How to Make a Swap Meet Better After 49 Years + What Happened at Tech Tactics East
Porsche Club Insider
How to Make a Swap Meet Better After 49 Years + What Happened at Tech Tactics East
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Brand
Porsche
Porsche is a famous car company from Germany that makes fast and sporty cars. Many people love their cars for how they look and drive.
Concept
PCA
PCA is a club for people who own Porsche cars. They get together to share their love for these cars and help each other.
Company
Pirelli
Pirelli is a company that makes tires for cars. Their tires help cars stick to the road and drive safely and quietly.
Concept
swap meet
A swap meet is like a big market where people bring car parts and sell or trade them with others. It's a good place to find special parts for your car.
Car
Porsche 911
The Porsche 911 is a famous sports car that many people love for how it looks and drives.
Car
Porsche 944
The Porsche 944 is a sporty car made by Porsche that was easier to buy than the famous 911 but still fun to drive.
Brand
Hershey
Hershey is a town in Pennsylvania where a big car parts swap meet happens every year. It's easy to get to and has places to stay and eat nearby.
Term
eBay
eBay is a website where people can sell things by auction or fixed price, including car parts. Buyers can bid on items or buy them right away.
Term
Craigslist
Craigslist is a website where people can list things to sell or buy in their area, like car parts, but it might not be the best place for special or big parts.
Part
carbon fiber fender
A carbon fiber fender is a car part that covers the wheel area, made from a special light and strong material called carbon fiber to make the car lighter and look cool.
Concept
concours
A concours is a fancy car show where people show off their cars and sometimes vote on which ones look the best.
Concept
autocross
Autocross is a fun car race where drivers drive through a course made with cones in a parking lot to see who can go the fastest without hitting anything.
Concept
motorsports parts
Motorsports parts are special car parts made for racing or driving really fast, which can make the car work better or last longer under tough conditions.
Term
shift knobs
A shift knob is the part you hold to change gears in a manual car, and people sometimes change it to make their car look cooler or feel better to use.
Concept
COVID
COVID is a sickness that spread around the world and made many events stop or change how they happen, including car events.
Concept
SCCA East Coast Nationals
The SCCA East Coast Nationals is a big car racing event where people come to compete and watch different types of car races.
Concept
Carlisle car shows
Carlisle car shows are big events where people come to see, buy, and sell cars and car parts.
Car
Chevrolet Corvette
The Chevrolet Corvette is a famous American sports car that many people love for its speed and style.
Term
RSR high butterfly mechanical injection
This is a special part that helps get fuel into a Porsche race car's engine in a very precise way, making the car run better and faster.
Car
Porsche 959
The Porsche 959 is a very fast and special car made by Porsche a long time ago. It was one of the most advanced cars of its time.
Car
Porsche 356 Carrera
This is an old and special Porsche car with a powerful engine that was made to race. It's very rare and valuable today.
Part
four-cam engine
This is a type of engine that has extra parts to open and close the engine's valves more precisely, helping the car go faster and perform better.
Term
cease and desist
Cease and desist means a legal warning telling someone to stop doing something they shouldn't be doing.
Concept
Tech Tactics
Tech Tactics is a special event where people learn how to fix and take care of Porsche cars. It has talks and demonstrations about Porsche cars and how they work.
Term
pace car
A pace car is a special car that drives in front of race cars to keep them safe and control their speed during certain parts of a race.
Car
Porsche 911 GT3 RS
The Porsche 911 GT3 RS is a special version of the 911 made for fast driving on race tracks. It has better parts and design to help it go faster and handle better.
Concept
center lock wheels
Center lock wheels are special wheels that attach to the car with just one big nut in the middle instead of many smaller nuts. This helps change wheels faster, especially in races.
Term
data acquisition
Data acquisition is when a car collects information about how it is driving, like speed and braking, so drivers can learn how to drive better.
Concept
HBDE
HBDE is a special driving school where people can learn how to drive fast and safely on a race track.
LIVE
Welcome to the Porsche Club Insider, your one stop for all things Porsche and PCA.
Here's your host, Vu Gwin, and the Insider crew.
Welcome everyone to episode 210.
We've got some fun topics, we're going to talk about the world famous Porsche-only
talk a little bit about TechTactics East, but before I get into it, I want to thank our
presenting sponsor, Pirelli. Pirelli tires have to achieve the highest levels of performance,
safety, noiselessness, and grip on the road surface. Innovative tires that can satisfy
even the most specific mobility needs of the end consumer. Thank you all for listening.
If you aren't currently a PCA member and own a Porsche, what are you waiting for? Grab that
Vin, head over to PCA.org and make yourself a member. If you're looking for a Porsche,
we have the Test Drive program. Again, head over to PCA.org and we'll unlock some resources to
help you find that special Porsche. I can't believe it. By the time you listen to this,
it'll be mid-March, but at the time of recording, it's the beginning of March already. We have
a surprise in the sense where we've taken the show to the next level and Damon has,
he's sweating over there because he's been working feverishly to make this happen. This is
really the first time we've had someone remote. In a long time. In a long time. Manny and I
and Damon, we're sitting here at HQ, but our special guest of the day, he is sitting in
Pennsylvania. This gentleman has held many titles within the Central Penn region. He's
past president. He's currently the charity chair as well as the DE chair, but he has one of the
most unique titles and that is the Central PA region swap meet chair and that is Steve Bond.
Steve, welcome to the show. Well, good morning, Voo and Manny. How are you guys doing? We
appreciate you being the guinea pig for our first remote guest. Again, thank you to Damon.
I can't underline how much work he put into this. It might not be exactly perfect. We're still learning
the ropes of this new option of ours. I think it's going to work out really well and open us
up to having guests from all over the world. It looks easy, but it's not. If you look at the
help them, but I just watch them moving wires around. We don't know what to do. Manny and I
are just sitting here eating popcorn. Yeah, I'm sitting over here. You don't see me on the camera
because I am not touching a single button on the switcher today. You guys are getting this and
whatever you see is going to be post-production editing. So those of you that are listening
today, if you wouldn't mind, comment below and just give Damon and Ada boy for getting this
together. But let's talk about the world famous portion only swap meets. It's one of the things
if you come into PCA, especially if you're in the mid-Atlantic northeast right around the April
May timeframe for years and years and years, I think people just know that this is one of those
things that when you're coming out of the winter and the spring, this is the event you look forward
to. I went to three of these before I was a PCA member. Oh, really? Yeah. Oh, yeah. Everyone knew
about the swap meet back then. It was ski round top, but you read about it in the magazines, the ad,
and it was a place to go. So, yeah, it took me three years after going even going to the swap
meet to become a member. Now, I'm just realizing this and it may be something you call me a hoarder.
