RJT

Hi All...

I asked Mike Robbins for permission to repost his email here on Rennlist. It's an amazing story. These little cars just go and go!!!

Robert had a chance to detail Mike's car while at the Parde with the master of the trade: John Paterek. That was the biggest grin I saw on Robert all week long. He didn't even grin that big for me! You'd think after working on Max for a month and a half he'd be tired of detailing. Nope, Not with John an especially not for such an avid 356er like Mike.

Mike Robbins has attended more Parades than anyone else in PCA. He has attended 47 out of the 50 Parades IN THIS CAR! He was lucky to even be at this 50th anniversary Parade. He was NOT ACCEPTED because he didn't apply fast enough. They were not willing to bend the rules to let him in even with his long history of Parade attendance. Mike and friends figured out a way to get around the stupid rules. He attended the Parade as a Co-Entrant an official Entrant. His wife tagged along as a guest. Yup, rules are made to be bent even if some folks didn't see Mike as a fit enough candidate to break them for. Glad he was there. It would not have been a 50th anniversary celebration without him.

Here's his story:

In approx 2 1/2 yrs I put the 1st 100,000 km [62,137mi] on my '58
Speedster. On the calendar it was closer to 3 yrs but for 5 mos of that
time, the Speedster was parked in a friend's garage while I was driving my
'60 Roadster....sold in May, '60.

We reached the 200,000 km [124,274 mi] mark in Sept, 1963. 4 yrs and 3 mos
to get the 2nd 100,000. Reason: I decided that if I wanted the Speedster to
last, I'd better get another car for daily use. The factory's response to
my letter of notification included "...thank you for intelligent and
sensible driving." Perhaps some of my driving didn't live up to that. Nor
did I tell them that the original Normal engine had been replaced by a '60
Super.

In Aug 1970 we reached the 300,000km [186,411mi]. The factory response to
this notification included "......This indicates you are a good driver and
your car has been carefully looked after." I didn't mention to them that I
had converted to a late 741 trans, 356C disc brakes and after-market wheels.

I don't know the date but we reached the 200,000 mile [321,869 km] mark as
Will Zobbe and I were returning to Indy from viewing the Sauter Roadster in
Bill Crabtree's salvage yard in New Castle IN. [Ray Knight ended up buying
the car and restoring it.]

I have no record of when we reached 400,000, 500,000 or 600,000km but I do
remember that we turned 350,000 miles [563,272 km] while on a CIR/PCA tour.

I made a trip to San Antonio in April '93 and turned 400,000 miles [643,739
km] on the way home.

I have no record of when the 700,000 km [434,959 mi] was reached.

En-route home from the 356 Registry Gulf Coast Holiday this past April we
saw the odometer roll over to 497,096 miles [800,00 km]. I bought a small
"8" sticker to put over the first numeral on the original 100,000 km badge
recvd from the factory over 43 yrs earlier.

Last Sunday, we were en-route home from the 50th Porsche Parade in Hershey
PA when we saw a sign reading "REST AREA 13 MILES". I had it figured that
we would reach the 500,000 mile mark in 12 miles. We probably had about
0.85 miles to play with before the last zero started turning to 1 but I
was on pins and needles as we drove along the shoulder with the odometer
reading 00000. We didn't make it to the rest stop by about 100 yds. Judy
took some pix of the odometer and then we went on into the rest stop for
more pix. It's hard for me to accept the fact that it took 12 yrs for this
latest 100K mile increment. I must get out and drive that car more often.
After all, it really is an enjoyable experience.....unless it's raining.

Mike Robbins
Hoping the car and I both see the "00000" again

Cool huh??
JoAnne

hoffman912

yeah, he is from indiana. he was honored at John Dixon's Taj Ma Garaj speed fest this year for his acheivement.

very cool story!!

NeedPorscheSpeed

Thanks for sharing Mike's story. Phenomenal!

Tony356993

And above all, Mike is a great person with a wealth of info on our cars and he is willing to answer any questions anyone might have. Thanks for the post.

SamGrant951

thats really cool. Any pictures floating around of this car??

hoffman912

here is a really bad pic i took a couple years ago. this pic was 2 days beore the guys 45th anniversary of his original purchase.. because of that and it had 400K+ miles i remembered it so distinctly. his is the one on the bottom of course. (sorry i scanned em two at a time when i did it a few years ago)

RJT

Here's a picture of the man himself, a living 356 legend Mike Robbins. He's the short one on the end on the right side. Very nice man. Gives great hugs too! Actually the guys in this picture are all 356 legends......

JoAnne

kmcc78230

Hi JoAnne,

Small world my boys grandfather William Bill or Bud, crabtree owned that salvage yard, that sold Ray knight that car.

I was trying to find Mike or Ray just to send my regards, I heard a lot about Bill's cars

points

Great story!

Edgy01

Fantastic! I have a lot of work to do to start amassing the miles on my 356. (Too much seat time in my 997S)

Thanks for helping get him to the fiftieth. The PCA can be rather irritating with their obsession with rules. It's supposed to be "the people" except it's more "the rules."

89826

Mike Robbins had a stroke a few years ago and sold his car.