SPRING INVITATIONAL AND AUTO SHOW

For Immediate Release

NEW FORMAT SARATOGA SPRING INVITATIONAL AND AUTO SHOW TO KICK OFF THE 2013 CAR SHOW SEASON

Saratoga Springs, NY     The Saratoga Automobile Museum’s premier outdoor event, the Saratoga Springs Invitational and accompanying Spring Auto Show, will again kick off the busy Capital District car show season on its traditional mid-May date.

Set for Saturday, May 18^th rather than its longstanding Sunday date, the 2013 event will use Sunday as a rain date should the weather not cooperate. The twin shows will be held on the Saratoga Spa State Park’s beautiful green space adjacent to the museum, with the rare and exotic Invitational entries arrayed around the scenic reflecting pool near the classic architecture of the Hall of Springs. The hundreds of cars, trucks and motorcycles of all types and ages that annually populate the wildly popular “traditional” auto show will again be displayed and judged on the lawn in front of the reflecting pool.  The combined event will open to the public at 10 AM with Awards presented at 3 PM.

“The museum is reaching out to the motoring community to participate in the Invitational,” explained longtime museum supporter and restoration specialist Bob Ensign, who is on the Invitational organizing committee along with museum trustee and show chairman Lee Miller, vice-chairman and trustee Eric King and enthusiast Peter Perry.  

The twin shows are only part of the special weekend, with May 17^th offering a pair of exciting events. A driving tour, including lunch, will run from 10 am to 3 pm and allow participants to visit the over 100 outstanding automobiles housed at the Jim Taylor Collection in nearby Gloversville. That evening, the newest and possibly most outstanding Saratoga Automobile Museum exhibit ever, “BMW – The Ultimate Driving Machine,” will open in SAM’s Golub Gallery. The comprehensive exhibit will be sponsored by BMW of North America and local BMW dealer Keeler Motor Car Company of Latham.

Hosts for the Exhibit opening will be nationally recognized automotive author and exhibit curator Ken Gross as well as Peter Nettesheim, owner of one of the world’s great BMW motorcycle collections, who will offer comments on the rare motorcycles he has loaned to SAM for the unique exhibit.  

Tickets for the two Friday events and entry forms for the Spring Auto Show are available online at www.saratogaautomuseum.org or at the museum during business hours. 

Continuing another popular tradition, Invitational and Auto Show participants and everyone who purchases an admission to the car show will be able to tour the museum the day of the show free of charge, allowing them to be among the first wave of enthusiasts to view and appreciate the BMW exhibit.

“We will emphasize BMW motorcycles as well at the Spring Auto Show, though of course all makes and models are welcome,” summed up Miller. “The weekend will mark the start of a summer schedule featuring our diverse lawn show series, the rare BMW cars and motorcycles on exhibit, our annual museum gala and a variety of related educational activities, including the BMW Teenage Driving program for area students. We’re looking at another outstanding summer here at the Saratoga Automobile Museum.”

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The Saratoga Automobile Museum is a not-for-profit education institution located in Saratoga Springs, New York and dedicated to the preservation, interpretation and exhibition of automobiles and automotive artifacts. The Museum is open seven days a week from 10 AM to 5 PM from Memorial Day to Labor Day and closed on Mondays after Labor Day.  For additional information, visit www.saratogaautomuseum.org.

Beer & Burgers: Micro Brew Tasting

For Immediate Release
Contact: Richard Selikoff - 518-587-1934 or richard.selikoff@saratogaautomuseum.org
 
BEER AND BURGERS EVENT RETURNS TO AUTO MUSEUM
 
          Beer and Burgers, the perfect antidote to the “cabin fever” that strikes New Yorkers in February and March, will return to the Saratoga Automobile Museum on Saturday, March 3rd from 6-9 pm.
          The fundraiser for the museum’s educational programs is traditionally a sell-out and with 20 micro-brews available for tasting, food catered by the popular The Lily and the Rose, music by Summer of Doug and a return appearance by the Albany Roller Derby girls, the third-annual event is sure to continue the tradition.
          Participants will be able to view the museum’s current hit exhibit, “Porsche – 60 Years of Speed and Style in North America,” as they sample the products of the region’s craft brewers and enjoy the evening’s food offerings, which will include a vegetarian option.
          Popular regional band Summer of Doug will be making its second appearance at Beer and Burgers, with last year’s event kicking off a whirlwind year that saw them release their first CD, “Double Yellow Line,” in October.
          Tickets for the event are available online at www.saratogaautomuseum.org or by calling the museum at 518-587-1935.