I call myself a collector, but one of the reasons why I love the swap meets, I think because I grew
up in Southern California and the drive-in theaters kind of converted into swap meets on
Saturdays and Sundays. And as a kid, I used to go there to get, you know, breaks for my bike or
wheels for my skateboard. So, once I got to PCA and I heard there was a swap meet dedicated
to Porsche stuff. Oh, man, I was like, I got to go. Well, that's the cool thing about it is that
every table is selling Porsche stuff. It's not like, they do it at Carlyle now, which is renowned
for their swap meets and it's just monstrous. But if you're looking for a certain forward part
or something, you got to look for a couple of tables. At this swap meet, every table is selling
Porsche stuff. And let's be honest, it's the hunt. It is the hunt. You, I don't need anything, you
know, and I still go, but you come across stuff that you didn't realize you needed. Oh, yeah.
And then, of course, you get it at that right price because that person that, you know,
schlepped it from their garage or basement probably doesn't want to take it home.
Well, then you got to think about what friend do you know that drove to the swap meet in an SUV
that can carry home the set of wheels or the fender or something that you are not going to
fit in your car or your Porsche, but you want to take it home. Well, let's rewind a little bit
and let's meet Steve. Steve, I think you joined PCA in what, the mid-80s? Yeah, I think you're
almost like a 40-year member. Yeah, I think I'm almost 40 years, though, a long time. Yeah.
A long time. I've known Manny for, before he was a PCA member, I think he was sneaking in
to the backwoods to ski round top, and he had a Corvette, I think. I'm not sure. No.
So when you first became active in the club, this wasn't a thing yet, right?
The swap meet? You know, the very beginning of the swap meet was a group of men
during a three, five, six generation that had a hard time getting parts. So they had talked a
local dealer who was an Audi Porsche dealership in Mechanicsburg, Pennsylvania, to use their lot
on a Saturday, and these men would come in from Carolinas in Virginia, and they would just exchange
parts so they could fix their three, five, sixes and restore them. And that moved into ski round
top. After two or three years, it went from seven or eight men up to about 15 or 20, and the local
dealer said, you're killing my business on a Saturday. You've got to move. Fortunately, that
dealer had a twin brother that was the general manager at ski round top. And he said, I want to
use, use my parking lots. I have nothing going on in the spring. We're closed. So you fall
over there, and I believe it was the second year at ski round top. I was in my young 20s, and I
was a Porsche owner. And you learn real fast. If you raise your hand for something, you've just
volunteered yourself. And I first did that to the guy that had organized the swap meet Dennis
Frick, who's been in the club for many years. Oh, that's the name that rings the bell. Yeah. Yeah,
Dennis Frick buyout. He's known by many, many people for restoration. And at the end of that day,
I had volunteered to help him out. He said to me, Do you really like this? You did really great
today helping me. I said, Yeah, it was pretty cool. And he says, Great, it's your event. And
I said, What does that mean? You know, and so that kind of fostered the event. What year? What
year did it move to? I've always heard about ski round top. But I was before my time. When was
that? Was that like in the 70s or? Me, I was like 47, 48 years ago, where this is like our 49th
year of the swap meet. So do the math backwards. It was kind of neat. The event used to be the end
of March. So the in some old pictures, but they don't have today, unfortunately, there's still
snow in the back of the slope that was our backdrop. But the venue had a big parking lot. We had
lots of restrooms and the local police from Harrisburg, Pennsylvania had food trucks and they
raised money for charity and would come out and sell food. And it was kind of neat. I think with
my second or third year, Excel had just come out. And I learned how to use that. And I noticed a lot
of vendors would get there, you know, midnight, one o'clock in the morning and to reserve their
space, they go down and put paint buckets on their spots and sometimes get a little physical. And
it wasn't a pleasant scene. So the fourth year, I had instituted, you could pre-register, and I
was using Excel. I was so excited. I got this new technology. And everybody thought that was great.
I wouldn't forget that one in the morning to reserve their spot. They could reserve it a year
in advance. And that changed the game. We went in several years, filled that parking lot, filled the
secondary lot. And after probably about nine or 10 years of ski roundtub, we had maxed out the
gravel lots, the paved lots. We were parking on public roads, which we got rid of by the
Pennsylvania State Police. And he says, you get one warning this year, next year, it took me very
expensive. And it was that year we moved, the following year, we moved to Hershey, Pennsylvania.
And then the event took off again. Right. What was the, how did you get the connection to be
able to do it at Hershey? During these years of being a swap chairman, I had moved into working
in the automotive business as a salesperson. And it happened to be a Porsche store.
One of the cars I sold a car to was the vice president of Hershey Entertainment Resort Company.
I'll use his first name. His name was Scott. He was an enthusiastic new owner of a 911.
That's all we had back then in 944. And he had volunteered at the ski roundtub. And I told him
I was in this dilemma. He saw me meeting with the state police. And I said, wow, we're in trouble.
We're parked now on the public roads and we're a nuisance. They're going to find me next year.
And he said, why don't you come to Hershey? I'll handle it for you. And whatever you're
paying here, I'll charge you that there. And Hershey at that time was not the monster it is
today. It was much smaller company. And yeah, so we moved it to Hershey and just mimic the same
thing, kept pre-registration. We had all part, you know, paved parking lots. We had the hotel
available to us. And the event just took off again. And having a name Hershey is massive. It's
easy to get to all the roads, go right to it, lodging, food, restaurants. And of course,
chocolate world. If you like chocolate, I personally do. And you can go for a free tour and get a
free sample when you're done. So we had a lot of benefits moving to Hershey. And the organization
at the time with the leadership, Scott Landon, moving up to the president, we just grew with
that support of Hershey behind us. So for our younger members that are listening, you know,
25 years ago, if you wanted to buy and sell used Porsche parts, you did have online
opportunities. There was eBay and probably back then would have been like Craigslist or
some forums or forums and stuff like that. But it still wasn't as efficient. I mean,
if you wanted to sell one or two things, three things, it probably would be easy. But if you had
a truck full of stuff or a garage full of stuff, bringing all of that and selling it at the swap
meet would be a more efficient solution, I would think, especially big parts that you have to
package and ship. Like I remember someone, someone brought this carbon fiber fender, which was like
a left sided carbon fiber fender of some random 911, which I don't know who would buy except for
me because I wanted it as wall art. But how would you sell that back in the day? Right? So having
the swap meet as an option is a lot of fun. So the swap meet, as you can imagine, buying and
selling parts, but there's more components to the swap meet than that. You know, there was and I
think you brought up a great point. At that time, Craigslist and eBay, they were not the best at
navigating. You had a bid back then and it was the last 10 seconds and all that kind of jazz.
So the swap meet gave an opportunity for a lot of people from Florida to come up and bring their
wearers. We had a lot of the body companies that were making body parts and, you know, why body
kits would come up. And then we also had a lot of contingency of the Canadians coming down.
