Solid Gold. Musik-Stadt Region Porsche Club of America. Next Club Meeting. Next Club Event. Regional Officers

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1 Solid Gold Musik-Stadt Region Porsche Club of America The next meeting of the Musik-Stadt Region PCA will be held on Tuesday, December 11 at: Elliston Place Soda Shop 330 Mayfield Dr Cool Springs, TN Meeting time is 6:30 PM Next Club Meeting Regional Officers President Dan Martin Vice President Rick Arnemann Secretary JC Costarakis Treasurer Randy Lynch Membership Director Craig Flamme Dealer Liaison Next Club Event The next Musik-Stadt Region PCA event is: Member Banquet, January 26, The Banquet will be held at the Brentwood Country Club, 5126 Country Club Drive in Brentwood. Events Coordinator Don Wirth Webmaster Kent Kersten Newsletter Editor Ken Maurer Past President Mike Moody PAGE 1

2 A Message From The President Remember the last time, you were shopping for a laptop or home computer? It seemed that every month there were newer, more improved models. You kept waiting to buy, waiting to see what improvements the next version would offer. Same story with cell phones. Do I buy now or wait on that next super-duper model? That dilemma is what Porsche keeps putting us through. And that s a good thing. The newest 911 was unveiled at a Los Angeles news conference on November 28. Watch the video of the announcement at newstv.porsche.com/en/. The new model 911? Incredible! The turbocharged flat-six motor increases horsepower for the S model to 450 hp. The body is all new, fenders are more aggressively flared, door handles are recessed, headlights are new, the rear lighting panel is new, the trunk lid is the spoiler, 20 front wheels with 21 rears. Techwise it offers a new Porsche Wet mode (water sensors are in the wheel wells!), Night Vision Assist with thermal imaging, a Porsche Road Trip app for extraordinary driving tours, an app to adjust your carbon footprint and a Porsche 360 Personal Assistant. (Personally I m waiting on a 911 with a butler.) The list of changes goes on and on. What s not to like? How about the dash and the shift lever for the new 8-speed PDK? Visit the website for a more complete description and some fabulous videos. New Member Mixer - Our thanks go out to Cody Bender and the fine team at Porsche of Nashville for once again hosting our new member mixer on November 13. We had approximately fifty members turnout for the affair that was catered by Amerigo s of Brentwood. I want to give a special shout out to Neiland Pennington. I was speaking to Candace and Charlie Crumrine at the mixer who told me they were joining Musik-Stadt and PCA the next day. They had been in the dealership the weekend before and encountered Neiland. He did quite a selling job on them about our club, our activities and the people of PCA. They came to the mixer and indeed did join on 11/14. THEY BOTH JOINED!! Candace and Charlie each own Porsches, she owns a 2017 Macan GTS and he drives a 2018 Carrera, so they both are members. Welcome to all our new members of 2018 and a big thank you to Neiland for being the consummate Musik-Stadt member! Save the Date - A reminder to save the date for our Musik-Stadt Annual Banquet, January 26, Our banquet will once again be held at the Brentwood Country Club, 5126 Country Club Drive, Brentwood. Notification of our registration process will follow soon. PAGE 2

3 Monthly Membership Update Craig Flamme - Membership Director Monthly Membership 484 Regular Members Welcome New Members! Member Anniversaries Linda Albertalli Carrera S Candace Crumrine Macan GTS Charlie Crumrine Carrera Troy Frazier Carrera 4S Jim Ellis Turbo David Poertner - 20 Years Allen Sanders II - 15 Years John Szente - 15 Years Harvey Allison - 10 Years Scott Stevenson - 10 Years Bob Baumer - 10 Years Transfers Mark Dudycha from Riesentoter Region Phillip Mazzuca - 5 Years Phillips Turner, Jr. - 5 Years John Harbor - 5 Years PAGE 3

4 Upcoming Events and Activities Musik-Stadt Events: December 11, 2018 Club Meeting, Elliston Place Soda Shop. Meeting time 6:30 PM January 26, 2019 Musik-Stadt Annual Banquet, Brentwood Country Club Other PCA And Gear Head Events: J O I N U S PAGE 4

