As I left my neighborhood Ace Hardware store after buying a gallon of chainsaw bar oil, I spotted a Porsche 911 a few rows away. And suddenly I felt transported back to my early high school years, when this car would have been new.
(By the way, I picked the Stihl brand of chainsaw oil, as it was only a little more than the Ace store brand. Like Porsche, Stihl is a family owned German company. My own gas saws are both Husqvarna’s, still Swedish unlike the motorcycle brand which is now owned by Austria’s KTM. And of course Ferdinand Porsche was Austrian, or more precisely Austro-Hungarian. It’s a small world.)
I’m guessing it’s a 1970 or 1971 model, when Porsche bumped up and out of the under 2 liter category in displacement-classified racing. In the US, it remained in the Sports Car Club of America’s C Production class, along with the earlier 2 liter 911’s. In Europe, a 2.5 liter category was created, and it was filled with 911’s as most GT manufacturers either raced with smaller sub-2 liter four cylinders, or much larger 6, 8 or 12 cylinder cars. Of course, Porsche’s flat six continued to grow, and a modern 911 (technically a 992) engine displaces as much as 4 liters depending on the model. The K94 sticker, by the way, is for parking at the Stanford Linear Accelerator in nearby Menlo Park, California.
But what really caught my eye were the skinny, painted steel wheels with hubcaps. In those days, the majority of 911’s were so equipped. I still remember reading the first Road & Track road test of the 1967 Porsche 911S and staring at the wheels in the photos. A Porsche with mags!! And not a race car. Within a few years the Fuchs alloys became more popular, and then standard equipment on all 911’s. By the late Seventies, this shape with skinny tires and steel wheels with hub caps usually bore a 912 badge, for the 4 cylinder version of this car.
As a bonus, here is another steel wheeled Porsche that I spotted ahead of me just a few days after seeing the 911. Its steel wheels, typical for the 356, are chrome plated and gleaming, as is the whole car. It’s bearing Oregon license plates but it looks too clean to have driven here from another state. As much as I have gotten to like 356’es over the years, I’ll take the dusty blue 911 with its painted wheels. Pretty much my dream car when I was a high school freshman.
Related CC reading:
Curbside Classic: Porsche 911 – Immortality Attained?
Curbside Classic: Porsche 912 – I Must Make Amends
Vintage R& T Road Test: 1967 Porsche 911S – A Better Faster 911, But Not Quite Perfect Yet
So nice to see one with those skinny little steelies. Why did I think there was a “2.2” badge on these, or maybe it was a 2.2 sticker in the rear window?
Porsche isn’t quite exactly a “family owned company”; Porsche SE, the family controlled holding company owns 12.5% of Porsche AG (and 25% of the voting shares).
I’m a totally sold on Stihl products. My AV 28 chain saw is getting on 40 years old and still brings it; I’ve been using it at PO more than ever. And my Stihl trim mower is now some 20 years old. My latest Stihl acquisition is an extension pole saw, which I needed for PO and has been kept quite busy there.
According to Wikipedia, which isn’t always right, Porsche SE now owns a little over 50% of the voting rights of VW, which in turn owns 75% of Porsche AG. It’s too complicated for me.
I recently inherited a 2013 Husqvarna 455 saw which starts easily and has plenty of power for my modest needs. I’m torn whether to get rid of it, or my 1983 Husky 61 “white top” which I got used almost 30 years ago. It still does the job. I needed a tree service to take down this tree, due to its location, but I still bucked most of it. And then rented a splitter to finish up.
Husqvarna sold the motorcycle product line (they never were too keen on them) to the Italians in the 1980s. The operation moved to Italy and was later sold to BMW around 2005 but they kept the operation there until they sold it to KTM around 2015. The present day Husqvarna is a rebadged KTM with some changes.
So cool to see what is likely a sports car (the 911) with its long-term owner. I love that.
Oh Yes Please, that would suffice nicely.