FOR MANY, THIS IS A PORSCHE

          For many people, when the word Porsche is mentioned, the image that comes to mind is Todd Fischer’s 1964 356C Coupe. The car currently graces the “Porsche: 60 Years of Speed and Style in North America” exhibit at the Saratoga Automobile Museum.
          The Burnt Hills resident has a number of interesting cars in his garage, including a huge British touring car, but Porsches are what really lights his fire.Bottom of Form
          The 356C coupe, with the T6 body, came on the scene in July, 1963 and was the last model in the stellar 356 series. Engine choices were the 88-bhp (SAE rating, corresponding to the old Super) and the 107-bhp SC (which equated to the S90). A rare optional engine choice was the 130-bhp 2.0-liter 4-cam Carrera. Disc brakes, supplied by ATE (Alfred Teves) under license from Dunlop, were standard.
          With its fully independent suspension, the newly up-rated brakes and stylish T6 body, the 356C/SC/Carrera was the ultimate representation of the 356 Series. Taut, compact, nimble and sporty, these cars were a relative performance bargain. Prices started at $4,195 for the 356C Coupe and rose to $8,051 for a Carrera cabriolet.
          Despite it’s relatively small size, the 356 Porsche featured a rugged unit body, torsion bar suspension, a remarkable Porsche synchromesh transmission design, and that now-famous air-cooled, horizontally-opposed flat four that would rev willingly, in pushrod form, to 5,800 rpm (and in the 4-cam iteration, to 6,200 rpm).
          Ken W. Purdy, the leading American auto writer of the day, wrote a now-collectable pamphlet for Porsche called “The Porsche Story.” Although this type of paid effort by a writer, on a manufacturer’s behalf, could be considered something of a conflict of interest, we know from his other writings that Purdy genuinely liked and admired Porsches and was no doubt expressing his honest opinion.
          “People who own Porsches may be anything from industrial tycoons to freelance artists,” Purdy wrote, “but they all have two things in common: (1) When they want to go, they want to go; they don’t want temperament, delay or fussiness in their automobiles; (2) They don’t live in ugly houses, they don’t wear ugly clothing, and they won’t drive ugly automobiles. I know quite a few of them.”
          After praising the company founder, Dr. Ferdinand Porsche, Purdy noted “...it’s over-safe, over-sturdy, over-strong. And a Porsche feels like no other car. It steers like a wish, it brakes as if the great brown hand of legend had appeared from the sky to hold it like a toy, and it runs through corners as a train is supposed to...faster than you’d have believed possible. You almost never see a Porsche driver who looks bored.”
          Porsche’s 356 Series continued being exported to the US for the 1965 production year. The C and SC variants were superseded for 1966 by the new Porsche 911 flat six, ($6,490) and the 912, ($4,690) which was essentially the 911 body with a 356SC drive-train. Although there was a large price difference between the new 911 and the old 356, purists took to the new car enthusiastically and the 912 was short-lived.
          The original owner of Fischer’s pride and joy, Mr. Voy Mitchell, took delivery at the Porsche factory in Germany on October 2, 1963. Subsequently purchased at an RM auction, it’s been owned by Fischer for 2½-years.
          “I’ve owned Porsches since the 1970s,” Fischer says. “I’m not a speed demon. This car is fun-to-drive and just a little tail-happy. I love it!”
          When you combine the car’s timeless appearance, Purdy’s summary of Porsche attributes and his description of the people who own them and Fischer’s obvious joy from local drives, it’s easy to see why the Porsche legend has endured for many, many decades.

THIS 9II IS NO EMERGENCY CALL

        While we generally equate the numbers 9-1-1 with a call for emergency services, it is also the designation of one of Porsche’s best-known products, as in Peter Perry’s 1972 Porsche 911.Bottom of Form
         Currently on display at the Saratoga Automobile Museum in the “Porsche: 60 Years of Speed and Style in North America” exhibit, good weather and the end of the exhibit will find the car back on the highways and by-ways of the Capital District with a smiling Perry at the wheel. But first, a look at the car’s history.
          By the late-1950s, Ferry Porsche and his colleagues knew the venerable 356 had run its course. The rounded body shape, while iconic, was considered passé, and the pushrod 4-cylinder engine had reached the end of its development cycle. Ferdinand “Butzi” Porsche, Ferry’s son, began new design work according to strict guidelines from his father. Reutter Coachworks and Irwin Komenda, who’d been with Porsche for decades, also worked on the new model.
          Ferry Porsche insisted the design be evolutionary but contemporary. The wheelbase would be 111-mm (about 5-in.) longer; the car would still be a small 2+2, with folding rear seats; and there would be a six-cylinder engine.
          The new 901 first met the public at the 1963 Frankfurt Motor Show. Obviously a new Porsche, it was more contemporary-looking than its predecessor. The all-steel unit body and chassis were very rigid. New independent suspension consisted of MacPherson struts in front, with lower wishbones and longitudinal torsion bars.  Transverse torsion bars and triangulated trailing links supported a rear axle equipped with both inner and outer u-joints, resisting the old suspension’s tendency to tuck in during hard cornering, while ATE disc brakes were basically carried over from the 356. Tubular shocks and ZF rack & pinion steering completed the specifications.
          Dr. Ferdinand Piech designed the new 1,991-cc engine, an opposed SOHC, air-cooled six with eight bearings, a forged steel crank, an aluminum dry sump crankcase, and a pair of triple choke Solex carburetors. An all-synchromesh five-speed gearbox and a Fichtel & Sachs single dry-plate clutch complimented the drive-train. Output was a creditable 148-bhp @6,100 rpm.  Like the 356’s powerplant, the new engine was mounted behind the rear axle.
          Prior to official production in 1964, the 901 designation was changed to 911, beginning a series of changes as the years passed. For 1969, the B-Series 911 had a 2.24-in. longer wheelbase and improved Lobro halfshafts. The base 911T was continued; the 911E replaced the 911L and the 911S was the top model.
          For 1970, the C-Series 911s had a 2,195-cc engine and output increased. The D-Series of 1971 had only minor changes. In 1972, the engine was stroked to 2,341cc and the badges read 2.4. The T, E, and S models were all available and a 5-speed transmission was optional. In 1972, Porsche revived the Carrera nameplate on a lightweight 911-based competition model with a 2,687-cc flat six. Called the 911RS, it was not certified for road use in the US but in 1973, it was available here for track use.  
          Perry’s car is an unrestored 911T in Albert Blue. Original and repainted only once, it is fully documented since new and retains its original undercoating, carpets and seating. Perry’s father was the fourth owner. He bought it in 1998 and had the motor upgraded from 911T to 911S specifications. Additionally, there are European H4 headlamps and directional lenses and a 911S front fairing.
          The car was sold to Andrew Serling in 2004 but he only owned it for ten months and decided to sell. Ownership returned to the Perry family and the car has been driven and lovingly cared for since.