5 If This is Tuesday, It Must Be Stuttgart.Part I Text and Photos By Craig Flamme The last time I visited Stuttgart was in I was only able to stay a day and had just missed that day s English-speaking tour. I was able to wander around where I could get a glimpse of Werks I, stacks of 911 engines waiting to go to the final assembly building and the museum, which was just a few thousand square feet but had some impressive cars on display. Jump forward about 14 years, this time I had more time to really plan things out (with the help of my wonderful wife Kim of course!). She really did all the research and gave me the assignment to secure the reservations at Christotphorus, the 5-star Michelin rated restaurant on the museum s top floor. Much to her chagrin, I tend to just show up and go with the flow anyway I digress. The S-Bahn train stops literally yards away from the back of the new museum! We re walking along the ramp and you get a glimpse of the open garage doors from the Classic Workshop. I see what looks like to me are an early 356 Cabriolet and a 906 being loaded onto a transporter. I just start smiling at what I believe to be what heaven is going to be like when it s my time to go to the great beyond! And we haven t even got to the front of the building yet! Just outside the Classic Workshop viewed from the S-Bahn platform. PAGE 5

6 When we get to the end of the station ramp you turn right and you see Porsche Zentrum Stuttgart to the left and the Museum across the street. Ahead of you is the sculpture in the center of Porscheplatz and across the street the beginnings of the sprawling factory campus! Porscheplatz Sculpture with factory entrance beyond & Cayman GT4 reflection. We check in at the museum for the factory tour and we have some time to kick around before we gather to meet our guide. Lots of cars out front of the museum, there is a Cayman GT4 dressed up in the 70 th Anniversary livery and reflections off the stainless-steel panels hovering over the museum plaza present an interesting perspective. Panorama of the Museum Plaza, Porsche Zentrum Stuttgart to the left and factory beyond. There is a little coffee shop at the base of the escalator leading up to the museum display floors and the bespoke Christophorus restaurant. There is a glass wall looking into the Classic Workshop and windows into the Archives above where all of the important historical documents and artifacts are housed. Inside of the workshop you can see a 901, # which is the earliest 901/911 the museum possesses. A 356 which is owned by the President of one of the Japan Porsche Club PAGE 6

7 regions is also there. The owner drove the car all the way from Japan to Stuttgart for the anniversary celebration held in June. Truly amazing. There are also a smattering of race cars and other customer cars strewn throughout the workshop. If only I could ve walked into the shop!!! Inside on the main floor looking into the Classic Workshop below and Archives above. It was time to begin our tour! Unfortunately, we had to turn in our phones and cameras. No pictures allowed! Dang it! We began our tour walking over to the factory s main entrance leading to the final assembly plant. Across the street to the left, is the body plant where the bodies are constructed then transported to the paint shop. From the paint shop the bodies travel via conveyor over the street within an enclosed bridge to the final assembly plant. You can see the finished body traverse the street on its way to be turned into a finished car. Cool! Our first stop was the final assembly plant. We started out on the part of the line where the dashboards are assembled. Then we moved to the area where the car bodies are actually traveling down the line. Our guide warned us that we may not get to see too much of the final assembly area due to the Porsche staff wandering around. The issue was that they were beginning to work out the final bugs on the new 911 line! We got to spy a few pre-production 992s on the line, so we had to scoot out of the way before we got our guide into trouble! Dang it again! As a consolation though we did get to see a few GT 3 RSs and a couple of GT 2s!!! Really cool!! PAGE 7