Nice, back to the days when they were a normal sports car. Love that it’s still getting used that way.
One of my co-workers, also a farmer told me once: Bulldozers are like chainsaws, once you’ve got one you don’t know how you lived without it. Never having had either I am wondering: What does one do with a whole gallon of chainsaw oil, and how long does a gallon last? It seems like enough for several lifetimes.
It might last me until I’m too old to safely operate the saw. Or in the case of the older Husky, can’t pull it over. But for $20 or so it seemed like a good alternative to always finding a few dribbles in the bottom of the quart that I remember as being almost full the last time I used the saw. A year ago.
I have a brother-in-law who is always shopping for deals. I remember visiting him at his urban home in a dense New England city. In his tiny backyard was a small backhoe (not a bulldozer, but close). I asked him his plans, and he said it was too good a deal to pass up. Several years later it was still there.
You have to fill the chain oil tank every time you fill the fuel tank, so it doesn’t last all that long. I’m well into my second gallon in PO, but then we’ve had a huge number of trees to limb and take down.
“Bulldozers are like chainsaws, once you’ve got one you don’t know how you lived without it”
Doug ;
I live in the city and yes, once I bought a cheapo “pruning” chain saw I too wondered how I’d ever managed to go without it .
As Paul mentions, it’s *very* important to keep the chain oil tank full .
If Harbor Fright sold parts for their Chinesium chain saw you could easily make one last a long time very cheaply .
I have to buy a new chain every few years but this electric one seems to be doing it’s job very well .
LEARN how to properly use one ! they can kick back and kill you in an instant .
Bigger jobs *can* be done, you’ll need lots of patience and make wedge cuts, use tackle so you don’t get killed when the tree finally falls etc. .
-Nate
It never fails to fascinate me how some of the most fervently “Buy American” folks will buy no other chainsaw besides Stihl.
This Porsche represents purity. I like purity.
Are there any American brand chain saws? The Europeans blew them out of the water. And Stihls have been made in the US since the ’80s, if not earlier.
I would have said McCulloch but they’ve been owned by Husqvarna for quite some time now. Same with Poulan…
Harbor Freight. It’s an American brand, though I’m sure their chainsaws are made in Asia. I’d also say Craftsman is an American brand though not American owned anymore. Husky also makes, at least assembles, a lot of their power tools in the US. My local hardware store displays Husqvarna mowers powered by Honda 4 stroke engines.
I remember the rivalry back in the ’60’s between the Porsche and the Corvette. Or at the least the rivalry of mostly grade school boys who argued about the merits of each marque. Some of it was patriotically inspired, as Corvette represented the home team and everyday Americans. As the Porsche became more and more expensive, it came to seen as something that was flaunted by the elites. Both cars followed a different approach to performance. The Porsche was for many years, like this blue example, simple and purely designed and restrained. The Corvette was a muscle bound brawler, especially if it sported a big block. The Porsche image changed with the turbo in the ’80’s. Since then it also is seen as a very muscular car.
I remember seeing many of these ’70’s 911s being driven and lovingly maintained in near stock condition, up into the ’90’s. Now they fetch quite high prices, just as I began to like them. Looks like I missed that boat.
I had a 1:25 model and that shot reminds me of the box illustration!
911s were pretty in those days.
Not an early 911, those were ’66 & ’67 and had some minute detail differences .
This one is in my favorite color, cobalt blue .
I found my ’67 912 to be better on the seriously twisty bits as it had better weight distribution .
The 356 looks nice too, I hope my son addresses the ’63 I gave him close to 30 years ago, it _was_ a rust free always garaged original, he lets it sit uncovered in his back yard .
-Nate
Just today I saw a brand new 911 and it’s the first time in many years a modern 911 design has really grabbed my attention. Porsche designers stayed true to the original teardrop shape with a nice large rear window yet without a rear wing (at least on the base model). The 2024 may not be as svelte as today’s 356 it is a stunning edition to the 911 continuum.