Month: November 2016

Our Region is finishing up a great year as we hosted a number of first time and notable events, so let’s take a moment to review. We had a large number of vendor Tech Sessions / Open Houses in 2016 including Porsche St. Louis, JML Audio of St. Louis, Lift SuperStore, Car Craft Auto Body, and two two events at Clear Auto Bra. Our Region was recognized in Panorama for our Progressive Garage Tour that in spite of a March drizzle was very well attended. The much anticipated PCA Club Race took place in April at Gateway Motorsports Park and along with two sold out Driver’s Education events in May and September, all three track events were held under perfect weather conditions. PCA announced in June that the 2018 Porsche Parade will be held at the rejuvenated Tan-Tar-A Resort at the Lake of the Ozarks. The Porsche Car Show held every other Fall was in downtown Clayton for the first time with an excellent turnout and lots of local foot traffic. We have been working on a new Region website that will continue to be improved for the benefit of our members. And for 2017? Our Region will host the second annual PCA Club Race at Gateway Motorsports Park on May 19-21, and will have not two, but three Driver’s Education events. Watch for the dates to be announced soon. January will be the debut of a new Die Plauderei web based newsletter which will have expandable text and images along with direct hyperlinks to web sites. The new format will be readable on smart phones and tablets. Expect to enjoy the usual assortment of road tours, tech sessions, track events, etc. Our planning meeting for 2017 will take place on Dec. 14, so if you have an idea for an event or are interested in helping out or hosting an event, please contact me. We are always interested in fresh ideas. I can’t imagine the number of hours our volunteers have spent organizing this past year’s activities. A huge thanks goes to all our sponsors for taking time from their businesses to inform, educate, entertain and feed us at their Open Houses. We look forward to many more. Our PCA member Holiday Party will be at Clear Auto Bra on Saturday, Dec. 10. And on Tuesday, Dec. 20, Porsche St. Louis will host an Open House and new Panamera Launch Party at their new state-of-the-art dealership. Please see details of both of these events in this newsletter. See you at the Holiday Party,

Maybe the good old days were not always so good. There are times when the maintenance of our Porsches seems a bit daunting. But I recently came across a maintenance schedule for a car from the early days of the U.S. auto industry.
The Franklin automobile was built between 1902 and 1934 in Syracuse, NY. With their air cooled engines, Franklin sold about 150,000 cars during it’s 30 year history. The maintenance diagram of a Franklin automobile chassis which I uncovered indicated what was required to maintain these early cars. The diagram is on page 3, but a summary is as follows: 5 items required attention every 100 miles or every week. 10 items required attention every 500 miles or every 2 weeks. 22 items required attention every 1000 miles or every month. 8 items required attention every 3000 miles or every 4 months. Most of these appear to be lubrication points but also may include changes of the gear box oil, cleaning of contacts and tire inspections. There is also a note to remind the owner to “add distilled water to the battery every week when the car is used”. Consider this the next time you review your scheduled maintenance for your Porsche. Oil changes are once per year…spark plug changes every 4 years…and the drive belt is replaced every 6 years. With current labor costs, we’re fortunate that the automotive industry has made significant advancements in maintenance and reliability. Now that’s something to be thankful for.
We are looking forward to having our Zone Rep. Julie Bailey and her husband, Chester, visit us in Columbia on Saturday, Nov. 19. There will be an informal meet and greet followed by dinner at Grand Cru Restaurant on South Providence. Zone Reps are appointed by PCA National and serve as liaisons with Regional leadership and members.
Also worth noting at this time that our annual Holiday Party will be on Saturday, Dec. 10 at Clear Auto Bra.
Please see more details on these events in this month’s Die Plauderei.