Slipstream - September 2016

Kruder’s Cars & Conversations
By Bill Kruder, Region Advertising Chair
Images Courtesy of the Author
ot many of you know
N
me, but I have been a
20-year member of the
PCA. I refer to myself
as the newest 20-year member. Not
until recently did I get involved and
find out that there are some pretty
interesting people in this club. And
with nearly 1900 members, there
must be some good stories out
there. So here it is the first of a series
of “interviews” that I would like
to share with you.
Bob Hagestad, 1964 356C owner,
PCA member since 1960
Bill Kruder and Bob Hagestad
12 September
WK: Bob, you have been a member
of PCA longer than almost anyone in
Maverick Region. What year did you
join PCA and why?
BH: Well, really I kind of joined
by accident. My dad had a VW dealership
in Cheyenne, Wyoming and
he wanted to open another. However,
VW said that they would let
him have another but it had to be
in Denver. Then as an extra incentive
they said, “We will give you a
Porsche dealership also.” Needless
to say, we moved. Once we opened,
our mechanic said, “We need to
race one of these.” And we did! We
took one off the showroom floor
and took the SCCA driving school,
which I guess at the same time
signed us up with PCA.
WK: So this was 1960 then?
BH: Yes, I think in the fall. Funny
thing was once we had taken the
car off the showroom floor we simply
returned it when we were finished,
like nothing had happened.
Not sure I could get away with that
today.
WK: Wow! And to think PCA was
only around for five years at that point,
and Maverick Region wouldn’t even be
founded until 1962.
BH: Well like I said, we joined
because we had just acquired the
dealership and thought it might be
fun to do a little racing. Of course I
had no idea back then I would have
moved here years later.
WK: So you come from a car-guy
family then?
BH: I do. I didn’t mention that
before my dad started selling VWs,
he had a Lincoln-Mercury dealership.
I actually worked as a salesman
for him. I think that was 1957, but
I was terrible. Think he told me I
needed to find another profession.
WK: Well how did that work out for
you?
BH: Funny how things work out,
but about 1968-69, VW and Porsche
came back and said “We want you
to separate VW from Porsche.” And
to do that they would add in Audi
so we could have a Porsche+Audi
store. Apparently my dad hadn’t
given up on me yet, so he worked
out a deal in which he would sell
VWs if I would take the other
“slower selling” cars. So that’s what
we did. We opened up a new dealership.
The Hagestad Volkswagen dealership
WK: So how did you end up in Dallas?
BH: About 1987, VW asked if I
would help establish a dealership
here. I didn’t want to move, so for
about three to four years I would go
back and forth. Then about 1991-
92, I took over Metro VW in Irving
and was an active partner ‘til I retired
in 2011.
WK: Now tell me what was your first
Porsche?
BH: Really don’t have just one
“first” because we would drive
which ever we felt like off the showroom
floor; kind of brings a smile
to my face to think about that.
WK: What do you own now?
BH: I have a 1964 Dolphin Gray
356C.
WK: Is this one off the showroom
floor?
BH: Oh no, I bought this one in
1984 from a couple in Denver who
had gone to Europe, bought the
car in Paris, and drove it on vacation
over there. They then brought
it back and enjoyed it for another
19 years. They put 80,000 miles on
it.
WK: How many miles does it have
on it now?
BH: I’ve only put another 9,000
miles on it since 1984.
WK: What an incredible journey you
have been on, with some of the best cars
in the world.
BH: Not bad I guess.
But you don’t want to
hear about my racing?
WK: So you continued
to race? Not just club
races?
BH: Oh, that was
only the beginning. We
bought the 904; I think
only two were here in
the States. We raced it
in ‘64 at the 250-mile
Daytona Continental,
in which we finished