[javadog]

You know, Porsche isn't in the business of making used cars, so most of you guys aren't what I would call Porsche customers. Don't take it personally, but you choose to drive older Porsches, for whatever reason. As such, don't be offended if Porsche builds something you don't want, since you aren't their customer in the first place.

The cars they build today are light years faster than the old ones. More comfortable, too. Better engineered, as well. Completely reliable? No. They are too complicated for that. The old ones had issues also, and were less well built, but most people forget such things, or were never around in the old days to learn them.

Cars like the Cayenne aren't a VW with a Porsche badge. They share a few parts with a VW, by design to reduce their costs, but they were engineeered by Porsche and use engines, drivetrains, bodies and interiors that are all Porsche. Who cares if they share some sheet metal stampings that you'll never see? Go back in time and study other joint efforts with VW. Porsche always ran the show and did the design work.

Wanna ***** about the options? Go ahead. They were doing the same things in the glory years of the company, when they built the beloved vehicles you now worship. You don't often see examples of what they would do 30 years ago but you would be amazed at what options were available. Want leather covering for your gauge faces? No problem, just check the box. Want to cover every single switch in the interior in leather? No problem, you can have that too. At a price... You want to know what nose-bleed prices are like? Go order a new Ferrari. There are steering wheel options that cost as much as a 3.2 Carrera. You can look at it another way, too. If they didn't make some of their money on crap like that, they would charge more money for the basic cars. Would you rather pay more money for your next new Porsche, or have the freedom to not order a few options you don't want anyway? Wait, I forgot... you have no plans to actually buy a new Porsche... never mind.

Let's talk about the employees, shall we? The guys like Bott, Lapine, Metzger, Singer are all gone. Some are retired, quite a few are dead now. Those were the guys you heard about. Working underneath them were hundred of guys that you didn't hear about. Many of them are still there. Others just like them have been hired. Porsche has a lot of talent, you just don't hear about them. 30 years from now, when somebody pens a new book about this era, you'll learn some of their names. They are the guys that matter.

The guys that build the cars? Who cares... Porsche never did. It might surprise you to know that during the heyday you guys think was Porsches' finest era, they were using whoever would work for a specific wage. If that was a real German, great. If that was a guy from Turkey, that was fine also. You should have seen how they built the cars. Things are a lot better now.

Let's whine about depreciation, shall we? That's a product of our time, not a problem caused by Porsche. Rather than go into the myriad reasons for it, let's just say that all cars in their price range suffer from the same problem, for the same reasons. You can look at it another way, too. It will make your next Porsche that much more affordable.

One more thing... althought the Porsche family got out of the day-to-day operation of the business in the very early 1970's, there are family members still lurking in the shadows, with enough clout to suggest which way the company should go in the future. If the current direction doesn't suit you, rest assured it suits them and their name is on the front door, not yours.

JR