Change History

... or more specific, I fell in love with Porsches at age 8.
I'd been in love before ... with Mercedes ... Mercedes Benz.

Let me start from the beginning.
Even before I was born, my father was racing cars. Specifically: Mercedes Benz.
He was a gentleman racer in the 50s and had several MBs. A 1950 220 Cab, a 1957 Gullwing and a 1959 300 SL Roadster.

Here's a split screen of my Dad on the left in 1959 with his 300SL Roadster (with the hardtop in place) and me on the right in my '98 Boxster in 2011 at the same spot in Sebring, 52 years apart.
In 1959 he was much younger than me in 2011 :)

http://i83.photobucket.com/albums/j307/ppbon/AtTheTrack_zpsc2f0fc28.jpg

I would go with him to the track and watch him race and drool over his car du jour.
Generally he would be on the podium and in one particular race in which he and his MB teammate were favored, they got the spanking of their racing careers although they finished in second and third place. They got spanked, because the mighty 3 liter Mercedes were both lapped by a tiny 1.6 liter Porsche.
That was the last day my Dad raced a Mercedes and the second time I fell in love.
From that day on, my Dad was a Porsche guy and so was I.
About a year later we moved to Europe, my Dad stopped racing and I got into Karting. We lived in Europe several years and eventually moved back to the US in '63.
My lust for Porsche stayed strong. My favorite cars were the 718s in all it's variants.
I followed Porsche in car magazines and whenever I saw one drive by my heart would skip a beat.
Throughout the years that I raced karts I had accumulated a great deal of chassis, engines and parts which were all stored in my Dad's business equipment room.
I then got into dirt bikes and off-road racing and did so for almost 10 years. Since I was racing semi-pro, I would get a new bike every other season and I would keep (store) the beat up machine.
When I finished my undergraduate studies I sold all my karting stuff and bought my first Porsche: a 1969 912.
I kept it for almost three years but it was underpowered, so I sold my dirt bikes and the 912 and bought a 1975 Tangerine [color=#FF9933][b]ORANGE[/b][/color] Targa.
I was happy with my car, but then I fell in love for the third time! It was a 1971 914. I just loved the way it handled and drove. Much more so than the 912 and the Targa.
Eventually, the need for speed prompted me to trade it in for a 914/6 which was one of my most adored Porsches... that is until my 1998 986 which is by far my best car ever.
In between the 914/6 and the Boxster I bought and sold a 944 and my most hated Porsche, the 1987 932. That car I kept for a record 27 days!
It was horrible to drive at the track. I'd have to step on the gas as I was still under braking in the deep turns so that the turbo would have time to spool up and hopefully hit power at the apex.
Most often than not, the sudden onslaught of uncontrolled power would just spin the car as it was also very tail- heavy. To make things worse, it was a cabriolet and Porsche hadn't learned how to stiffen the chassis yet, so the whole body would twist and flex like a pretzel.
I sold it to a guy that just wanted to be seen in a white turbo cab with Carrera red interior. To this day I still ask myself why I bought it in the first place.
But to finish this story, in 1993 I saw the Boxster Prototype which was presented at the Detroit Auto Show and knew I had to have it.
In 1995 I saw an article on the Boxster Prototype (I think in Road&Track magazine) and that weekend I took it to my local Porsche Dealer which was conveniently just a mile from my house. They told me that there were no plans to build it, but I insisted that they take a deposit check ($50) and call me whenever Porsche was taking orders for it.
One cold February morning in 1997 I got a call from Plaza Motors, in Creve Coeur, MO, letting me know that if I wanted a Boxster I should come by and place the order.
I got my dream-machine on another cold February day one year later when I took delivery of my Glacier White / Graphite Grey interior/ Black top 986 Boxster.
The rest you probably already know, so I won't bore you with the details. Suffice it to say that we've been together for almost 17 years and have driven over 254,000 miles.
Happy Boxsteing
Pedro

... or more specific, I fell in love with Porsches at age 8.
I'd been in love before ... with Mercedes ... Mercedes Benz.

Let me start from the beginning.
Even before I was born, my father was racing cars. Specifically: Mercedes Benz.
He was a gentleman racer in the 50s and had several MBs. A 1950 220 Cab, a 1957 Gullwing and a 1959 300 SL Roadster.
I would go with him to the track and watch him race and drool over his car du jour.
Generally he would be on the podium and in one particular race in which he and his MB teammate were favored, they got the spanking of their racing careers although they finished in second and third place. They got spanked, because the mighty 3 liter Mercedes were both lapped by a tiny 1.6 liter Porsche.
That was the last day my Dad raced a Mercedes and the second time I fell in love.
From that day on, my Dad was a Porsche guy and so was I.
About a year later we moved to Europe, my Dad stopped racing and I got into Karting. We lived in Europe several years and eventually moved back to the US in '63.
My lust for Porsche stayed strong. My favorite cars were the 718s in all it's variants.
I followed Porsche in car magazines and whenever I saw one drive by my heart would skip a beat.
Throughout the years that I raced karts I had accumulated a great deal of chassis, engines and parts which were all stored in my Dad's business equipment room.
I then got into dirt bikes and off-road racing and did so for almost 10 years. Since I was racing semi-pro, I would get a new bike every other season and I would keep (store) the beat up machine.
When I finished my undergraduate studies I sold all my karting stuff and bought my first Porsche: a 1969 912.
I kept it for almost three years but it was underpowered, so I sold my dirt bikes and the 912 and bought a 1975 Tangerine [color=#FF9933][b]ORANGE[/b][/color] Targa.
I was happy with my car, but then I fell in love for the third time! It was a 1971 914. I just loved the way it handled and drove. Much more so than the 912 and the Targa.
Eventually, the need for speed prompted me to trade it in for a 914/6 which was one of my most adored Porsches... that is until my 1998 986 which is by far my best car ever.
In between the 914/6 and the Boxster I bought and sold a 944 and my most hated Porsche, the 1987 932. That car I kept for a record 27 days!
It was horrible to drive at the track. I'd have to step on the gas as I was still under braking in the deep turns so that the turbo would have time to spool up and hopefully hit power at the apex.
Most often than not, the sudden onslaught of uncontrolled power would just spin the car as it was also very tail- heavy. To make things worse, it was a cabriolet and Porsche hadn't learned how to stiffen the chassis yet, so the whole body would twist and flex like a pretzel.
I sold it to a guy that just wanted to be seen in a white turbo cab with Carrera red interior. To this day I still ask myself why I bought it in the first place.
But to finish this story, in 1993 I saw the Boxster Prototype which was presented at the Detroit Auto Show and knew I had to have it.
In 1995 I saw an article on the Boxster Prototype (I think in Road&Track magazine) and that weekend I took it to my local Porsche Dealer which was conveniently just a mile from my house. They told me that there were no plans to build it, but I insisted that they take a deposit check ($50) and call me whenever Porsche was taking orders for it.
One cold February morning in 1997 I got a call from Plaza Motors, in Creve Coeur, MO, letting me know that if I wanted a Boxster I should come by and place the order.
I got my dream-machine on another cold February day one year later when I took delivery of my Glacier White / Graphite Grey interior/ Black top 986 Boxster.
The rest you probably already know, so I won't bore you with the details. Suffice it to say that we've been together for almost 17 years and have driven over 254,000 miles.
Happy Boxsteing
Pedro