Porsche Timeline 2008

by Bruce Herrington

The 6th annual Porsche Timeline was held at Lake Arrowhead Village on Saturday, 27 September, 2008. It was an outstanding event for exhibitor's and spectators alike. Though the 57 cars on display (ranging in vintage from '55 to '09) were a couple fewer than last year, the enlarged Porsche Corral was as full as ever. At one point there appeared to be more than 60 Porsches in the corral, some as unique and interesting as any in the Timeline itself.

The Timeline is held in conjunction with the Lake Arrowhead Village “Oktoberfest”, claimed to be the largest free Octoberfest in the area. It is complete with German Beer, live German Music, German dances (and singing), Stein holding contests, etc. etc. The Timeline display of German Cars, is a natural fit.

Weather at Lake Arrowhead is different from what it is in the LA Basin. Often this is a good thing, as Arrowhead tends to be in the very clear air, above the smog layers. At over 6000 feet, it is pleasantly cool when the LA Basin is sweltering. Though it's altitude sometimes causes Lake Arrowhead to have it's head in the clouds, literally, this year the weather was absolutely perfect, a bright sunny, 80ish day, with no wind.

Unique to the Timeline this year was an extensive collection of front-engined water-cooled Porsches - 924/928/944/968 and their various -S and Turbo variants. The similarities (and differences) were emphasized by the fact that these cars of various vintages, all collected together essentially in one nose-to-tail loop, had their hoods up to display the various configurations of engine, intake and exhaust plumbing.

Also unique to this year's event was the presence of two Continental coupes. Max Hoffman, the US Importer of Porsches in the '50s, was enamored with model names, as used by his adopted country. Hence the America roadster, the Speedster, and the Continental. The Continental name was used only during the early run of 1955 Porsches. Once the cars became known in this country, Ford/Lincoln objected and Porsche stopped shipping cars with the Continental script. The last part of the '55 model year run bore the 'European' script. No 'European' cars are known to exist on the West coast, but rumor has it that an RSR member does have an example of the European script squirreled away as a keepsake. From the '56 models on, Porsche avoided the use of model names, thinking numbers were less controversial, at least until after the conflict with Peugeot over the 901.

Timeline 2009 will be held on Saturday, 26 September. Hope to see you all there.

As usual, the displays served as triggers for Porsche talk among the members. The turnout was good, though many of the old timers were notably absent. Time marches on, and as the club evolves, it's past character becomes less important than it's present and future.