They could buy used parts, they would fill box trucks. And then they would back in to Canada
and they would pay duties because it's all used parts. So we would have people come down and
rent from us. You know, 20, 30 spaces bring several empty box trucks and they would walk
around all day long with cash and wagons and just buy parts. So it kind of the first 10 years of
Hershey, you had the South coming up and you had the Canadians coming down and we were in the middle
of central Pennsylvania and he had Ohio and those states coming in as well. And it was just
a huge growth. And as you can imagine, people said, I wish you had more and volunteers in our
club. We are a bigger club now. We were small at the time. They were like, you know, let's do a
concourse, people's choice concourse, keep it simple. We added an autocross today after the
event to keep people there and race their cars in the parking lot that they bought parks on the
day before. And Manny brings up a great point. You know, we kept it pours up pure. I can remember
in the early years being a tough swap chairman, walking around and seeing, you know, Ford and
Chevrolet and other jewelry on tables and parts. And I have to say to take the stuff off the table,
gentlemen, or to ask you to leave. They were like, are you serious? And I would say, yeah,
it's Porsche only. And you fast forward to today, 2026. I think what keeps our swaps so unique
and still relevant is like Manny was saying, it's Porsche only. We don't allow anything else to come
in. So it's just been a great event. Yeah, well, that's a I do want to point out the
background is an older background that you're using. But I think it's a nice visual. The dates
on there is not correct. The date for 2026 is May, May 2. Correct? Correct. Correct. So just
want to make a note. The main thing about the photo is that it's sunny. Yeah. Because that's
what the swap meet is known for, right? We joke about that with the weather, but it really
doesn't matter. I mean, if you're going to go buy parts, in fact, you kind of hope that the
not that you hope for rain, but you hope that the crowd will be less so that you can have
better chances of getting a better buy. But the swap meet was my first, I would say big PCA event.
I don't think I had gone to any event where I saw hundreds of cars, you know, all these booths
and vendors. It was my first big PC event. I think in its heyday when it was at Hershey,
you were getting well over a thousand Porsches that were parked. Yeah, you know, we had a
number of years of Hershey that were massive. Jerry Seinfeld, I've got the picture, I've used it.
I was much younger. He was much younger. But he did give us a picture with a friend of mine,
Jimmy, and he was in the middle of holding this huge Hershey bar. Oh, nice.
And he allowed us to use that image. It was in Pano and so forth. And he came about that we
caught him. He always came in all Navy and his license plates usually had the last run of each
model from Porsche. If you remember, that was in the articles a lot. So we would look for the last
model of maybe a 964 or a 996 and it would say a New York plate and have an unusual number at the
end of the model number. So if we knew if we found the car, if my volunteers found the car,
we knew he was on site. And I'd say go out and look for a guy dressed in Navy carrying bags,
he collected models. But Manny's right, there was a couple of years, we counted over 1200 Porsches
in the Porsche only parking area. We did have 6700 vendors and thousands of people. It was
organized chaos, quite honestly. As as being the lead of many events in the past, I can only
imagine you are so incredibly busy at the SWAT meet. Can I ask, have you ever had the opportunity
to find something at the SWAT meet? And what was like your biggest find? Probably you're
probably too busy to even shop. You know, for years Manny knows me for a long time. I did a
lot of racing and DE work for 30 years. So I was always looking for motorsports parts and
cool looking shift knobs and just unusual things that I could personalize my car.
And I used to get boards, so I changed cars a lot. So I was always looking for something.
But I think, you know, I don't think there's ever been a year, unfortunately, where I've been able
to enjoy the SWAT where I get to walk to the entire event. As you know, if you're running an event,
you put a lot of fires out. I want to make sure that the guest has a great experience.
So I make my team members that they're on point. If they need to get a break, I'll give them a
break. And I have fantastic volunteers to help this event run. But hey, you're right,
dude, it's tough. I am fortunate, though, the day we a lot of people set up on Friday, I tend to
sneak into their booth while they're unpacking their trucks, their cars, and they find those
one offs at the plot of the basement. And I'm like, Hey, will you take 10 bucks for that?
But you've earned that, sir. You've earned that. You've earned that.
I did. I did. I did have some advantages. Plus, you get to know a lot of fantastic Porsche people.
And I would say, Hey, at home, do you have this model? I'm missing this one from my collection.
I actually do. Hey, it's 50 bucks. Okay. So I did get some advantages, but I really make sure
that everybody's having a good time. Come by and say hi to the PCA guys and ladies.
And the money goes to charities. And then today, my push is to raise as much money as possible
for our local charities here in Central Pennsylvania. So that's our big push.
Even if you're not particularly hunting for parts or even if you don't own a Porsche,
it's a cool site to go to. It is very much a social event as well. I know Manny sets up
together with Roxanne in the past few years, a booth to thin his collection.
I always thought I would be dead when this would happen, but I get to see him alive,
all my stopping soul. Don't kid folks. I know you're selling stuff, but you're still
walking the lanes trying to acquire stuff too. So over the years, do you have a memorable
item that you... So there was a shop no longer in business that was selling driving suits and
racing stuff. Anyways, they had bought a shop from VIR and they were going to go inside of
VIR to be their official shop, but they had to buy all the inventory from the previous shop.
So anyways, it was a lot of aligned data and carry. So they bring it up to the Hershey Swamp
and that was, of course, you get there early if you're a diehard like I was and I'm midway for
the Swamp me going up and down the road and my friend called me up and he says,
hey, where are you at? And I look up, I go, I'm bro each. He goes, come up to the front
right now. He goes, they're selling driving suits for $10. I remember that. And I was like,
what? He goes, just come up. I remember this. I drop everything and I cut through the vendors
to the front. And sure enough, there's racks and racks of driving suits in European size,
this which of course us Americans have no idea what that means. But it was, I still have a picture
in my head. There was about 30 guys, middle age, in their underwear, trying out all these driving
suits. I think I still have nightmares. And I got myself a Sparko, I think it was a
two-piece or three-piece driving suit for 90 bucks. It was a hell of a heck of a deal.
The hilarious part is, yes, they were, they, you know, middle-aged men, half-naked,
putting on suits and they wanted them to fit. But some of them clearly didn't fit. And they're like,
how does that zipper is about to blow? Like, no, you cannot buy that one. But it was a pretty
funny site. I do remember that. Yeah, that's my best memory, I think, of getting a great deal.
But it was always stuff to find. But what's interesting was when the internet really started
to become popular and suddenly you started hearing people saying, well, I'm just going to buy it off
eBay or I'll buy it off Rentalist or buy it off Facebook. And people said, how is this going to
affect swap meets? And I guess it did to a point, right, Steve? You know, it did. If you remember
when the internet came out and you had a lot of online, a lot of people were scared. Businesses
were scared. It was a ticker business away. And we had the same concern. And after a year of seeing
a lot of change, I took the approach and I was in the car business for most of my entire life.
So we are having the same thing. This is going to hurt us. And we took the approach, let's embrace
it. Because it also means I can reach out further. I'm no longer in my own little segment.
So we looked at that and said, okay, let's go out and market differently. Let's look at digitizing
but the word we use today, right? And we started to do that as well. And what we found is the vendors
figured out to pivot as well. So you might have been up in, maybe you produced something very
unique. Yeah, three to six, a classic out in California. He figured out real fast. He could
send his boards to Hershey, Pennsylvania. Him and his wife would fly in with a couple employees.
They have little tiny clipboards and you'd sit there and write orders. I want a steering wheel.