8 Next up, we were off to the upholstery shop. Along the way our guide started explaining the 10M investment (minimum) in the electrical vehicle body, paint and final assembly plants. When you look at the final assembly plant s size you begin to realize that Porsche is going all in on electric vehicles. The Taycan is just the beginning. We finally arrive at the upholstery plant where our guide shows us how they digitize the skins to identify any imperfections. The next step are the cutting tables. The patterns are laid out then the patterns are cut by water jets! After the cutter does its job and moves to another table, workers then remove the patterns and neatly stack them. I just wanted to wander over to the trash cans and stuff my pockets full of the discarded leather! I m sure I could have put together enough leather bits to make a nice wallet or two!!! The skins are then sewn together by hand. We were shown around 20 sewing stations where all the action takes place. A very impressive facility. The last stop on our tour was the engine assembly plant. We walked up to the second floor where we were able to get an overview of the plant. Each station performed progressive tasks as the engine was initially assembled by robots. It appears there are about 30 steps to assemble each engine and there were 3 different lines. Our guide explained that the workers worked a 35-hour work week, 5-minute breaks each hour with a 45-minute lunch period. They also get 6 weeks of paid vacation. When we walked by their break rooms the vending machines had all sorts of refreshments, cigarettes and beer! If I was a lot younger, I would seriously consider emigrating! Our guide also explained that training began in high school then moved on to the Porsche factory training center for a 2-year training program before moving onto the factory floor. As a contrast, when I worked at the Toyota factory in Georgetown, KY I went through 2-weeks of training before they turned me loose to work in the primer shop! We had 30 seconds to complete our tasks before the next car arrived in front of us. At Porsche, the workers are given 3½ minutes to complete their tasks. Of course, the daily output volume at Toyota is over 3 times more than what they produce in Stuttgart. If I remember correctly that s about the same amount of time (3½ minutes) the Corvette factory workers get to complete their tasks (bet they don t have beer in their break room vending machines! ). The end of our first day at the Porsche factory was topped off with a fabulous lunch at Christophorus. They feature amazing steaks and regional dishes. I highly recommend eating there but do make reservations more than 3 weeks in advance. They book up really fast, especially for dinner. You never know who might show up too! There was a large group at a table near us and they were discussing plans for the upcoming motorsport program. Great food and atmosphere! Next month.porsche Museum visit! PAGE 8

9 View from Christophorus. You can see the bridge from the Body & Paint shop to the left where the finished bodies are transported to the Final Assembly plant. Overview Map of Porsche Campus (Sorry about the German version, couldn t find a decent map in English) PAGE 9

10 Porsche Pundit - Brand Loyalty By R. Turner Brand loyalty. Automotive manufacturers just love the concept. It means that life-time buyers can go from the El Cheapo entry-level car all the way up to the Grand Poohbah luxo barge, all without leaving the comfort and safety of the driver s seat of their favorite brand. No doubt the Grand Poohbah is probably the most expensive car in the fleet and I have a sneaking suspicion, also the least fuel-efficient car in the fleet too, but that s okay, because it s also the most profitable car the manufacturer makes. You know the one that no matter what the Government of XYZ country does to try to kill it, the manufacturer will keep building that sucker till the nodding donkeys stop pumping oil. OK, so maybe I am talking about Lexus guys, but there is something to say about how we Porsche folk approach our favorite marque. I am willing to bet that for many of us, there s more than one Porsche lurking in our collective garages. We bought in to the concept of the entry-level car and maybe started with a Boxster. But from there we may have moved to the flag ship, the 911 Carrera (or something more fun like a Turbo, GT3 or, dare I say it, a GT2). And as family needs changed maybe we added a Cayenne, Macan or Panamera for when two-up driving was out of the question and you were forced yes forced to put people or stuff in the back. Point is, once we bought into the Porsche family hook, line, and PDK, we most likely decided to stay around for quite some time. But have you checked the prices of those suckers lately? I mean a Cayman can run way north of $100K and that does not even include fun stuff like seats and wheels. Problem is for me, the price tag of new Porsches is beyond my reach. Not so much because of what I make, but because of one or two other things that occupy me financially (like kids in college, their cars, room and board and the myriad of other things that seem to be attached to young adults these days, like esports subscriptions and music stream services which I pay for!). So I have to be content with pre-owned Porsches. I may be dating myself a bit, but there was a time when we called them used cars; but pre-owned sounds so much more civilized. Nowadays a 2002 Boxster S is what fills my garage. Yes, I procured it as a pre-owned vehicle. Although to most people a Porsche is not exactly entry-level, fact is at this time in my life, it s what I can afford. To the uninitiated layman, however, a 2002 Boxster looks pretty much like a 2010 Boxster or a 2015 Boxster. Honestly they cannot tell the difference. But what about a real entry-level Porsche, say a sub-boxster? At one point, it was rumored for years. It was an on again/off again affair that kept us guessing. One day it s going to be an enhanced version of a new VW, the next it s going to be smaller and lighter than the Boxster. This is great! I remember thinking. Hey, I can afford an entry-level Porsche. Something around $40K (well equipped). If I move a few things around financially, get top dollar for my Boxster S and use the proceeds from the sale as a down payment, it could work. But ultimately Detlev Von Platen, (at that time the CEO of Porsche North America) killed any hope of an El Cheapo Porsche, saying You won t see anything lower than the current Boxster model. Further squashing any hopes for an entry-level Porsche, he continued: Our entry model is our pre-owned program. Thanks Detlev. We get the picture. Been there, doing that And on that exhaust note, see you next time. RL Turner is the author of The Driver, a series of action adventure novels, available in both print and ebook on Amazon (more info at Having owned a dozen Porsches and driven hundreds of laps on racetracks throughout the southwest, author Turner knows a few things about going fast in a Porsche and then fixing them when he breaks something. PAGE 10

