Porsche must have been just a California thing 1966-71

[James Watters]

Back in the 60's -80's Bob Smith, Westwood, Victory, Merlin Olsen, Ognner etc.

[Martin Bruechle]

Became good friends with the #1 rock DJ at the radio station.

Who was that ? Charlie Tuna, The Real Don Steele,

KHJ am 640 ?

[Don Gale]

Dr. Demento, " Pico and Sepulveda"?

[Wes Bender]

Wolfman Jack on XERB, from beautiful Rosarita Beach, where they cranked up the wattage until the lights dimmed in the studio......

First Porsche I ever saw was at the airport races in Palm Springs. Must have been 1952 or '53.

Quite a bit later (maybe two careers later) I met Don Dickey. He raced a Carrera in California in the early days. I sold him mining supplies for his Oriental Mine in Alleghany CA.

[Frank Barrett]

I first saw and rode in a red Speedster that belonged to my high-school violin teacher in about 1958--in York, Pennsylvania, not exactly a sophisticated urban metropolis. Holbert's dealership was in Warrington, maybe 80 miles east, and that was the place to go to find new or clean used Porsches. I remember test-driving a 914/4 with Bob in 1970, but I hung onto my '65 912 (and still have it). Hoffmann was bringing cars into New York, and Porsche's US headquarters were in northern New Jersey. PCA was started in Washington, D.C., in 1955, and there were many very active regions and SCCA racers in the Mid-Atlantic area (see also, Bruce Jennings).

[Richard Emerson]

Wolfman Jack on XERB, from beautiful Rosarita Beach, where they cranked up the wattage until the lights dimmed in the studio......

First Porsche I ever saw was at the airport races in Palm Springs. Must have been 1952 or '53.

Quite a bit later (maybe two careers later) I met Don Dickey. He raced a Carrera in California in the early days. I sold him mining supplies for his Oriental Mine in Alleghany CA.

I have Dickey’s 1956 Carrera Coupe now. Though it is more Roger Craig’s as he had it for 52 years starting around 1957 when Dickey sold it after the race season to get a Carerra Speedster.

[Don Gale]

My apologies for perpetuating this thread, but with 356's, SoCal, and DJ's, I couldn't resist this classic clip. A few minutes into the 1978 movie "FM", Michael Brandon hot-footing it on the streets of LA in a T-5 Cab:

https://youtu.be/Vpu95-MYgtw

[David Jones]

Porsche was not a common make to own in the UK in the 60's but they were sold before then and Jim Clark raced a 57 in 57 so it was not unknown. I first rode in one in 61 but it was 70 before I was able to buy a well used 63B. I had to make do with VW's after I left the UK to live in the USA and it was 86 before I had my first Porsche in the USA but that was California and yes it was still a California thing as I have never since seen as many Porsches being driven daily as I did when living in the area of Newport Beach and Costa Mesa.

[Charles H Jacobus]

I grew up in Westport, CT and in the Spring of my 8th grade, my art teacher gave me a ride in his brand new yellow coupe. I was hooked and when I graduated from Officers Candidate School, the first thing I bought was a black 1963B. A couple years later while I was in flight school in 1968 I bought my first 911, but like you said, Steven they were pretty rare. I only knew about four other officers who owned Porsches in my 20 year career and none were 68-71.

Chuck

[Doug McDonnell]

There was one in Fargo ,ND in the mid 60's so not just California

[Norm Miller]

I was stationed in Stuttgart/Zuffenhausen 1955-56.
Got to the factory and occasionally saw them on the street but the German's were more into Mo-peds at that time.
I've lived in Colorado since 1957 and Found the demand for Porsches to be very strong.
I started racing SCCA in 1959 and we fielded a lot of Speedsters throughout the years.
Maybe Colorado was second?

We just don't get the glitzy attention of Cal.

[Wayne Arny]

Hate to add to this, but I just saw it. I was a "Firstie" (rising senior) at the Naval Academy in 1963, and we could finally have a car on/near "the Yard;" i.e., the campus. I was out looking, and my father found a 1960 356B Cab Super 90, and I never looked back. Took that car from Chicago to Annapolis, and then all over that area. Graduated summer of '64 and headed to Pensacola for flight training. Went from there to Meridian, MS, and then back to Pensacola, and then to the Corpus Christi area. On a trip from Meridian to Pensacola the engine blew up on me, literally! Bright flashes in the rear view mirror, followed by coasting to the side of the road. Got it towed to Pensacola and had the engine rebuilt. Then back to the Chicago area to get married and back to Beeville, TX. Lost reverse gear trying to get unstuck from a beach and was going to trade it in for a VW (still owed money on it!). My wife found a '63B Coupe in the VW dealership. Took out a second loan, and off we went! (After all, I was in flight training in jets. Even married what else was I supposed to do!) Took that car to San Diego. Wife drove it back to Chicago when I deployed. Got back, and flew to Chicago, picked up her and the car and drove to Philadelphia and then Tampa to visit relative, and then back to Chicago, and then to San Diego! After the next deployment, I got orders to Test Pilot School in Southern Maryland, so we camped across country in that car with a small dog, a 1-year old, and racks on the top and back!! And that's a long way to say that, yes, there were Porsches in other parts of the county other than California!!

[David Jones]

Wayne, you forget to add, that car is now undergoing a total restoration in Lexington Kentucky and will likely end up back in Germany with the new owners daughter and son in law.

[Sebastian Gaeta]

You want to see the areas with the most Porsche's back in the day? Find an old Panorama for whatever year you choose, look in the classifieds for cars for sale and it gives you an (unscientific) regional view as to where they all were at the time.

Peter Schutz, PCNA CEO in the 90's stated more than once that historically the eastern seaboard of the US was a bigger market for Porsche than the west coast. California as state sold more cars than any other, but as a region the eastern seaboard was their biggest market.

Think about it...Maine, Boston, Providence, Dover, New Haven, Hartford, Westchester County NY, NYC, Long Island, NJ, Philadelphia and all of central PA, Annapolis, Baltimore, D.C. (where PCA was founded by the way), Virginia, the Carolina's, Atlanta, Jacksonville, Miami. If you really, really think about it, you will realize there was way more money on that coast than anywhere else in the country. Wealthy people bought nice things, Porsche's were nice things. It was just Oh-so-cool to romanticize about the whole sunny southern California thing but most of the US cars were/are sold on the east coast.

[Adam Wright]

States where I have found the most cars are VA, OH, and PA.