I want pedals. I want this. He would hit your card and said, we'll ship it out to you the next two
or three days. We'll get back to Cali. And then these people exchanged that information. So as
we moved forward in a couple of years as the internet just took off, we saw vendors got pretty
savvy and they started using the swap meet as a hub to show where it's across the country
because now shipping was becoming a thing. So it did pivot and those that went with it
really grew. The guys that sold collectible stuff, the smaller things, we're going to be at Hershey
and bring in our collection. If we don't have it, we'll ship it to you. Come and look at it,
touch it, feel it, eat it, let it do whatever you want to do. So that changed the event again
and we embraced that. We did lose some of the far away guys, the big guys. They stayed down
South. The Canadians, that whole thing changed because of our government and the Canadian
government. They were changing some of the rules and regulations at the border. Some of that changed
which we couldn't affect that by any means. But yeah, so the internet's had an impact,
but I think it's how you look at it and how you grow today.
And like I said earlier, it's more than just the swap of merchandise at the swap meet. It's
social, there's the car show, there's a lot going on. And I think you've built such a solid foundation
for this event that with you pivoting, it still remains fresh and for other vendors seeing it
as an opportunity to, like I said, I go there not necessarily with the list and I see things and I
buy it because they're there. And I think vendors see that too. It's an opportunity for them to
market to enthusiasts at a Porsche only event. So speaking of pivoting, when was the pivot
from Hershey to its current location? Unfortunately, we all remember COVID. So COVID came rolling
along and Hershey at that time as a company had really broadened their footprint in everything,
from owning resorts to their food lines. And they put a lot of value in their name and their logo
and that became very apparent. Our costs kept going up. We had to be very careful if we used
our logo, they had to approve it. So I watched the culture of the company change and that's
who I dealt with. And I used to get a contract that I could write for 10 years. Here it is.
And your rent's going to go up a little bit and trash be movable. Then it went to five years and
with the three years and then it's like, we're going to give you a one year. And that became
scary because I'm taking people's money a year in advance for an event. So I started getting
cautious. This big monster was starting to, I was no longer important to them and the people I knew
were had retired. So I was just another person renting the facility. COVID came rolling along
and like the world they shut down, they had to, they were very public and they said we're going
to be to all their third parties because they rent their facilities out to a lot of third parties.
You're out for three years. We don't know what's happening, but we want to let you know three
years. We're not going to rent to you people. That meant our Auto Cross series that was running at
Hershey, they had massive lots and they had great pros and solos there. That all ended.
SCCA used to hold their East Coast Nationals there. That ended. So it affected a lot of things
car related in Central Pennsylvania. The Hershey show, the big car show, that got canceled.
So for car people, for Mecca, Hershey, it was a huge change. I said three years. I said, yeah,
maybe three years, maybe longer. And I'm like, okay, well, one year I could probably see if we
could salvage. But after two years, people find other things to do. They don't keep that date
anymore. No PCA keeps that date right on the calendar. So I went to the board and I said,
I think we need to move. And I didn't want to leave Hershey because it is Hershey.
But everybody agreed, well, what's going to happen? Meanwhile, I have Carlisle events in
Carlisle, Pennsylvania doing a humongous car shows. They had taken the state of Pennsylvania to court.
Lance Miller is one of the partners. His dad was Chip Miller. And he had been after me. We
had raced out. He was a Corvette guide. So that was his dad. So I knew Lance for years coming up
through racing and tracks. And we were a couple of years apart. So we were very similar in a passion
for vehicles. Of course, he was Corvette. I was Porsche. And he'd always say, you need to move
your end to Carlisle. We're car people, you know? So I called him up and I knew he was in the papers
on the news and they were fighting the state of Pennsylvania because their venues are outside.
And COVID was more about being locked down on the inside. And so I called him up and I knew
they were making progress. It was in the news almost every night because we had the state
capital in Harrisburg. So it was very relevant. And I called him up one night and I said, hey,
how's the court case going? He says, off the record, we're going to know in a couple of days.
I think we're going to win. I said, no kidding. He said, yeah, he said, we've missed two shows.
But you want to bring the swap over and move your data a little bit? I can squeeze you in.
And I'm thinking, it's got to do it. So I went to the club and they're like,
this is your thing, dude. What do you suggest? I said, we roll. We go. We cancel two, three
years. We're gone. We're done. And Carlisle embraced us. Whatever you want, whatever you need,
this is all we do is car shows. So the venues all locked down. It's fenced in. And now if it needs
security, they have everything. And we moved to Carlisle. And, you know, it's been a great move
that Carlisle people are fantastic to work with. They are charity-minded from their heart,
from the core of their company. So we align very well there. Going back to one of Manny's comments
on the image behind me, we have been tainted with no sunshine for the first couple of years at
Carlisle. And I said, I'm laughing because the odds are we have sun this year. I do track that on
my folders by 41 years of folders with the swap meet and I track the weather and the forecast.
And we tend to run about two and three quarter years bad forecast or rain and then sunshine.
And this is the year we're due. So Manny, I'll be there either way.
So kudos to you and to the region. Sometimes the hardest decisions is during adversity.
But falling into a new venue such as Carlisle, who is well known for hosting big Ford events,
bug out, VW events, you name it. They are definitely car-friendly. And personally for us,
it's actually a little bit closer for us to get to Carlisle than it is to Hershey.
It's still pretty easy. It's all off interstate. It's not hard to do.
But as far as a venue to host the vendor tents, the food, the parking, it's, it works. It absolutely
works. So, you know, it is, it's turned key. And what's nice is we've learned from them,
some things they do that are unique, which will actually come into play this year.
I was talking to Manny this last week for a while and we're looking at 26 and 27 for a two-year pivot
to get our event more show-related, still vendor, still hardcore vendor, which is our core,
but to broaden the base of Porsche. Porsche, as we know, as a car company has grown tremendously.
PCA has grown tremendously and our region's grown tremendously. And I want to make sure we grab
that. So, we've got a change, we've got the pivot. And so, we're going to add more of show
activities to our event. And one of those things is going to be, we're adding a Porsche-only
auction this year. That's going to be on, yeah, very different. I don't think it's ever been done
Porsche-only. As a cars or cars or parts auction. Cars auction. Cars. Wow. Okay. Yeah. It's a huge
undertaking. I'm working on it today. I'm meeting tomorrow. It's got a lot of nuances because of
that. But we're going to take a small step this year into that. I'm very excited about it. We
also take our people that have their cars in the corral and say, Hey, why don't you bring your car
over here? They don't know if we're not going to charge them. To do that, plus the car sells.
So, that would be kind of neat, no risk. So, maybe that now grows with more local cars. You
know, when I say local, four or five states of touch, Pennsylvania. So, I think that's great
avenue. I have talked to a number of, you would know some of these folks. Porsche privateers out
there in the world. Some are racers. You would know some of their names. They've been on your
podcast. They're like, I want to bring cars. I have friends who want to bring cars. So, I didn't
have to do a lot to get people that want to bring cars. I'm excited. I hope it works. It will bring
a whole new dimension to the event and keep people there longer. And we're still going to do a
concord for people's choice. The food venue there at Carlisle. They have great food. They're all
third party vendors that come in. So, they're fantastic. And we're going to online ticket
sales and we tried it last year. We're embracing that more with a huge company and going to QR
codes this year. So, we're really moving into some technology, but we're doing it in small
steps. We're volunteers. Yeah. It's not a company. So, I have to be cautious. I just retired in the
fall. So, I have all this energy and ideas. And you know what? I turn around and I don't have a
It's you. It's you. But I do have volunteers and they're great for limited shifts.
