Another Porsche Post mag = yawn !

[PAUL RUDDY]

I was also at Ragley Hall yesterday and had a great day and Friday night before hand with Porsche friends from the south coast, I brought a bit of Northern culture to the party ??

Yes, there certainly was an overwhelming presence of 911 of all varieties, classic to modern, but, having a keen eye for the 944 I must say that the ones there certainly stood out from the crowd. They have certainly lost their 'just another old 944' look, they looked small against the heavy weight modern Porsches, they looked thin on the ground but most of all they looked like a classic Porsche.

There was certainly a great representation of transaxle amongst the cars vying for overall silverware ,several 924/944, all a credit to their owners.

Mike who came a close second with his Boxster is from our local R18, although you may class his car as 'new' I know the effort and stress Mike has gone through for the last 6 months getting the car to a standard that he was comfortable with, it certainly was no quick wax of a newish Boxster.

I enjoyed the day as did my Mrs......always a bonus, we did however discuss selling my 944 on completion and replacing it with a 997 !

Cheers, Paul

 

[pauljmcnulty]

It's funny to read the same complaints that I used to read over the past 14 years as a 944 owner in the Club.

Regarding meets, particularly Regions, it's often the case that many of the people there are previous transaxle model owners. If you go for a show of hands, I'd bet half the room have owned a 944, and often remember it as the best car they ever had. I don't know where in London you went, Oli,, but the Ace Cafe meet has long been a 944 gathering: just post that you're going and usually you'll get more 944 owners making the effort to go. Sadly, more and more of the cars are now being mothballed over the winters. There used to be a higher turnout to local events when they were only worth a couple of grand!
There has been accusations of anti-transaxle bias in the magazine ever since the thing was first published! I don't remember a month when I had enough submissions for a small column, let alone larger articles. There has rarely been a lot of enthusiasm from the 944 owners for sending in interesting content, yet always complaints that there's no interesting content!

A lot of you guys have loads of history with the model, and a massive amount of knowledge. It would be wonderful to see that making it's way in to Porsche Post, but if you don't write a few words, and send a couple of pictures, then they have to publish what they've got.

I ALWAYS found the Club to be open to suggestions for the different models. It didn't always work well: sometimes from the Club's side things weren't organised brilliantly, but sometimes there was a poor turnout. I never felt that there was any hint of "looking down" at any of the models, but more that the owners of some cars were just more active. []

 

[jasonp]

thanks for the input Rob,Paul, and Paul M but with respect it still does not take away the fact that our front engined cars dont get nowhere near the amount of pics/reports that others do in PP so i will agree to disagree[]
i admire the beauty of a 993 or 356 and will scratch the 911 itch at some point and i enjoy the articles but so not to lose the original purpose of the post which was the lack of 924,944,968,and 928 in our mag,,,,,
Great to see an s2 win concourse recently an a few pics would have been even better,,,,
kind regards,,,jasonp

 

[chrishak]

Anyone who's still of the opinion that there is a biase against 924's, 944's etc. should come along to an R26 event - we've got a surfeit of the things! From Rob Ayles concours 944 to Tref's infamous 'Bomber', via Claire Willinghams 'unique' 924 Turbo Cabriolet, we've got them all covered. We actually have a transaxle class in our concours and I can't recall anyone ever looking down their nose at the recipients of the prizes.
Porsche Post content? I've always found that if something is lacking, the best thing to do is sit down and get writing - as Tref did a while back when he wrote an excellent article about his stellar mileage 944 and the LPG conversion he carried out. The result was far more constructive (and interesting) than the alternative of him climbing onto the forum soapbox!
Having said that, I really don't think the transaxle cars are being short-changed in PP and I can recall plenty of non-911 content over the past few years - and you don't hear 911 owners complaining about that, do you..???

 

[pauljmcnulty]

Jason, you're right to say there's not enough content - others do get more.

