Porsche Club of America
Los Angeles Region
Porsche Museum Holds Treasure Trove of History By RONAN MCGRATH 11/09/2010 Autoweek -- Reprinted here with permission. Photos by the author.
Reprinted With Permission From
November 9, 2010
Ferdinand and Ferry Porsche shared one characteristic with other automotive icons such as Enzo Ferrari and E. L. Cord: a complete concentration on building the future and little interest in the past. However, in more recent times, automakers have come to realize the value of their history, Porsche among them. In a quiet corner with no signs in the Porsche museum in Zuffenhausen, Germany, are a number of fireproof vaults and a huge library. This is Porsche's DNA. Available to researchers and writers, hundreds of thousands of period photographs and negatives are stored, along with all company publications. It's likely that everyone who has ever written a book on the marque has spent a lot of time here.
Ferdinand Porsche was near the end of his life when the first Porsche car was built in 1948. But he had been building and designing cars for almost 50 years, including a hybrid at the turn of the 20th century, the iconic supercharged Mercedes-Benz SSK sports cars of the 1920s, the rear-engined Auto Union Silver Arrows, the Volkswagen, and finally, along with his son, the car that bore his name.
November / December 2010
Inside: Porsche Museum Archives . . . . . . . . . . . 1 Panamera Weekend . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .1 Race of Champions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .2 New Books . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .5 Classified Ads . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7 LA & Z8 Events Schedule . . . . . . . . . . . . 2 responsibility for motorsports, pulls opens a drawer and brings out the first catalog for the 356, still in mint condition. Continued on Page 4.
Most of the records of Porsche's design firm were lost in World War II, but the archives still contain Porsche family albums and photographs going back to 1900. The main focus of the library, however, is from 1948 onward. Period photographs of every Porsche produced are catalogued, as are photographs from every competitive event the factory entered, plus many others. Most have never been published. A huge collection of rare catalogs and posters is also stored, as is virtually every works manual. Jens Torner, the Porsche archivist with primary
The publications archive.
Panamera Weekend The premier raffle prize at our concours in July from title sponsor the auto Gallery was the use of a Panamera for a weekend. Lucky winners Joanne and Larry Markham redeemed their prize on October 15th and set out for a Panamera weekend in the Carmel Valley. Larry’s thank you letter to our President, David Altemus, sums up the car and the experience quite well; “Joanne and I want to thank the LA PCA and the Auto Gallery for the weekend in a new Panamera S. What a car. Smooth, quiet and very responsive, what a torque monster. 2000 rpm, 80 mph. Great gas mileage for a four door car that is capable of blinding speed when needed of course. Continued on Page 4.
Kaye Lammy of the auto Gallery turns over the Panamera keys to Larry Markham and his wife JoAnne for their weekend adventure in the Panamera S.
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