[piscator]

I suggest that Luftgekuhlt is a good example of the kind of transition I’m asking about. Pre-Luftgekuhlt representing a time when Porsches were generally regarded as ‘cars to be used’ and post-Luftgekuhlt a time when Porsches are ‘cars to be’… Celebrated? Admired? Collected? Invested in? What?

My interest is in what Porsche (and possibly other cars) represent culturally, to varying generations. On this forum, I often read something like, ‘Hey, it’s just a car. Drive it. Modify it. Cut it up. Make it what you what you want.’ That, I suspect, was the Porsche factory’s attitude and intention when they built the cars.

Ten years ago, the attitude on this forum remained similar. ‘They’re just cars. Buy another one. Buy two. Cut one up and mod it to what you want and keep the other stock.’

That attitude is still here, but the attitude itself has been modified. ‘It’s still just a car. Cut it up if you can afford to. If the money doesn’t matter… Or, ‘If it’s matching numbers I wouldn’t touch it.’ Or, ‘$20,000 for a tub? That guy’s insane!’ Etc.

Our attitude toward our cars has changed, even here, among enthusiasts. And I don’t think that it’s just financial. But even if it is, that’s still a change that alters our relationship to the cars and how we perceive; and use them.

So, I’m not asking about the future popularity of the air-cool cars we are so fervently preserving. For all I know they may be more popular in 2075 than they were in 1975. My curiosity is for WHY they may be popular. What, in the context of a different age, might make them popular – probably not simply because they are a fun-driving, pretty reliable, DIY, affordable sports car, that are similar to the one’s my heroes raced in.

That’s what made air-cooled 911’s attractive to me (and maybe also to you). But, I don’t think that’s what motivates the Luftgekuhlt crowd and it’s not likely to be the reason that someone in 2075 will take an interest in early Porsches.

What will? Will future generations see our hot-rodded, renovated, powder-coated, re-upholstered, Recaro-ed, Renn-sported, Pelicanised 911’s and say, ‘Why did this bunch of weirdos restore all these under-powered, fossil fuel eating transportation devices?’ Or what?

Robert