So, that's what we're looking at. So, that's what I'm doing in over two years
is to get my team adjusted. Make sure we make things right so that people showing up have a
great time and it's easy. We're still who we are with these other attractions now. So,
I think it'll be good for people who like yourself who aren't going there for a specific part.
But, you know, you hear all the excitement around here about the swat me, the portion only
swat me like my region does a drive up to there. And I'm betting majority people don't need anything
because they're driving newer cars. But if there's a reason to come hang out with fellow enthusiasts
and hey, I'll walk through the swat meet and see if there's anything I
discovered that I didn't really need them. But I do. That's a plus. But having the car show and
making it more almost like works for union, you know, where people just come to hang out all day.
You just want to hang out big cars and coffee that goes on past lunch. I will say I've gone to
many portion swat meets. I haven't gone every single year. But I rarely buy anything. Oh,
really? I go up there just disciplined to hang out for, you know, a day and you know,
back when I was doing social media for the club, you know, what Bogdan does now,
I'd go up and take a couple photos. But I kept going up even after that just to go hang for an
hour or two. And then usually the weather is, I shouldn't say usually half the time the weather
is bad. So it really is just go up, see friends, look at some cars. And then when you're too cold,
too wet, if it's one of those weekends, head back home. So the fact that you guys are,
you know, pulling back or not pulling back, adding more experiential sort of activities to this
100%. That's awesome. Yeah. For somebody who was already going up just to hang out.
Agreed. A few more reasons where you need to be there.
And even if you're not buying anything, it's worth walking the swat meet just to see some of the
stuff for sale. I remember with Tom Prabassi, our works reunion chair, we were walking, he's from
California, and he stops at a table and there's this really dirty injection unit sitting on a
table all by itself. That's it. And the guy behind sitting in a chair, and he says to me,
go, this is a RSR high butterfly mechanical injection. He asked the guy, how much you want
for it? The guy doesn't blink. He goes $18,000. Like, like it was nothing.
To the right fire. It's probably a good deal. Yeah. So I said, hopefully there's an ATM around
with $18,000 when the fire finally comes. But it's stuff like that. You can find 959 wheels
or Carrera RS magnesium wheels just sitting along other wheels that are like $500 worth of set.
And he has these $10,000 magnesium wheels. Yeah, you'll see stuff there that like, even if you
aren't planning to buy, don't have enough money to buy, you get to see it. Like I've held a Carrera,
a 356 Carrera, a 4 cam Carrera roller bearing. In my hand, I've held one. And I mean, it doesn't
sound crazy, but that is so rare and cool to actually see with your eyes. And you know,
it was actually John Patrick was selling it. I forget how much he said, but the crank itself
was probably what $20,000 just in my hand or something. So really cool stuff. You know,
what's unique and you guys brought this up and I didn't even think about it to your comments.
And this happens every year. But last year, for some reason, I don't know if we had more,
they just sourced me out. But we had two gentlemen from Belgium. We had three from Germany.
Hmm. We had to think two from Switzerland that these are like, they come in pairs.
They represent like collectors over in Europe and EU. And they come over to the swap me and not
just us, they got, they go up and down the East coast and they search from European shows too,
that might have some Porsche parts there. But they definitely don't miss one guy at the Belgium
guys like, Oh, we've been coming here for like 16 years. Yeah. And all you do is look for these
unusual parts for these people. And they get a finder's fake. And that pays for this to come
over for two or three months. They get to eat our American food. Like they're all like, this is
great. And we're funded by our, our, our buyers. And I asked the Belgian guys, I said, well,
have you bought anything? They looked at each other and they pulled their phones out and they're
going through these things in their phone. And he goes, what do you got? He goes, this is euros.
We've purchased so far $186,000 worth of goods.
And I went, holy, beep, beep, beep. And I was like, you're kidding me. He goes, no, look what we've
bought. They were all these unusual rims that they ship everything back. They already have that
aligned right for the area. So I said, you know, we can do this from Carlisle. I said, they do this
for other shows. They offer shipping, right? They don't make any money on it, but they offer the
servicing, take it up there. Some companies, they're a third party. He goes, you're kidding me.
That's the hardest part. I said, no, I can handle that for you, not me, but you know, we have, we
have access to that. So he says, you got to let us know. We'll spread that. You know, there's a lot
of people like us here. You're just not aware of them. So sorry about that. I have a couple of
bugs working on noise. But it's, it's, it's kind of unique that that has occurred as well.
And then we had a German company come by through two years ago. I think it was our second year
Carlisle. And they had heard about the event and they brought a news crew. And they actually, we
have a news clip somewhere. They ran it on their local news. I think they were from like, you know,
somewhere around Visok area. They're porcelain. And they've heard about this. We're coming over
to visit some relatives and we're here doing a video and getting paid for it. So it does pivot
out like that. I, I think the auction and some of the things we're adding for the future will
really add to the event. We're not going to pull back at all from being vendors, but for guys like
yourself, the boomer generation that you're starting to sell your stuff, maybe the auction,
now you walk by and go, man, I used to have a, I called you a boomer, by the way. I was, I was,
a little disappointed when you called me a boomer, but that's okay. That's okay.
I know. You're, you're a younger one. I don't, was that why? Maybe what is that?
He's ex. He's ex. He's ex. He's ex. But I act, I act like a boomer. So I identify as a boomer sometimes.
So for those listening that have never been before, what's the investment? How much does it
cost to attend as a vendor? And what does it cost to attend as just a participant?
Yeah, this year as, as you show up, whether it's one or two or three or four people in the car,
it's $30 to get into the, into the event for parking. We are adding a portion of show field
this year. So to kind of mimic the Corvette show that Carl Aldo, the largest Corvette show now
in the world, they do a show field and everything's pulled together. So that's going to be $10 more
to be on the show field and show your car off and hang out. I was hoping to have it this year,
but maybe next year that we can start bringing regions in like Manny's organization comes up out
of, out of Maryland, that he bring XYZ cars and we, we as a club, we, we give you the 10, we give
you a, you know, a 10 by 20 or 20 by 20, 10 for your region to be under on the show field.
That is our next pivot point is to build the show field into a monster. So it'll become a show
as well as the hardcore vendor and we'll keep those two separated by food stands.
So it's a great way to do this, spend some money, eat some food, go check out all the, all the cars.
And then knowing that the four door segment is very important to, of course, the people
almost all our car people, two doors have four doors for it. It's a high percentage.
Nothing really goes after those people. We're going to add probably next year a whole part
of the show field will be actually towards four door segment to get those folks to come in,
park next to the two door segment food vendors. Nice. Of course, the auction. So I'm really trying
to add a lot of horse of flavor. So when you get there, there's so much to do and check out.
