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7. Reportagen Classic356 Registry, Rocky Mountain 356 Porsche Club

A great journey in a 356

It began on a sunny day in July 1962,when I swore eternal love to Rosemarieand she promised to be true to me, aslong as she could drive a Porsche.

It goes without saying that we went onhoneymoon in a Porsche. In a 356 BRoadster, we drove 7,500 miles on ourtrip across the USA to the West coastand to Canada and Mexico – in spite ofthere being no highways between thestates back then. Three weeks in asmall car and a small tent were a realtest of our new marriage, but every-thing went just fine.

We have now been together for 40years, and we decided to celebratethe occasion in a fitting manner. Wewanted to go on tour again, as we didback then in a Porsche 356. I started

off by getting my 1965 356 SC Cabrioready for the journey. Rosie insistedon good heating, so I fitted two addi-tional fans in the heating system. I alsofitted a wiper motor from the Porsche912 to improve the performance ofthe windscreen wipers. I filled the frontboot with spare parts, tools, oil andspare canisters – in the hope that Iwouldn’t need any of them along theway. We packed our luggage on therear seats. Our exciting journey beganon 25th August 2002 in Castle Rock,South of Denver. We set off towardsWyoming, the sun was shining, the topwas down and we were in excellent spirits. The first few days passed withno problems. We enjoyed the wide-open spaces of Montana and GlacierNational Park, and we drove on wonderful roads to Calgary and then

on to Banff where, after several nightsin a tent, we stayed in a hotel. It wasnice to sleep in a proper bed again.

Waking up the next morning was notso pleasant, as a small puddle of petrolhad formed under the front section ofthe Porsche. The thought racedthrough my mind that the 37-year oldtank had sprung a leak. However,things were not so bad, it was just twohose clips that had come loose.

With a sigh of relief, we continued ourjourney to the incredibly beautiful LakeLouise. Here, we walked around for awhile and when we returned to the carpark our 356 once again smelt ofpetrol. This time, the smell was comingfrom the back, but luckily it was onceagain nothing worse than loose clipsand fuel line connections, obviouslycaused by the very dry weather in Colorado and the vibrations on the journey. I tightened the loose connec-tions again and everything was fine.

We continued on the Icefield Parkwayto Jasper. We have never forgotten themagnificent view of the Canadian RockyMountains, the thick forests, the lakesand waterfalls. Then we were surprisedby the rain. After a very damp campingexperience in Jasper, we treated ourselves to a hotel the next day inDawson Creek. We had already cov-ered 2,000 miles and the next 1,532miles would be along the Alaskan High-way towards Fairbanks. This took usthree and a half days. It was a fantas-tic drive through some beautifulscenery. However, we have less fondmemories of the moment when, duringa break in a café, a long-legged blondelady suddenly came up to us andasked: “Is the little sports car yours? Ithink I’ve dented it a bit when I was

reversing.” But the Porsche gods weresmiling on us that day, and only theheadlight ring had suffered a slightdent.

We spent some time at Muncho Lakeand, after visiting Klondike on theYukon River, we headed for the DenaliNational Park and Mt. McKinley. Wewere now heading south again. AfterDenali, I gave the 356, which had runlike clockwork the whole time, a well-deserved oil change. The only othercomplaint was a stiff gas pedal, butlubrication of the relevant pivot solvedthe problem. After a few days on theKenai Peninsula, we continued our jour-ney via Anchorage and Tok. On the out-ward journey, we had camped here butthis time the rain forced us to use ahotel.

There, Rosie bought a set of mooseantlers from the owner of the hotel –we attached them to the luggage rack.After that, we became the most photo-graphed car in the North, and we toldeveryone that the antlers were a rearspoiler from the accessories range.

After a few days where we strolled inthe footsteps of the old gold diggersand made the acquaintance of grizzlybears, we crossed to Skagway on theferry. We then followed the road to Carcross and Watson. At the border,the Canadian customs officials gaveus a bit of hassle because of theantlers, but we were prepared and hadall the necessary documents ready.

On 19th September, we reached Vancouver, just in time for the 356 Registry West Coast Holiday 2002,which was very well attended. Then weset of for home, only another 1,500miles away. After a total of 33 days

and 9,377 miles, we arrived backhome. Once again, our marriage hadsurvived the numerous nights in a smalltent and the countless hours in a smallcar. If we go on tour again in 40 yearstime, we’re not sure yet what kind oftent we’ll be taking, but what we doknow is that the car will definitely be a Porsche.

Roland and Rosemarie Lohnert

356 Registry, Rocky Mountain 356Porsche ClubTel.: +1 303 286 72 16

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Porsche Club 928 Region Rhein-Main

Autumn excursion and Christmas party

From 12.00 on 29th September, our928 meeting place in Langenselboldvisibly began to fill up with sparklingclean Porsche 928s from all series. Itwould be the best-attended event ofthe season. One family even arrivedfrom Düsseldorf in their Porsche 928 S.

Once again, two exotic breeds werethere: one Club member presented hisblack Jaguar E-Type and the son ofanother Club member brought a con-verted VW Beetle cabriolet. It had def-initely been improved, having beenalmost completely converted to Porsche technology – with the bless-ing of the TÜV.

