Robby

I remember talking to him one night- one of our first conversations... He had told me he had had a little run-in w/the law he didn't think he should tell me about b/c he thought I might "disapprove." I laughed at that, wondering how the hell he would get that impression & almost wondering if he had done something horrible, like murder w/out reason OR rape or something... Well, he proceeded to tell me about a banzai-run he did in his car one night. He had his 100w Cibie high-beams on WITH his 100w Euro drivers & I believe his 50w Euro fogs, all connected w/his first Porsche wiring kit- this had been years ago, evidently... He had only done this stuff for HIS car, so... Anyway, he said he had hit somewhere in the neighborhood of 150mph before shutting it down... well, as luck would have it, he passed a trooper seconds slater & right around the 100mph level... IIRC, he said there was really no where to go, so, when the blues came on, he just pulled over... The cop was more intrerested in his lights than anything else... He said it honestly looked like a jet-airplane was landing on the freeway- he had never seen a car w/such intense lighting before... He ended up getting by w/out a ticket, but, spent a good amount of time chatting w/the cop on the side of the road & doing his best to describe everything he did to get the lights... I thought it was a great story... Afterwards I had to ask him why he thought I would be offended at that- he said that he must have had me confused w/someone else on Rennlist, since, many people here would frown on such a thing... I can understand that side of the argument too, but, unless one knows the exact circumstances, it's kind of tough to judge... I would never have judged him for such an incident anyway... Was glad to have heard the story & could visualize a black 951S flying down the freeway at 150+ w/all highly modded lights on, illuminating the road for miles... Must have looked almost like a UFO or something...

Randy_J

Every time I jump into my 951S on a dark and stormy night, I count my blessings that Dan made the Full Boat Lighting kit. Over the past few years, I was able to get another harness yet to be installed, but I've kept it all in a box next to my desk for the past year, pulling it out from time to time to admire the craftsmanship - all the care and attention into something as mundane as a wiring harness. Just goes to show you how much he cared about making our cars just that little bit better and safer for all - and yes, I have the 100W+100W Euro driving / fog combination that ends up with something close to 500W of lighting.

But thanks to Dan, he made a real difference in more ways than one as attested in all these great stories. But not surprising that he treated us all with the same generosity, sending out parts before payment, etc. Thanks for all the stories and memories folks.

RIP Dan.

Robby

Randy, it will be awhile before I install my Euro driving lights, but, I too bought the extra wire, relays, etc, to wire them up to the regular headlight kit... Did you wire your's to be able to turn them on seperately from all other lights, including parking, etc...? I want to be able to turn my drivers on completely & totally seperately from all others, so that I can have them on by themselves, OR, in addition to the high-beams, etc... I just need to find someone who has installed these & understand it all, to help me w/instructions...

thanks...

Randy_J

Yep - I wired them all to run separately etc and modified the G6 relay to do that. I have a write up somewhere... I'll look for it and PM it to you.

Set up to do the following now:

1-each set of lights operates independently of each other
2-each set of lights operates with or withOUT having the headlights on
3-each set of lights operates with or withOUT having the high beams on
4-each set of lights operates only when the key is 'on'
5-each set flashes 'on' if they are 'off' and the high beam stalk is pulled

Sorry to sidebar this post, but in the spirit of IceShark, I don't think Dan would mind! to Dan!

spedracer18

I am deeply troubled to hear of Dan's passing. Not but a few months ago did I meet him for the first time at perkins for breakfast, battery cables, and a 2-hour chat on all things Porsche. He was a great guy and I will miss him. My prayers go out to his loved ones, family and friends.

j_overly

I met up with Dan a year or so ago in Chanhassen while there on business. He only knew me from my buying a light kit from him, but was more than willing to meet up for dinner and chat about Porsches. 10 minutes into the conversation and you could hear the attention to detail he put into his work. He will be missed.

Mouthpiece

I ordered Dan's power cable kit and numerous light bulbs from him. Before I ever ordered anything from him Dan helped me out on a number of electrical issues. That's the way he was.

I remember my first order from him. Since I was having troubles, he sent the order before he ever gave me a total for me to send him a check. When I thanked him he said it was nothing, besides he had my address and friends in New Orleans.

washington951

quick side note - randy j: i saw your post. thats my original write-up and i just mailed it to robby.

i'll miss knowing that dan is around. his knowledge and products were above and beyond. i have his full-boat kit in the 951 and i always thought that if i ever sold the car, his work would increase the value of the car for sure. i also thought that i could 'always get another one' from dan....i'm sorry to learn that i'm wrong.

i have his aux + and - kit upstairs in a box waiting to be installed. just knowing that he designed it and created it with his own hands makes it special.

you are missed, dan.

phil0618

I once asked Dan about the origin of his nickname and he wrote me back the following.

------------------
Quote:
Originally Posted by IceShark

IceShark is sort of a long story. I'm a SCUBA diver and have done quite a few ice dives. I've been diving since I was 11 years old and have been all over the world in all sorts of circumstances. Some friends and I went down to Belize diving. On one dive trip offshore I spotted some pilot whales and had the Captain motor over to them and told him I was going to slip in the water and try and swim with them. He said "go for it" while everyone else was on the bow taking pictures. So I slipped over the edge right next to them ~ 6 feet off. The whales sort of spooked and dropped down 20 feet and the boat backed off a hundred yards. I just had fins, mask and snorkel and was hanging over the pod on the surface wondering if I should let them get used to me or try diving down to their level.

Then as the waves put my ears above water I hear this yelling "Baby in back of you!" The pod had very young calves in it. So I turn around and here is coming a shark with his mouth open and inner eylids rolled up white. He was attacking! I punched him in his eye, trying to keep my arm out of his mouth, with my fist and he shot off away from me. This was a big shark well over 9 foot but I wasn't too sure what it was as everything happened so fast. I screamed to the Captain "what knid"? Oceanic White! Great! They are in the same top tier as Great Whites and Tigers. "Do you want to come out?" YES!!

I kept my eyes on the Oceanic and the props of the boat and shot out of the water onto the swim platform. Looked behind me and the shark charged past where I exited the water a quarter second later. It was a really close call and if I hadn't kept eye contact until the last moment I'm pretty sure I would have been hit hard. There was a marine biologist on board and he speculated that the shark thought I was a calf whale and it was going to cut me bad enough to bleed out. Then eat me. The biologist asked to see my hand that I supposedly punched the Oceanic with. I have a custom gold ring of a dragon (my chinese year of birth) that has the fins on the back of the dragon that stand fairly proud and sharp. There was white tissue lodged in the fins. And my whole main knuckle ridge and beyond was stained dark gray. So my punch scored and hurt the shark's eye and that is why he backed off trying to figure out what he was dealing with.

Details of this event spread across the whole island within a couple hours. Everyone was buying me drinks despite my girlfriend trying to keep me from drinking myself to death. Even a local hair stylist dragged me off to one bar's back room to give me a trim so I would look better in all the pictures that were being taken. It was really crazy. Well, I apparently made it back to the hotel OK but don't ask me how that happened. From there on out I was called IceShark and it has stuck for 15 years.

Dan