Simple fact is others send in more content, so that gets published! You can only print what's submitted, and it also has to be new content. I remember having a batch of nearly identical articles come in that were all "My 944 goes to the 'Ring": you can only print one article like that, and it has to be of some interest.

Things don't have to be written by professionals. The publishers can easily edit the words, so just send some ramblings in and they'll do the rest. Pictures have to be decent quality for a larger article, but even camera phone pictures can go in a Register column.

Just send in some content, and soon the other Registers will be moaning that the magazine is too 944-biased!

 

[jasonp]

Paul,
Thanks for that so its up to owners to send stuff in and it will get printed,,,,
good to know,,,jasop

 

[zcacogp]

Peter and Paul's comments are, I think, probably very relevant. I am a new club member but the correct response to almost any grumble in any walk of life is often "what am I doing to sort this problem out?" And if the magazine articles are that which are submitted by members then the solution to our grumble is that we should be submitting more 944 (or other transaxle) stuff. I take on board your points entirely, thanks - and sorry for being a little negative.

So, what sort of stuff should we be submitting? That's a question for The Powers That Be who run the club and magazine - particularly Mike as register secretary. Technical articles about things that you've done on your 944? Descriptions of great drives as you do them? Nice arty photos of your pride and joy? All of the above? What do we do with them once done - eMail them to you? Back in the day I was a (very) active member of Club GTI and wrote several articles about Mk1 Golf GTI's for their magazine and really enjoyed it, so this idea appeals more than a little.

Back to the topic of the latest edition of Porsche Post; a closer reading revealed that I got an honourable mention in it (although they spelled my name wrong) so I think I'll take back what I said earlier! I'll offer a virtual pint (redeemable for one of the real variety) for the first person who can tell me which page it is on in the magazine .... []

Oli.

 

[zcacogp]

..... soon the other Registers will be moaning that the magazine is too 944-biased!

That sounds like a challenge. Are we up to it chaps?

 

[graham tompkins]

Think need to get Roger on board for this Oli[]?

 

[jasonp]

Oli,,,,
your on the smithfield ,,London meet page with your " transaxle " lol,,,,,,jasonp

 

[zcacogp]

DING! Virtual pint (tradeable for one of the real stuff) is hereby awarded to Mr Jason P for his sharp-eyed reading of the Porsche Post magazine! Well done Jason, let me know when you wish to collect your prize!

Graham good thinking there; Roger could well be our secret weapon in this little battle ...


Oli

 

[russmw]

As a 924 owner I was surprised how much 924/944/968 content was in PP when a Porsche owning neighbour gave me a copy shortly after buying mine. In addition the welcome I got at althrop that year made me sign to PCGB.

As we all know Porsche have produced a huge number of models and I'm sure PCGB have owners of most models therefore its not realistic to expect content on every model, every month. Plus there are of course model specific clubs/forums but I found PCGB far better value.

Personally I'm happy to read about other owners experiences, other models and if there's some 924 action all the better

 

[924Srr27l]

Graham good thinking there; Roger could well be our secret weapon in this little battle ...
Oli

Me ?

R

 

[jasonp]

yes you Roger,,,,,
your massive amount of work on the 924 is more then worthy of getting it on PP,,,,,,jasonp

 

[924Srr27l]

yes you Roger,,,,,
your massive amount of work on the 924 is more then worthy of getting it on PP,,,,,,jasonp

Yes, I did have contact with someone before (can't remember who?) and I said on the car's website is hundreds of images and
all the text there, any of it can be copied and used.

www.924srr27l.co.uk

911 & Porsche World are doing a feature & road test when all the recent suspension & Brakes are fitted.

