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Almost 20 years ago on this very date in 1997 I visited the Porsche factory for the first (and only) time. The factory visit began on a Thursday evening with a 7:30 cocktail reception and welcome dinner at the Hotel Graf Zeppelin. The next morning at 8:45 a bus picked us up from the hotel and took us to the museum and production facilities for a three hour tour, followed by lunch at the Porsche Casino.
Development of the 996 had been ongoing for some time and test mules were running all around the factory, drawing considerable attention from our group who were anxious to see this historic water cooled 911 that wouldn't go on sale in the U.S. until the following year.
At 1:30 a bus transported us from Zuffenhausen to the R&D centre at Weissach approximately 15 miles away. There we were treated to test rides in a red 993 Turbo and a blue 996 Tiptronic piloted by Porsche test drivers around the 1.57 mile Can-Am track.
The Can-Am track at Weissach had, at the time of my visit, just recently celebrated its 25-year anniversary (the skidpad at Weissach was opened in 1961 and then the Can-Am track was subsequently built around the skidpad circa 1971). A visit to Weissach was a very special and rare opportunity back then, afforded only to group tours in the late spring and the fall. I believe a visit to Weissach is no longer part of the factory tour experience. Pity, because it was certainly the highlight of my visit. Blasting around the track at Weissach in a Turbo driven by a highly skilled pilot was one of those pinch-me moments I will never forget. Here's a rare Weissach 25th Anniversary Porsche lapel pin I picked up as a souvenir during my trip, which remains one of my favorite trinkets of Porsche memorabilia.
Speaking of pins, I was told during my visit that since 1973, Porsche had registered and counted test kilometers at Weissach. Back then, Porsche honored its test pilots with an honorary pin, pictured below, presented at a special ceremony for every 100,000 accident-free kilometers as a sign of appreciation for their work. "UNFALLFREI" roughly translates to "without incident."
I was told Porsche had about 45 test drivers at that time. Drivers had to be 23 years old, skilled mechanics, possess as much driving experience as possible, and undergo special driving training. Konrad Mair had covered 1 million test kilometers for Porsche without an accident (the equivalent of 25 laps around the globe) and two other Porsche test drivers, Horst Gallas and Karl-Heinze Fisher, had passed the 900,000 threshold and were closing in on the 1 million mark.
From Weissach a bus returned us to our hotel and two hours later picked us up again for dinner at the Swabian wine restaurant Stuttgarter Staeffele.
This was a very special trip for me. Tough to believe it was 20 years ago this week.
I am curious what opinions were of the 996, did you chat about it with any of the other group members?
The 996 was definitely a hot topic of discussion in the group. As I recall, some had pending orders in on what would be the last of the 1998 993's and were awaiting delivery of their cars, which were scheduled to arrive stateside in a few months. These guys were REALLY curious about the 996 and more than one of them questioned out loud whether they had made the right decision getting one of the last 993's rather than waiting to get the new upcoming 996. Of course today, with the benefit of hindsight, we would consider such ruminations as pure folly -- a real no-brainer -- but back then the 996 was such a significant departure, mechanically and visually, and obviously Porsche was touting it as the next big thing, so it naturally created questions in the minds of some who had placed orders on a 993. And, I have to say, the 996 really looked fresh and certainly more "modern" compared to the 993. Twenty years later, history has been much kinder to the 993 than the 996, but back then the 996 was the upcoming new kid on the block and, with the verdict still out, some weren't 100% sure what to make of it. Die-hard purists obviously bemoaned the move to water, but others with a more open mind weren't so quick to dismiss it.
Thanks you *SO MUCH* for sharing this great memory. Truly made my day.
Several years ago, I was working on a corporate film for IBM that took me to Stuttgart where we also stayed at the Hotel Graf Zeppelin. On the first day out we were scouting locations north of Stuttgart and stopped for lunch at a small local restaurant. Parked in their lot were eight shiny new 911s all in a row, backed in with their noses precisely aligned. Amazingly, each car had a different person's name painted in beautiful script, in letters 12 to 18 inches high, diagonally across the hood. Sitting down for lunch inside, we discovered that the Porsche board of directors was having a lunch meeting in the room next to ours. The hostess explained to us that Porsche gave each board member a new car every year but that it HAD to have their name painted on it. We had a good laugh about how long it took Porsche to figure out about "leakage" in free cars.
My parents did the tour in '80 or '81 and my wife and my wife and I did it in 1982 with Isle Nadele (who organized Porsche club stuff). She was a great host and we even ate lunch in the executive dining room! Yes, the museum back was a little smaller than now!
If I can find my pictures from way back when I'll try and post them too.
I believe I heard from a fellow PCA'er that Isle recently passed away. She was a great friend to a lot of Porsche club people from all over the world.
Supplementing this old thread with a few pics I just stumbled across of the Porsche Museum taken back in 1997 during my factory tour.
The Museum was in a very cramped, long rectangular space, in a nondescript building with a humble entrance that looked like it may have once been a loading dock.
There were two rows of cars separated by a center aisle. The cars were crammed next to each other, maybe 10 cars per side maximum capacity. Low ceiling. You walked down one side of the aisle, then turned around and walked back. That was it.
It was charming in its simplicity and I guess a benefit of the cramped space was you could really get up close to the cars, unlike some exhibition spaces today. And there was no denying the historical significance of the cars on hand.
These were troubling financial times for the company in 1997 and the austerity of the Museum certainly reflected that.
But boy, what a difference 20 years makes!
Hoping one day to walk up those stairs to check out the new digs!
Wow, it’s hard to believe that little area was once their museum, that’s beyond austere! It does amaze me how much things have changed since the 90’s. I wish I could have gone on a tour back in the 80’s / 90’s to see how the cars were built back then.
I'm envious. Somene once said a liftime filled with memories is richer than a lifetime filled with posessions. I'm fortunate to have a little of each.
Thanks for sharing.
09-28-2017, 05:00 AM
OT: 1997 Factory Tour
Hoping one day to walk up those stairs to check out the new digs!
