"Porsches In Antarctica?"
by
Dean Klein
| At age 26 in 1988 I found myself standing in the spotless work room of
the Peoples Car Company of Bellows Falls, Vermont on a fine fall day. My ‘71 VW Thing
was fresh from a new gas tank installation and tune up. Vintage bugs, busses and every
imaginable in-between were parked inside and out. You could tell the folks that worked
there loved their work; everything had it’s place. Even the shop employees looked
spiff in their grey VW jumpsuits. Standing with the owner of the establishment and looking at the Thing, I muttered "what I really want is a Porsche". He took a step back, looked me straight in the eye, and in a calm, clear voice said "well, you’ll get one then. It always works that way if you truly want something". With that, a handshake and a smile, he handed me the keys and I motored off. So it wasn’t a Porsche - but at least I had an engine in the rear and the wind in my hair. 10 years pass. My life changes. I’m back living in the mountains of NC where I grew up. After a one year stint selling BMW motorcycles in Greenville, SC, I took a job in Antarctica. On return from the ice, I bought a Ducati 900SS SP. I had to go back to the old shop and show off my Italian superbike. Out front, a white 1978 911 Targa. Oh my. An hour later, I’m packing my leathers and helmet into the boot of a very tidy Porsche. Two days later I’m tooling around in the mountains and run into an old biker mate. He asked where I was working. Nowhere I told him. He gave me his card and 2 weeks later I had a job in Atlanta doing lan and computer installations. Sometimes life moves as fast as a Porsche. 6 months in Atlanta was enough for this mountain boy. The traffic, the city, the sprawl. No place for a dog...much less a good Porsche. It all became very clear to me one Thursday as I sat on I-85. Traffic was comatose in both directions as far as the horizon. It was 100 degrees. After 45 minutes and 100 yards of forward motion, I said "that’s it". I pulled a yellow legal pad from my brief, and then wrote my letter of resignation. That night I called a fellow that had been pestering me about the car for some time. He had a Ducati 750SS that I’d been checking out for some time. We met at 11pm that night. The deal: ride/drive for an hour. At midnight, we’d see. The next morning I had a 750SS Ducati and $4000 in my pocket. That was enough to start a life in Asheville, NC, back in the mountains I love. It wasn’t easy, but I made do. One September evening I was riding fast towards Charlotte, NC for a Neil Young show when my pager started buzzing. I pulled the baby Duc into a Waffle House and checked the number... It was Antarctic Support Associates calling. "Would you be interested in returning to the ice?" That was 4 years ago. I’ve had 7 months in the US since. Last year I was cruising the net at McMurdo Station, Antarctica when I started thinking about cars. I didn’t own one, and well, all this time on ice does make for a nice bankroll. In little time I was surfing www.classifieds2000.com and pulling up Porsches. Lets see...I love 911s, but god, they’re hard to work on...and every time you take it to a shop it’s $600...356’s are too expensive and too few and far between. 912...now there’s a possibility. The best of the 911 with the heart of a 356. So I punch in 912. The first one to come up is in Oklahoma. It’s also a Targa. Oh my. I hit the link to see the picture - and it comes up as something I’d never seen before. The rear window was soft... 30 e-mails to the seller, a few satellite phone calls, and the deal is done. I owned a 1967 912 Soft Rear Window Targa. $9500, sight un-seen. I threw the dice. After 36 hours of flying, 8 of them on a roaring C-130 in full Antarctic survival gear, I landed in Oklahoma City at midnight. At three a.m. I see the car for the first time. By 10 the next morning I’m motoring home on I-40. So what if it’s only 40F? The tops are down and I feel fine. That was a year ago. Today I’m back on ice and still thinking about Porsches. Hey, it’s a crazy life, but know what? The old VW wrench was right. I’m getting exactly what I wanted....an interesting life.
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