the site and comment). If your nomination can be found online, and you have a link to it, please post it so others can see too.
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[Porsche print ad source: Bloganubis.com]
Written on December 24th, 2010 at 12:01am by Pepper Girl
Twas the night before Christmas, where all through the shop
Not an engine was leaking, not even a drop.
The tires were filled to their max PSI,
In hopes that dreaded flat spots won’t appear where they lie.
The drivers were warm, all snug on the couch,
Playing driving games in earnest so their skills would not slouch.
With batteries slowly charging from electricity on tap,
The Porsches were prepared for their long winter’s nap.
When from beyond the garage there arose such a roar,
I sprang from my PS3 to the polished concrete floor.
A click of a button and the garage doors did raise,
I looked out into the dark my mind in a haze.
The moon on the breast of the new-fallen snow
Gave the luster of mid-day to the objects below.
When what to my wondering eyes should appear,
But a Porsche Turbo for a gift, “is this a joke?” I did fear!
With a tap of the pedal the exhaust note sounds,
I knew in a moment a flat six had been found.
More rapid than a cheater in a Nissan GT-R,
With a new Porsche Turbo I know I’ll go far.
Now Doctor! Now Hoffman! now, Carlson and Butzi!
On, Elford! On, Patrick! on, David and Hurley!
To the start of the race! we’re off to the “Ring”!
Through the corners and chicanes this Turbo we’ll fling.
If we meet with an obstacle, forced air is induced,
Nothing feels quite the same as that twin turbo boost.
Around and around the “ring” we did go,
By holding the line we were anything but slow.
Lap after lap the tarmac flew past,
We knew from the start we’d never be last.
My foot on the gas, I’m ready to shift,
If you find the apex there’s no need to lift.
As we round the last corner the checkered flag in site,
This unfair race wasn’t even a fight.
The marshals guide us over to victory lane,
Where once again Podium is Porsche’s to gain.
Up upon the highest platform we stand,
Taking the win in Porsche’s homeland.
Time to go home, put the Turbo in gear,
We turn up the radio so that all can hear.
The speakers are blaring as we drive out of sight,
“Happy Christmas to all, and to all a good night.”
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