President Letter November

Well, here we are, I am writing to you with the leaves on the trees barely turning color, for a November article. Somehow I wish for the day when my thoughts at that moment become a “real time” communication. “Tom, Tom, wake up!!!”  Have you not heard of Twitter?? Yes, I have, but I am holding out, as I cannot envision providing real time “tweets” and having “followers” at this time. I do get it, but I feel that if I cannot responsibly support something, I won’t try to just putter along. Besides, tweeting while going up the esses at the Glen is simply not a good plan. Oh well. Actually, I had planned an article on Porsche Design watches for this issue, but we did not receive copyright approvals for the source material in time. So…I am currently getting my car ready for our NJMP 3 DE at Lightning, and I am also really looking forward to VIR. This is a bitter sweet time of year as it is the end of DE season, BUT!!!!!, it is also the next phase of our really special social season, some great rallies, concours and technical workshops and other events. It also is time for our charity event, which means so very much more than winning some fun stuff and holiday gifts. Please join us and help support Employment Horizons, a great organization which provides jobs for people with special needs. Speaking of holiday events, Cindy and Tony have planned something very special for usso do not miss the 2016 NNJR Holiday Party. As you know, 2017 is NNJR’s 65th anniversary. To lead up to this milestone, a number of historical articles are being written by Bob Knapik and Stu French, with support from Dennis Thovson and others. While we are brainstorming on how to best celebrate, I started thinking about what was happening in the club and with Porsche in the late 1950s. I wonder what was going on then?

In 1952, Porsche constructed an assembly plant (Werk 2) across the street from Reutter Karosserie; the main road in front of Werk 1, the oldest Porsche building, is now known as Porschestrasse. Think Porsche Museum George VI (King of the United Kingdom and the Dominions: Canada, Australia, New Zealand, South  Africa, Pakistan and Ceylon dies aged 56 after a long illness. He is succeeded by his daughter The Princess Elizabeth, Duchess of Edinburgh (now Elizabeth II), who was at the time on a visit to Kenya. She is proclaimed Queen of Canada at Rideau Hall, Ottawa. Hmm, never too late to ensure that you have a good succession plan in place. The active Parícutin volcano in Michoacán, west central Mexico, ceases its discontinuous eruption after spewing forth a gigaton of lava and burying San Juan Parangaricutiro. A gigaton?? That’s a lot of hot stuff.

The American Research Bureau reports that the “I Love Lucy” episode, “The Marriage License” was the first TV show in history to be seen in around 10,000,000 homes the evening the episode aired. “Lucy I’m home!!” Can never get enough of Lucille Ball (think chocolate factory production line).

Porsche’s company logo was based on the coat of arms of the Free People’s State of Württemberg of former Weimar Germany, which had Stuttgart as its capital. (The same arms were used by Württemberg-Hohenzollern from 1945-1952, while Stuttgart during these years was the capital of adjacent Württemberg-Baden.) The arms of Stuttgart was placed in the middle of the logo since the cars were made in Stuttgart. The heraldic symbols were combined with the texts “Porsche” and “Stuttgart”.  Württemberg-Baden and Württemberg-Hohenzollern became consolidated into the state of Baden-Württemberg in 1952 after the political consolidation of West Germany in 1949. The old design of the arms of Württemberg now only lives on in the Porsche logo.

On 30 January 1951, not long before the creation of Baden-Württemberg, Ferdinand Porsche died from complications following a stroke. And so our beloved brand and our cars live on and on. There is so much to learn about Porsche and NNJR history, so please join us at all of our upcoming 65th anniversary events and help perpetuate all that is good and special about NNJR. I want to give a heartfelt thanks to all the 2016 board and committee members who made my first year as president a special one. It has been a privilege to serve you and our members, and I very much appreciate, as do our members, all that you do, the personal sacrifices you make and the very pure love you have for this very special car club. I also appreciate the feedback and candor that our members have provided me so that I can lead and help make this club even better. This really is a tall task considering the long line of great presidents who have preceded me, but it is a responsibility I am happy to take on and promise to do the best I can.