Porsche

I was just at a local PCA Wash 'n Shine event on Tuesday night at a nice local winery and we had a huge turnout. Bigger than I can ever remember for this event, and it wasn't even in a good Spring month where we can get lots of daylight - couldn't see the cars after about 7:45. (We had to do it later in the year because of Covid). I've been in the club for 18 years and I am amazed at how many newbies keep showing up. That's what is causing the prices to rise. Simple supply and demand..... 

And by the way, they are ALL going up (except for maybe new ones purchased in the last 3-4 years that aren't special cars like GT4s, Boxster Spyders, GT3s, etc).

Porsche is just another toy for toy minded audiophiles.
I like tools better than toys.

sokogear- I have been out of PCA a long time now but was region president and attended all kinds of events for years, everything from social dinners and concours to autocross, driver ed and tech sessions. One of the things that hit me, no matter what type of event it was roughly 20% were first-timers. They just heard about PCA and this was their first event. Another roughly 20% were long-timers like yourself. These people all know each other and have their certain events they like and have been doing for decades. The roughly 60% in the middle, might be their second event, might be around a few years, or longer, they have made a few friends and come when they can.

That 20% of first-timers, I don’t know what it is today but it was very consistent for years at all events. When you are talking 100 cars at autocross, to think 20 are new, probably another 20 on top of that are recent, that is significant.

There is a lesson here for audiophiles. When those first time people show up at PCA they invariably find no one cares what car they drive. No one cares if they are into track or autocross, tours or dinners or concours. In all my years across PCA I never once heard anyone say it was a waste to tweak or modify. You can drive your gleaming factory original concours perfect 356 to the track and you and your car will get just as much attention and respect as the guy who just set track record in his highly modified paint chipped and bug splattered track car. Maybe more. 

We get these why is high end audio dying topics from time to time. Maybe if we were more like PCA then we would be growing like Porsche?

@millercarbon  - you have your purists and then you have your track junkies and all their exhausts, suspension and engine mods. The thing is, everyone is interested in all of the models and years (except SUVs) and appreciates the differences and evolution, especially of the 911. Everyone loves to give advice and help - nobody denigrates anyone’s ride, even an old beater 924. People love to track them.

I think audiophila  is an OCD pursuit - always looking for the holy grail. Porsches and cars in general are a much bigger hobby and many people look at them as investments as evidenced by the televised car auctions. Nobody looks to have their audio equipment act as a financial investment, and if they do, they will be disappointed.

In today’s environment, most people only care about convenience, new iPhones get all the attention, and the only people picking up the audio hobby seem to be the hipsters getting into turntables. Let’s hope they start making a little cash and become more committed and interested in pursuing audio nirvana. Also, we should emphasize it does not have to cost a ton of $$ to get started and it can be a simple process. We don’t have to start talking with them about MC cartridges, tonearms, isolation/suspension, tubes, etc. 

The latest discussion about record cleaning machines is a prime example of how you can go nuts with the stuff. Taking an hour to clean a record as shown in a video that was posted by someone showing the Degritter sent me running in the other direction and I have been pursuing audio nirvana for over 40 years. The guy is off the deep end….

Well, that was fun!

Let's electrify things a bit...

Zelectric 1968 Porsche 912 | Jay Leno's Garage - YouTube