porsche club of america • santa barbara region august 2011

The Panamera gets crunched.
Exiting the Autobahn, we drove a short
distance on country roads and slowly
approached a T-intersection controlled
by a yield sign. Our lead car was the
Panamera, which was unfortunately struck
by a compact car approaching from the
left and not seen by the Panamera driver
(not one of us). Although the speed of
the oncoming compact car was relatively
slow, the impact caused the front end of
the Panamera to seemingly explode, and
it sustained what appeared to be major
damage. Fortunately, no one was injured,
and we were on our way within an hour.
Due to the diligence of our Treffen Master,
the Panamera was replaced with an
identical car by the next morning.
After lunch at the foot of the storybook
Neuschwanstein Castle, we continued
to Salzburg, checked into the Sheraton
Hotel and relaxed. That evening, we
enjoyed another delicious meal and
a Mozart musical performance at St.
Peter’s Keller, Europe’s oldest restaurant,
founded in 803. We read that none other
than Charlemagne himself dined at that
location. What history! What a treat!
On Monday, we enjoyed a 190-mile
leisurely drive through the lovely Austrian
countryside and an exhilarating drive over
the highest pass in the Alps, stopping for
lunch at a quaint, family-owned restaurant
at the foot of a mountain. There we dined
on venison and fresh trout that had been
caught that morning and placed in an
aquarium by the front door. Dessert
consisted of fresh pastry, and no one went
away hungry.
We continued
on to the village
of Gmund, home
of the original
Porsche factory.
We were provided
a tour of the small
wooden structure
that was the
gatehouse, office
and conference
room by the owner
and caretaker, Mr.
Helmut Pfeifhofer,
who controls
access to the building, which is now a
protected historical landmark. We were
surprised to find Ferdinand and Ferry
Porsche’s desk and chair still in place and
original drawings of a Porsche model
pinned on a draft board. It was a special
feeling to know that we were walking
through the administrative offices where
the first Porsches were born.
From the factory site, we continued a
short distance for a tour of Mr. Pfeifhofer’s
Our group stopped for lunch as we traveled over the highest pass in the Alps
Porsche’s humble beginnings in Gmund
private Porsche museum filled with a
number of special and limited edition
cars representing the history of Porsche.
There were also several different engines
on display and a large collection of model
cars, historical photographs and other
memorabilia. He receives no sponsorship
money from Porsche and has amassed
this wonderful collection on his own and
through contributions from friends and
patrons. His well-stocked goodie store
did a brisk business from our group that
afternoon.
That evening, we took a motor coach
to a 14th century Almhutte (farmhouse)
where we enjoyed a delicious meal cooked
over an open fire. As a light rain fell
outside, we were entertained by the tunes
of Sepp Nussbaumer playing the folkloric
Zither and reflected back on the wonderful
day it had been.
Tuesday brought another enjoyable
day of driving and the much anticipated
“photo rally” that covered about 100
miles. Each couple was given a book of
photos with questions to answer. Some
questions required that we spot the subject
of the photo as we drove and identify its
name and/or location. Others required
knowledge of local landmarks and
conversion of euros to dollars, liters to
gallons or feet to meters. Our route took
us through quaint villages and picturesque
countryside. During our drive, we
encountered low clouds and a light rain
followed by beautiful blue skies. The
scenery and vistas were simply spectacular
and made it difficult to concentrate on our
task at hand.
Continued on Page 12
www.pcasb.org • Porsche Club of America • Santa Barbara Region • August 2011
11