Around 13.00, we set off towardsRonneburg, accompanied by theunmistakable sound of the V8 engines.This time, the entire drawing room hadbeen reserved for the Porsche 928Club get-together. A traditional castlefestival was taking place at Ronneburgon the same day, and there were a lot of people in suits of armour and traditional costumes to admire and allkinds of interesting stalls, inviting usto look and to buy.

Of course, there were plenty of visi-tors and the car parks were full, but a large barrier had been opened spe-cially for the Porsche Club 928m allowing all the Porsche 928s to lineup directly in front of the castle restau-rant.

There was something very special waiting for the 18 Club members. Theyhad the chance to watch a video ofcontemporary Porsche 928 sales filmsfor all models and other film clips aboutour favourite cars.

Also very welcome was the “PorscheClub News”, sent by the Porsche ClubCo-ordination, where regular articlesfrom the Porsche Club 928 appear. Asat all of our meetings, the magazineswere distributed to our members.

After a few words of thanks, thefounders of the Rhein-Main region ofthe Porsche Club 928, which has beenin existence since December 2001,were presented with a flower arrange-ment in a terracotta pot and a mag-num of 1998 “Ockfener Scharzberg”Riesling for organising the Porsche928 get-togethers and excursions.Towards the end of the meeting, it wassuggested that another get-togetherbe organised for December, combinedwith a visit to a Christmas market. Otherwise, the “928 break” until Aprilwould simply be too long to bear.

This great idea was put into action andso the final get-together of the Porsche Club 928 Region Rhein-Mainin 2002 was held on 15th December.Twelve Porsche fans joined the event,although some of them arrived in theirspare cars, not wanting to expose theirfavourites to the poor weather condi-tions.

Tables were reserved for the PorscheClub 928 in the “Dragonerbau” hoteland restaurant. After an excellentlunch, the “mixed” convoy set off for the historic Christmas market at Ronneburg. This market is the largestin the region and benefits from theatmosphere of the historic castle,which visitors to the Christmas marketcan tour for free.

Alongside the usual Christmas stalls,the market also included the productsof glass blowers, jewellers, saddlersand blacksmiths. After a long lookaround the market, the 928 contingentstopped in the Great Hall on the secondfloor of the castle, to bring the trip toa relaxing end.

The number one topic of conversationwas a Porsche dealer in the region whohad had a silver Porsche 928 GTS withlow mileage on sale for a few days.Two of our members were intending togo and have a look the next day. Whoknows, perhaps their 928s have somecompany by now....

Porsche Club 928Region Rhein-MainRoland KurtzTel.: +49 (0)61 85 2947Fax: +49 (0)61 85 2947

VW-Porsche 914 Deutschland Club e.V.

Autumn excursion to the Northern Black Forest

26th October 2002, storm warning forSouthern Germany: “A hurricane willpass over the Black Forest and thePalatinate region. Do not leave yourhouses, only use your car in extremeemergencies and avoid forestedareas!”

We heard this on the radio in the morn-ing, as we set out to the home of the Kunze family in Karlsruhe, in rainyweather that called to mind the beginning of this year’s season at Lake Maggiore.

Awaiting us there, apart from a deli-cious coffee, was a high-spirited bunchof 914 drivers and passengers.Around 10.45, we plunged into thefloods. The route, around 250 kilome-tres in length and extremely wet, tookus from Karlsruhe via Bad Herrenalb,Besenfeld, Baiersbronn and Baden-Baden to Rastatt.

ing with the top down for a secondtime, although it was more popular thistime.

As we continued towards Rheintal, wecould see plenty of branches lying onthe road. Even some trees had notmanaged to withstand the storm, andin the air was the fresh smell of resinfrom the uprooted trees.

On the Black Forest highway, we firstof all passed through the wine villagesof Waldulm, Kappelrodeck and Sas-bachwalden, then on to Rastatt and theHopfenschlingel, where we arrived ataround 18.00. At dinner, the atmos-phere was just as relaxed as it hadbeen on the previous stops along theway, and it was with some regret thatpeople began to leave around 20.30.

However, the thought of gettingtogether again soon for our Christmasparty and the memories of this event-ful day cheered us all up.

That evening on the news, we sawsome of the roads we had driven alongagain, “decorated” with trees lyingright across them.

Tom Seeger

VW-Porsche 914 Deutschland Club e.V.President: Udo BreuerTel.: +49 (0)22 03 28 317Fax: +49 (0)24 04 98 67 38

At our first stop, we could already seethe passage of the storm as weenjoyed an agreeable mulled wine.Then we continued our journey viaGernsbach to the Kaiser-Wilhelm tow-er at Kaltenbronn. Climbing the towerwith wind speeds of around 80 km/hwas a stormy and very impressiveexperience, which made up for therainy view from the top.

A few kilometres further on in our Porsches, we stopped to refresh our-selves with coffee and cakes. As weleft the inn, the wind was moderateand it was dry underfoot, and a fewscraps of blue sky tempted some ofus to put the top down. The other clubmembers and a few passers-by hadonly sympathetic glances for them.

What could be better than driving withthe top down? Unfortunately, we werenot granted very long to enjoy thispleasure. After just a few kilometres,the rain returned, forcing us to put theroof back up. Once the wind had blownall the rain clouds away, we risked driv-

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