It is very telling how most auto manufacturers move away from their products as soon as they are driven off of the lot with their new owners. The exception, of course, is the ones who have a certified pre-owned division that can recapture brand loyalists with shallow pockets. Maybe the depth of the pockets is the reason that Porsche has such an affinity for celebrating its owners.

Porsche- Celebrating 60 Years of Passion in America is a new site where there is a bevy of beautiful videos & photographs, interesting historical facts and Porsche Family Stories from enthusiast owners like Jerry Seinfeld.

In 1948, the first Porsche was built in Germany and the automotive world was changed forever. Two years later, thanks to the foresight of Ferry Porsche and Max Hoffman, the first two Porsches arrived in New York City. Today, America’s passion for Porsche is deeper than ever, and to celebrate 60 years of Porsche in the U.S., PCNA is welcoming owners, fans and enthusiasts to tell their Porsche stories, and even help us locate the oldest Porsche sports cars in America.

From the site:
“The Porsche brand was established in Germany in 1948. In 1950, New York City businessman Max Hoffman introduced the Porsche 356 to America, sparking a love affair that has lasted for six decades. Today, America’s passion for Porsche is deeper than ever, and our Family Tree sports strong new branches. To help us celebrate 60 years of Porsche in America, we’re inviting owners, fans and enthusiasts to tell their Porsche stories on our Porsche Family Tree. We’re also looking for the oldest Porsche sports cars in the U.S. in the My Porsche Classic Search.”

Once you jump in, consider the boring part of your day to be over. Some of the featured content includes:

My Porsche Classic Search

• They are on the search for the oldest Porsche vehicles sold in America! If you own and can officially verify the retail age of your Porsche, you are invited to enter your car in one of the categories that include the oldest 356, 911, 912, 914, 924, 928, 944, 968, Boxster, Cayenne, Carrera GT and Cayman. Participants receive a badge from the Porsche Museum and the top 12 models may be photographed and included in the American exhibit at the Porsche Museum in Stuttgart, Germany.

Porsche Passion Contest

• Win one of three trips to the Porsche Sport Driving School (with a guest) by entering your favorite Porsche story.

Porsche History

• An interactive timeline with photos of founders, cars and innovations, this section will keep you engaged if you love Porsche and want to learn even more!

Porsche Family Stories

• The Porsche legend is filled with larger than life stories. Thrilling race wins. Shattered records. Technological feats. Yet some of the favorite stories come from the mouths of owners and enthusiasts. Intimate tales of passion offer a glimpse into the ties that bind all Porsche owners. This is your opportunity to look beneath the sheet metal and statistics and see the heart and soul of Porsche.

Almost every part of the site is interactive: user can submit stories, photos and even video. This project will just increase the rich history of 60 years of Porsche Passion in America.

One of the featured videos by designer Freeman Thomas discussing the animated design of Porsche:

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S7Dsdb_8hzY]

After a late drive up Highway 1 from Morro Bay to Big Sur where I am staying, I was reminded that on my “to write list” is an article about driving in fog and safety.

Actually, on the to write list will also be:

• An article about eBay’s new pricing tool for collector cars which is a fun tool for getting actual car sale prices for collector cars. This is a very similar tool to Mota’s own Price Your Car. Huh!
• Another article about Hagerty Insurance and their recent gift to McPherson College in Kansas which has the country’s only auto restoration degree. They gave $1.3 million in scholarship funds!
• The Concorso Italiano and one collector/restorer I met who paid $400K for a Ferrari 250 about a year ago, restored it and expects to get $1.5 million for it soon!
• The Gooding Auction Preview (which I am going into shortly).
• The RM Auction tonight in downtown Monterrey.
• The Rolex Monterrey Historic Races tomorrow at Laguna Seca Raceway.

Steve Haas, another Mota Mouth, is also here attending events so expect a few articles from him and what he has seen.

Overall, I am listening and learning a lot about the collector car culture and have enjoyed meeting and talking to these collectors about their everyday car choices. So glad that I came other than the fact that it is foggy and freezing.

Michelle Naranjo

Originally posted here

Originally posted here

One of the biggest features is also a limitation; it works in regions defined by borders and borders can be false and extremely limiting. In my area I am only a few miles from the Orange County border so the perfect thing I am looking for may be hidden under the Los Angeles listings so all of my searches are doubled.

Enter a new multi-city search for finding things on Craigslist! A new site sans vowels, crgslst.com has launched and it works pretty well so far. I can see so many uses for this- especially if you are looking for a rare or collectible car online.

The Flash based navigation is pretty nifty and intuitive for setting up multiple regions where you would like to search although when testing it I did find all of the results not necessarily relevant because I searched “Z3 Coupe” and got every Z3 in the regions I selected including the convertibles. (Miss Mota Mouth does like her coupes!)

Give it a whirl and hopefully it will manage to last. Other similar sites have not lasted in the past because they violated Craigslist terms (of which I am a fairly big fan). I just hope that Craig will begin to allow a little leniency with the creative souls out there who are avid users of his site and want to create new paths of user experience.

XOO,M

PS: As I wrote this a friend turned me onto crazedlist.org Something else new to play with!

Originally posted here