My first was a '59 Porsche 356A coupe (Messien Blue, w/ox blood interior),
in July of '64. Long story, from which I'll spare you, but the price (paid
by my father) was the cost of a major service, by our local Porsche
dealership (Continental Cars on West Liberty Ave. in Dormont, PA just
outside of Pittsburgh city limits). The original owner, a long-time family
friend and employee of my father's, was our port engineer and had forgotten
more about machinery than most of us can ever hope to learn. After meeting
some of the mechanics, a couple of whom are still good friends of mine 48
years later, the original owner took me out in the car for a "pre-flight"
check. By the time I got behind the wheel to drive the 20 miles to our
home, I was pretty much intimidated & in awe of the car. After several
miles of getting the feel of the car and as the roads became increasingly
rural, I realized that I was having a LOT of fun driving this awesome GT
car!
The car's purpose was to transport me and my younger sister 30 miles (round
trip) each day to and from high school, over a delightful series of
twisting, plunging, rough-surfaced back roads. Miracle of miracles is that
we all three (my sister, me and the 356) survived unscathed and I learned
lessons in high-speed driving that are still serving me well today.
We traded the car in, about 13 months later, at the Porsche dealership, on a
'61 356B S-90 Roadster. I don't know where my old coupe ever ended-up. I
understand it was sold to a U. of Pitt grad student, from the Philadelphia
area, but that's the very last I ever hear of the car.
Part of the reason for the car's moving on was that we were having it
serviced at the local (Washington, PA) BMC/Jaguar dealer, Town & Country
Cars. Unfortunately, the clowns they had working on it were completely
un-qualified for Porsche work...........and I suspect they screwed-up a
bunch of BMC/Jaguar products, too.............., but I did end up spending a
lot of my school lunch hours prowling that dealership, which ultimately led
me to buy a '66 MGB in August of '67. The rest, as they say, is history. :)
Bud Osbourne
-----Original Message-----
From: spridgets-bounces@autox.team.net
[mailto:spridgets-bounces@autox.team.net] On Behalf Of Allen Hefner
Sent: Tuesday, December 11, 2012 11:11 AM
To: Spridgets list
Subject: [Spridgets] O.F. memory
I was reading a car mag this morning in the reading room, and it occurred to
me that all of us remember our first car. That's what we do...since we are
car guys (and gals).
How many of you remember the place you bought it and the name of the
salesman (or private seller)? I even remember the names of the rest of the
sales staff at the dealership.
I bought my 1963 Sunbeam Alpine Series III in 1968 at Buzz Marcus Motors in
Glenside, PA. Buzz was an SCCA racer who drove Triumphs. His mechanic was
Dick Stockton, who also worked on my TR. I think Buzz is still on Facebook
and living in FL. He opened one of the first Toyota dealerships in the area.
My father bought his first Toyota there, a 1970 Corona. When Toyota exploded
(not literally), Buzz sold the dealership and retired to racing full time.
My salesman in those early days was Dave Landis and the other salesmen were
Bennet Orr and Hap Schmalbach.
If I can remember the parts manager's name, I'll get back to you. I also
bought my TR4A IRS at Buzz's, so I became fast friends with the parts
department.
Allen Hefner
Norristown, PA
------------------------
spridgets@autox.team.net
Archive: http://www.team.net/archive
|