R

 

[Frenchy]

Even though my membership shows being a member for 10 years I was a member 20 years ago with a 944 and there was definitely some snobbery in the club, if you have not got a 911 you don't own a Porsche, "Poormans " Porsche etc.
Some people did not know what they were talking about loads of cash but numpties when it came to engineering excellence etc.
I did not renew my membership after a couple of years due to PP being 911 this and 911 that.
Big changes over the last few years in my experience, I have a 911 but my 944 gives just as much joy.
You Have to remember that most PCGB members probably own a 911 or a modern Porsche, the 944 will be in a minority and this in turn will lead to lead less 944 articles in the mag.
Best advice is to write and send an article in.

 

[MJB]

So, what sort of stuff should we be submitting? That's a question for The Powers That Be who run the club and magazine...

Oli.

While member contributions should always be welcome, I feel that the majority of people will be joining the Club to read Porsche Post rather than to write it. The idea that ‘if you want to read about your model you’ll have to write it yourself’ doesn’t seem a particularly good way to sell the Club and it is simply not within the remit of the majority of members to come up with copy for many reasons.

However, as PP content these days is "mainly written by professional motoring journalists” (and presumably paid for) I don’t see why such articles cannot be sourced in that way, although with editorial control to prevent the criticism of a large section of members’ cars as happened in the latest issue! Registrars could no doubt point contributors in the direction of appropriate subjects and specific cars/owners if necessary.

The Club is now run in a very business-like way and having come across some old copies of PP at home recently I realise that its current reliance on press material, sponsor-sourced copy and newsstand magazine-style journalism has changed it markedly. The old type of member-based material is not always going to sit easily within its present form and this may also be one of the reasons for contributions becoming unbalanced, although I feel that there are probably others too.

 

[924Srr27l]

You Have to remember that most PCGB members probably own a 911 or a modern Porsche, the 944 will be in a minority and this in turn will lead to lead less 944 articles in the mag.
Best advice is to write and send an article in.

Yes I agree, although Porsche now sell more 4x4's than sportscar's so there will be many members who own 911's because they have been producing them for several decades but also of I could imagine a big increase in members with 4x4 ownership?

So your right if the split is 911& 4x4's 80% and transaxle Lovers 20% ? There's not going to be as much desire to hear about
the old front engine transaxle gearbox models......

The transaxles will always carry the "it's not a Real Porsche" label because the first evolution (924) was not only destined to be a joint VW / Porsche venture but it could of been produced with VW badging and we'd not of known any different today.
It also used many VW & Audi parts and was built in the Audi Factory so even though Porsche designed the car it's not difficult to see why it has this reputation of not being a Porsche because like most of their models it wasn't designed & made all with Porsche components, only designed by them which some people don't consider to be a genuine Porsche!

The real success is that once Porsche bought the rights to their joint project and VW/Audi 's new management decided to
drop it, Porsche began to change many components to their own desgns which we all know became the 44 and then the 68. The fact that a chassis design from 1972/3 for a 95bhp USA version was an excellent base to be upgraded all the way up to 3.0litres, turbocharged and twin cam models etc.. up to 1995 is the real test of a good chassis. I don't think there is many components on the 968 that are still VW/ Audi ? The 968 doesn't get as much stick as the 24 & 44 because it looks more modern, performed very well in it's day and still has the rep today that it's a great handling car. But it's essentially a dressed up and uprated 924 !

R

 

[vitesse]

Personally,with due respect to the supposed Professionally written articles,I find many of them quite light in technical correctness & on many occasions contain errors.Clearly some authors have very little real engineering knowledge or hands -on experience but possibly consider their Professional Status shields them from the real world.

 

[zcacogp]

Good point there from Martin about paying to read stuff that you have already written but if no-one else will write what you want to read then you need to do it yourself ...

Who else on here would be up for writing an article about something 944-esque? Something, anything, as long as it is clearly about 944's and has a nice clear photo of your car in it? If six people can each do an article over the next six months then we'll have one article in each PP for the next half a year. I'm happy to put my name down for one such article (maybe along the lines of "Why the 944 S2 was the best Porsche ever") .... who else will join me?


Oli.