11 National Corvette Museum Tour November 17 dawned bright and sunny over Nashville and 14 Porsches from Musik-Stadt Region rolled out for a short 1 hour drive up I-65 N to the National Corvette Museum in Bowling Green, Kentucky. It had been several years since our last official visit and it's always a pleasure to view the terrific exhibits at this well-curated museum. After a brief introduction to the museum by one of the staff most of us found seats in the theater for an interesting video of Corvette history. After the film it was off to explore the history of the Corvette. Like most great museums the Corvette Museum rotates cars and exhibits in and out of circulation from time to time. One exhibit I'm sure will stay for quite sometime is the "sinkhole". On February 12, 2014 a 30 foot sinkhole opened up inside the museum swallowing 8 collectible Corvettes. Visit the link to watch security camera footage of the event ( v=iukdwhf7u9i). Today the museum offers a view down inside an unrestored section of the sinkhole for visitors to witness as well as a number of 'vettes that were pulled from it. Eerie. All in all it was a great day for a drive to the Corvette shrine. A very well done museum with a great story and great cars. By D, Martin PAGE 11

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13 For Sale 2012 Cayman R Meteor Gray over Black Full leather interior PDK Porsche Sport Exhaust New tires Full maintenance records (up-to-date) 14,400 miles Contact Joe Questel at or joe@questel.net PAGE 13

14 For Sale HANS device 30L Sport Mfg Oct 2013 Valid until 2023 Used twice Comes with carrier bag $300 OBO Contact Mike Moody Free! Free! Free! Eric Berg is offering his vast collection of "Up-Fixin der Porsche" repair guides to our club members. These in-depth professional repair guides are a must if you're going to tackle the mechanics of your Porsche. Eric has guides for practically any model you need. Eric Berg at eberg@bellsouth.net or call him at to discuss your needs and arrange pickup. Thanks Eric! PAGE 14

15 Musik-Stadt Thanks The Following For Their Support No-Cost Review of all Insurance/Financial Needs for Club Members! PAGE 15

16 To all Musik-Stadt PCA members that renew year after year, thank you! PAGE 16

17 NAME TAGS FOR PICK-UP Many members have paid for name tags, but have not been to a meeting lately to pick it up. Please come and pick up your name tags Advertise With Us! Advertising Space Available Put your business on the road to success with 1/8 Page 1/4 Page 1/2 Page Solid Gold $120 Per Year $240 Per Year $600 Per Year Ads are pro-rated for partial year. As always, member ads for Porsches and related parts are run free of charge for up to 3 months. For More Info Contact Ken Maurer Newsletter Editor editor.mskpca@gmail.com The Solid Gold newsletter is the official publication of the Middle Tennessee Porsche Car Club of America, Inc. The club assumes no liability for any of the information, opinions or suggestions contained herein. None of the information is factory approved. The acceptance of advertising for any product or service in the newsletter does not imply endorsement for that product or service by the club. Copyright 2008m Musik-Stadt, PCA. Solid Gold is published by the Musik-Stadt Chapter PCA, P.O. Box 3142, Brentwood, TN, Visit our website at PAGE 17

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