It'll be super exciting. A lot of people go up the morning of, I think vendors usually go up
the day before and they set up on Friday. Any tips or advice for those that are coming from
long distances in terms of where they can stay Friday night, Saturday? You know, we're kind of
blessed by being, first of all, Carlisle. There's a lot of hotels in the area. We also have Dickinson
College in a very prestigious school. So in the area of Carlisle, even though it's a small community,
there's probably within 15 minutes, maybe 18 in the interstates right there and the Turnpike.
So you can access a lot of hotels with a huge variety of price points. You can be in a fair
field, you can be in a Hilton. So you have a lot of variety and price points and quality of lodging
as well as restaurants. And as far as the vendors, we went to all online registration,
motorsport reg, which a lot of us use that for. They were hardcore motor racing in the very beginning
and now they've ventured into everything. We use them as our online registration for vendors.
You can get on there, lock your space down with side by side or end by end, whatever you need.
If you're making an unusual shape, which some vendors do, we do that personally on one-on-one.
We call you up when you're looking for an L shape. I don't guess I want that. So that's all moved on
to online, as you would think with the world today. In the old days, we did it by mail and that was me.
And I had a recording on a phone with a little tape and I would listen to people,
I want to get some space. They didn't talk that way before us, but...
Well, you've come a long way. I mean, it's impressive and I got to thank you, the region,
the volunteers for putting all this because let's remind folks that are listening, that this is all
volunteer basis for charity. Rain or shine.
Rain or shine.
They're out there smiling with the raincoats directing you to your spots or where you got to go park it.
So I've got it on my calendar. Hopefully those listening have it on their calendars. Steve,
thank you so much for being a longtime member as well and all the things that you've done for
PCA over the years. Well done, sir. This is one of my favorite events and I look forward to being
there this year as well. Well, I thank everybody from PCA. I mean, over the years,
the national organization has embraced us. We did, I think, the only swap meet ever at the parade.
Yep.
Was that the 50th?
The 50th parade. That's right.
50th parade. I think Manny and some other folks, Bob had reached out and he wanted to do a swap
at the 50th parade at Hershey. I think that was the first and only time it was ever done
and it was huge. That was a huge success.
Because so many people had heard about the famous portion only swap meet. We wanted to give the
out-of-towners a taste. So we approached Steve in Central Penn. We said, how would you like to
redo this in the summertime to let the out-of-towners see what we all enjoy every year? They get the
experience and it went really well. Although I do remember that a local dealer was selling a lot
of their marketing stuff that they're not supposed to sell. Not thinking that the entire hierarchy
of portion would be there. They came by to visit this portion only swap meet.
And it was a lot of explaining of why this marketing material was being sold.
Cease and desist is probably the term they used.
The funny part Manny brought that up. The event was hugely successful for PCA and the parade and
the venue was gorgeous. He saw the roofs on display on whatever hole that was at the golf
course. Just beautiful setting for everything. And I forget where I was and they got a phone
call. And remember, I'm running a dealership now. It wasn't my dealership, but there was a
dealership. And I get a phone call from one of my volunteers says, hey, there's always guys in
suits walking through. And someone says they're from Porsche AG. And my head goes, and I knew what
was there. I knew what people had. I'm like, oh my God, I think I was up towards the hotel. So I
get a golf cart, I shoot down and they had already visited those. And so I tracked them. I think,
when I was to confront them, unfortunately, some piece of Porsche guys from the United States were
with them. Not that was a plus. But at least I knew some names. And so went up and introduced
myself and they pulled me aside. And I acknowledged everything. And so they gave me their Porsche AG
lines, which were very firm. But I have to say, and I won't drop any names because they were
big names. It's a time from AG. Hold me aside towards the side of the parking lot. And there's
like four of them. And the guy looked at me goes, I have to say, this is impressive to see the root
people here of the brand. And then you've been doing this for how many years? He goes,
we don't find this in Europe. We see little groups, nothing of this size. He goes, just
take it up for us. He says, keep doing what you're doing. And he walked away. Everybody
thought I was getting in trouble. Everybody's proud of people watching. And they were like,
what happened? They really love what we do. Really? I like, yeah. It was pretty neat. Very
powerful. But thanks for bringing it up, Manny. I'm glad you brought that up.
Well, I think that's a great note in this part of the podcast. Keep doing what you're doing,
and we'll see you in May. Sounds great. Thanks, gentlemen. All right. I wanted to remind folks
to be sure to head over to PCA.org to sign up for PCA's newsletters. We have performance news,
e-brake news, and Mark Fresh all free. As I look up on the monitor, I noticed that we are sitting
awkwardly close together, Manny. I feel like we're in year 56. Our shoulders are actually touching
each other. That's pretty funny. But that was the seating setup for today's new configuration with
Steve dialing in. But again, thank you, Damon, for making that happen. That was pretty cool,
hopefully, for those of you listening, that the audio and such came out all right. And this will
be setting the bar even higher for us on the podcast. I wanted to report back on this year's
Tech Tactics East out of Eastern Pennsylvania. We did this one without our training wheels,
so to speak. Melanie had the weekend off. But thankfully, the facility there, led by Rolf and
Mike, they know what to do. We had our marching orders, so to speak. And another two days
fantastic event. We had a threat of some snow and ice and snowmageddon kind of
vibes going on for Sunday. But PCA members still came out. And more importantly, our presenters
all came out. Yeah. And once again, kudos to the whole facility there, the guys and the gals.
They are just so top notch. And they really enjoyed this event, you can tell. And even though
they're giving up their weekend, Saturday and Sunday, to come help us out, they are so excited
every year that when we show up and it makes our members feel super welcome. And I couldn't believe
how many members it was their first time as Tech Tactics. New members, yeah. Well, we were sold out
on Saturday and we had big numbers for Sunday, despite the weather. Yeah. And they're gonna hear
you saying we had a couple from California flying? Yeah, we did. Well, actually, they reached out to
you. You didn't know they were coming from California, but they were asking about, like, what is
there, what is there to do? Because they're gonna be in for a couple of days. I ran into them,
oh, at the bar. I ran into them at the bar Friday night. And they're like, oh, yeah, we're here.
And I'm like, where are you from? They're like, California. I'm like, oh, are you here for
something else? They're like, no, we flew over just to come to Tech Tactics. He said we're
really into it. And he and his wife, both of them are into it. They stayed and enjoyed every
bit of it. And they came on Saturday, so they had the best weather, if you will. But I think we had
a great lineup of guest speakers. Producers have never been to Tech Tactics. You can watch it
on our YouTube channel. We released it during the year, all the presentations.
And you can get a good flavor of what Tech Tactics is. It is a day-long,
full of technical presentations. And you get about 120 some people in the facility. And this facility
is where Porsche trains their technicians how to work on their cars. So it is the perfect,
perfect place to have this type of event because the ceilings are not super high,
unlike doing it in a shop. And it's acoustically near perfect for what we want to do. They had
all the screens and presentations. And most of all, they have lifts and Porsches in this repair
because the technicians are learning how to take them apart and put them back together.
