Urban Safari : Porsche Day 2016

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The executive director of the Larz Anderson Auto Museum (LAAM) is a friend of ours and he is kind enough to invite us to many of the museum’s events. We have been to some great talks, exhibits, and openings. While we are not on the same level as some of the “car people” who go to LAAM events, we never pass up Porsche Day!

Porsches are are easy to recognize, even for people who are not fanatics of the brand. Porsches have a certain “look” about them, and when they gather in large numbers it is easy to see the design continuity of the brand over the decades. One can’t help but be drawn in by the history.

The interplay between function and form is evident in the shaping of any car. For cars that go fast, one functional element is the wing in the back the spoiler. Porsches all have spoilers to keep the rear from lifting off the road when the car is going “Autobahn” speeds. The faster the car can go, the bigger the spoiler is needed to create sufficient down force to keep the rear of the car well-planted. Some Porsche spoilers are so big that they were known as “whale tails!”

The beauty (1959 Model 356 A Convertible D) below listed around $4K in 1959 (about $35k in 2016 dollars). Expensive for a car back then, when the average price of a house was $12,400,  but it clearly has held its value pretty well. It’s hard to imagine that many of today’s $35K cars will fare as well half a century from now.

What a great dash in that 1959 Porsche… clean, uncluttered, and minimalistic!  The interior of a 2016 Boxster, while not as crazy as some modern interiors, is super busy compared to the 1959 Porsche.

New tech is one thing, but classic lines are another. Porsche designs are iconic because they are not just graceful, but absolutely functional. Fortunately, the 2016 convertible still has a lot of the iconic notes from Porsches of days past while incorporating the cutting edge functions of today.

We didn’t expect to see a Carrera GT on the lawn, but there it was. Only about 1200 or so of these were made. Ever. With a retail starting prices of around $450,000, it is easy to understand why. Porsche replaced the GT with the 918 Spyder a few years back, at $800,000, and yes, every one of the production units have been spoken for. While you cannot get one directly from the factory, some are becoming available on the secondary market, at a starting price of around $1,200,000 (you read that right) for those interested.

One of the reasons for the Carrera GT’s $450K price tag—this awesome 600+ hp V10 engine! Just an incredible piece of engineering, but it drinks gas as if it were free.

When at lawn events we normally don’t venture into the actual museum building, but we did today. If we hadn’t, we would have missed the awesome Porsche/BMW exhibit which so complemented Porsche Day!

Marque of Excellence is the exhibit. It features and  assortment of BMW and Porsche sports cars (including the BMW M1, the Porsche 959, the Porsche 962), race cars and motorcycles. The exhibit will run through to Spring 2017. And yes, we would trade our Boxster for this Speedster!

There are still plenty of Lawn Events left in 2016 and an excellent lecture series during the coming Fall and Winter. The Larz Anderson Auto Museum is located in Brookline MA. The locals know about it, but is hidden gem for many visitors to Boston. For car enthusiasts it is one of the “must-stop-by” places, but we are certain that everyone will find the visit fascinating. Oh, when you do go, them you read about them on RainyDayMagazine 🙂