They had at least three or four motors completely disassembled. And you had to resist touching
all the individual parts because the parts, they needed the parts to remain to make sure that they
had a lot of trust in our members because they had, like you said, the entire top end of a Makan
engine. They could sign this and do not remove parts. But yeah, I would have been very nervous
that somebody would pick stuff up and start moving it around. Lots of shiny parts laying around.
But that's what's cool about this place because not only are you set up well for the seminars,
you have all the Porsche equipment, you have the cars. We even had the pace car from the safety
car from 24 hours of Daytona that Porsche cars in North America sent up just for this event,
which happened to be a Monti GT3 RS. And it had a sign on it, do not wash because they had all
the rubber marks from a 24 hour race. And they sent that up because Stuart McLaughlin from PCNA
came up again and did a presentation on what this GT3 RS kit entails. Plus they sent the whole
alignment machine that's special just to this car. And they gave a demonstration on how this car is
aligned differently than a regular GT3 RS. I should say that alignment kit is meant for the Monti
cars. But if I really wanted to, I could align my 987 with that. You could. So goals for life,
I guess. Spend what, 20, 30,000 bucks on the kit to align your car. But it comes in a nice transport
case and every nook and cranny is filled exactly with the part that should go in. It's pretty
trick. It'll be one kit for life. The attendees were also treated to during lunchtime warehouse
tours. Now, if you haven't been to the warehouse at Easton, this is where I would say a lot of the
East Coast dealers get all their parts. And it's like the Willy Wonka's chocolate factory.
In the Middelandic and Northeast. They'll ship other places if they're out of the part.
But it's really fascinating how the majority of it is shipped from, I think, Penske Trucking.
It's not shipped UPS or FedEx. It's going directly from Penske Trucking right to the dealership.
So it's quite an amazing facility, I think. Is it a million or a hundred thousand?
I didn't get to go on the tour, so I don't know how many. It's a lot. They expanded it and it was,
yeah, it's pretty huge. Do you mind running through, I know we'll post the videos later,
but would you? Yeah, so we had Nathan Merz who is going to be upcoming in a, actually, I think
his podcast would have been last week's podcast. If you haven't missed it, I think we called it
What's On Nathan's Mind, which he loved because he got to talk about everything that's been
bothering him. Yes, there's a lot in that noggin. That's right. He did a setting realistic
expectations for Porsche ownership. We had Charles Navarro from LN Engineering. He talked about
new cylinder technologies. What are you pointing at? Stuart? I did talk about that. Oh, that might
tell you. Yeah. Rolf Kittlitz, care and feeding of Porsche center lock wheels, which is such a
specific topic, but he had a full audience of understanding how you have to take care of these
center lock wheels, even if you don't have them. It's so fascinating to hear.
Tom Anderson, who's also one of the trainers, I had asked him to do a deep dive into understanding
the GTS hybrid, the T hybrid that everyone gets confused with thinking it's like a Prius hybrid,
which has nothing to do with that. It's all about performance. Anyways, he had a, he had a T hybrid
GTS in the, in the, in the classroom and was able to demonstrate how it operates. We had,
from PCA Club Racing, Van Swensen, he did a presentation on using data acquisition for club
racing in HBDE, which is, fortunately, just when I got out of doing HBDE was when data acquisition
was becoming very easy for the common man. I never liked it because you couldn't lie. You couldn't
say as you lifted it, right? Break the one marker because data acquisition would say, no, you're
breaking it to five marker, but it's really interesting. You had a full, full classroom for that.
Davide, Davide from Pirelli, he's head of R&D, I believe, down at the factory in
in Georgia, Rome, Georgia. He did a, the latest in technology with Pirelli tires. He talked about how
you can actually, the interaction and get, but get all this data now directly to consumer can
from the tire, from certain tires that Pirelli makes. George Buselink, he talked about, basically
he said it was like almost a buyer's guide for anyone interested in a 944. It was a 944
common issues and solutions. And David Whitlock gave a state of the portion market
for Saturday only. And I think Damon was able to capture it. I captured every single
presentation very much. Nice. We had John Paderec do a presentation on a restoration.
He had to leave early. He couldn't stay for Sunday because of the snow, but we did capture that for
those of you who didn't see him on Sunday or weren't at the event, you will be able to see that
presentation during the year. I do want to say that the first presentation, and this one will
definitely be out by the time you listen, you're listening to this podcast, is the David Whitlock
state of the portion market. We figured, you know, it's, that's the most timely and, well,
newsworthy in the sense that it's not going to work as well, six months from now. David covers a
lot of car models. So if you want to just jump to yours, just look at the, the chapter index,
and you can see all the models he covers. So while all this was going on on,
preparing Friday, Saturday and Sunday, lurking behind our minds was what the weather was going
to be for Sunday. And some of the models said it was going to start snowing early Sunday morning.
But we decided to soldier on because all of our presenters were there. A lot of our members have
all wheel drive. A lot of them came in the night before. Came in the night before. So the show,
the show went on. And I'm glad it did because up until I would say what, three o'clock,
it was, it was snowed the whole time. It was snowing, but it wasn't sticking. Yeah. It was like,
you know, it was not freezing. It was below 40 above 35 the whole day. So nothing was sticking.
Almost panicking. However, with that in mind on Saturday, we, we, Manny and I drove up from HQ
in a minivan that I rented because we had a bunch of stuff to haul up there. But on the way home,
because we gave away most of that stuff, I knew we didn't need as much room. That was an excellent
call by the way. And our minivan was simply a front wheel drive, which probably would have been
okay. But you know, with the, the projections, I wasn't sure. So I went to the local airport and
beg and pleaded with national and they gave me, which I thought was excellent. I was like,
man, like we have a lot of cars, but flights are being changed and we can't give up anything,
but we'll give you an F 150. I'm like, that is fantastic. As I walk out to the parking lot,
I noticed that the F 150 is not all that jacked up. It's not very high. It's kind of low. And
then I noticed it had Texas plates. I'm like, Oh no, what are the odds? This is a two wheel drive
F 150. And I just hopped in. I'm looking for the buttons and this, that and the other. And I,
I, there's like a winter mode. I'm like, Oh, maybe this is four wheel drive. But I'm like,
let me just double check. And I got underneath the front, the front and looked at the front wheels.
And there was no, no axle going to those. And so I sheepishly went back to the desk and said,
I appreciate you guys switching the cars out and giving me a truck. However,
a real drive F 150 I don't think will be much better than the front wheel drive
minivan that I gave to you. So is there anything else? And she was like, honey,
I don't have any other SUVs or four wheel drives. And meanwhile I saw, I saw Jeeps out there. I
saw big Dodge trucks, but I guess they had it reserved. She goes, I do have this thing called
Mitsubishi RVR. Have you even heard of an RVR, Manny? I don't, I didn't even know Mitsubishi was
still selling cars in the US. So apparently this Mitsubishi RVR is like a baby SUV. Turns out it
was from Canada because it was all in kilometers. And it had Alberta plates and Alberta plates,
but it had the most important thing on the center dash. It had not all drive had four wheel drive,
selectable four wheel drive, and you could lock the diffs. And I'm like,
it's small, but it's got what I need. And we finished up the event and got out,
got on the road right around six o'clock. And now it's starting to snow sideways.
I should say it was, I think slightly beforehand, if we had left at six,
oh man. So, so we were going into population, meaning we were headed towards Philly. And I'm
just like, if we had that way, it should get better. We're going south. We should be all right.
And we had Nathan's flights were, or he wasn't sure if he was going to be a catch-us flight.
So Nathan and his wife were in some, some Chevrolet tracks or something.
Yeah. And then we had Damon. So Damon was what do you call the person at the end of the race,
the, the anchor. He was the anchor and look at me using sports terms. He was the anchor with
all wheel drive, Cayenne with winter tires. So I'm like, you know what, if we end up in a ditch,
we can at least get into Damon's four wheel drive, not all wheel drive, four wheel drive.
Technically four wheel drive. And if I needed low range transfer case, all weather, no key
in tires. He was, he was not worried at all. And I said, you, you run anchor, I'll run lead.
And then Nathan will follow my tracks. And there were times coming into the Pennsylvania turnpike
and coming into Pennsylvania. I, I don't think I've ever had man ego. Yeah. If you think this is
too much, like it's okay. We can take a hotel. Well, the funny thing, you didn't have your high
beams on, but it looked like we were in the millennium Falcon going warp speed. The way
the snow was coming at us so hard. And, and of course there's all these, every sign that we saw
said get off the highway, a blizzard conditions. Stay off, stay off. And we, I mean, there's points
you couldn't even see the lines in the road or just following up. We were following the flashing
lights which were ahead of us, which we assumed were plows. Yeah. And that's, there was, there's
one time where I was, I was making the tracks. I wasn't following the vehicle in front of me.
And so that got, and there was, you couldn't tell where the exit was and where the main road was.
It was, I was starting to rethink my, my choice there. But I said, let's just get to Philly.
Let's just get to Philly. We get to Philly. Philly was worse. And I'm like, okay, now we just need
to get to Delaware. Get to Delaware. And we, we should start seeing pavement. And thank goodness.
Before I thrown in the towel, we got to Delaware and we started to see pavement.
By the time we get to Maryland, they were plowing the shoulder. And I said, well,
this is great news because they're plowing the shoulder, the date of blizzard that that means
that it's not too bad in Maryland. Yeah, it was good to go. But anyways, shout out to National
Rural Car for giving me this Mitsubishi RVR. If you need something for all weather, that's,
I gotta give you a shout out for driving for that whole thing because I'm, I'm a good passenger.
But I would like, I felt really bad that I knew you, you felt so bad that you slept through half
of it. That's my way. All right, let's get a little bit of news and wrap this up. They're
only, but now that Porsche is pivoting, it's going to be really interesting because this is,
obviously it's going to be based on the Audi Q9. And so it's going to have a gas option as well.
And then possibly use the Audi based V6 V8. Probably the same ones that we find in the Cayenne.
I just find it fascinating. And I'm sure Porsche have done their market research
that there's a market for a three row SUV that's a Porsche. Oh, absolutely,
absolutely. And I think you're in line to buy a three row. No, but I have my sister would,
my sister would, right now she's looking for a three row SUV after having her little one.
And if there was a Porsche, she would probably consider it because right now she's only has
the ability to consider like some of the American big ones, like the Suburbans and
Tahoe's at third row seats, the Toyota Grand Highlander, which has three row seats. But
that's not her style. She would be a good candidate for a three row Porsche.
To me, it's just mind boggling. It's what the market is demanding. The market also says pickup
trucks, but I don't want Porsche building pickup trucks. True, true, true. Yeah, so it'd be interesting
to see what they end up with. You think these will probably be hybrids as well, right? I can't
imagine that they would be just straight ice. That's a good question. It may be. They got to
do it fairly fast. They got to respond to not so much changing interest, but I guess the laws
that are changing and the requirements that are being lifted in some countries. But they've been
talking about this K1 for a while. So I'm sure like I said, they've done their research and
it'll be interesting to see how Porsche makes it a Porsche and not an Audi.
Yeah, for sure. All right, let me remind you of some events that are coming up. Obviously,
we've talked about Porsche Parade and Lake Plastic and how it's shaping up to be one of the largest,
if not the largest Porsche Parade ever. Registration is already open. The event itself is June 14th
through 20th. The question now is if you haven't registered, can you find a place to stay? Some
hotels may or may not have availability. People are looking into Airbnb options, but everyone wants
to be there. So we're super excited for that. Treffenet Sea, the West Coast cruise, the wine
cruise September 19th. And we're going from Vancouver down to San Francisco down to Santa
Barbara down to LA. And at both ends of that cruise, we're looking to do some events with the
regions and give you some nice opportunities to visit some car related shops and museums.
And if you haven't looked at the pricing for Treffenet Sea this year, it is an incredible
value. I'll leave it at that. It would be more expensive for you to go to Wally World and take
a hotel at Wally World than it will be to go at Treffenet Sea. And it's all inclusive. Once you get
on the ship, you put your wallet into the safe and all your food and drinks, I think 15 drinks per
day. I don't recommend that, but you can drink up to 15 drinks. And two mega desserts. The rooms are
nice. If you're into hospitality and customer service, they do it so well. They are always there
serving you with a smile. And again, few days on a cruise ship with fellow Porsche enthusiasts and
seminars. We've got some great guests lined up and we'll talk about those folks a little bit later.
But you'll see some marketing information coming out on e-brake news and through various PCA outlets
for Treffenet Sea. If you're interested in racing with others online, check out PCA Sim Racing,
PCASimRacing.com. If you're looking for some insider swag, we have bottles, mugs,
t-shirts and such. You can go to PCAWebStore.org. If you're looking to, and we saw this weekend at
our cars and coffee, PCA Insider decals. If you'd like a set of decals, send us your physical address
information to podcastatpca.org. Well, Manny, that was very cool to hear from Steve and learn the
history of the world-famous Porsche-only swap meet. Thank goodness we made it back from Tech
Tactics East. That was an adventure that we'll remember for a while. That's right. Thank you all
for listening. Be sure to like, comment and subscribe. Consider sharing our show with fellow
Porsche enthusiasts. Until next time, stay safe and we'll catch you down the road.
About this episode
Dive into the history and evolution of the iconic Porsche-only swap meet, celebrating nearly 50 years of bringing enthusiasts together. Steve Bond, long-time PCA member and swap meet chair, shares insider stories from its humble beginnings at a local dealership lot to its growth at Ski Round Top and eventual move to Hershey. The episode explores the unique culture of hunting for rare parts, the challenges of organizing such a large event, and how the swap meet remains a vital hub despite the rise of online marketplaces. Plus, insights into TechTactics East and the future of PCA events.
Original notes
Have you ever heard about the Porsche Only Swap Meet in Carlisle, Pennsylvania? The Central Pennsylvania Region has been hosting this swap meet for 49 years. On this episode we have Steve Baun, the Swap Meet chairman, joining us on the podcast. We hear about how the swap meet got started, grew, and then faced challenges when the internet became popular. Steve tells us how the Swap Meet is improving by offering more for attendees to do and watch. We also talk about the recent Tech Tactics East event including the harrowing ride home through a blizzard.
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