Der Sportwagen

January / February 2016 6 EDITOR'S COLUMN By Stan Thorne Forgotten Porsches THE STARFISH STORY The Starfish Story A young man is walking along the ocean and sees a beach on which thousands and thousands of starfish have washed ashore. Further along he sees an old man, walking slowly and stooping often, picking up one starfish after another and tossing each one gently into the ocean. "Why are you throwing starfish into the ocean?," he asks. "Because the sun is up and the tide is going out and if I don't throw them further in they will die." "But, old man, don't you realize there are miles and miles of beach and starfish all along it! You can't possibly save them all, you can't even save one-tenth of them. In fact, even if you work all day, your efforts won't make any difference at all." The old man listened calmly and then bent down to pick up another starfish and threw it into the sea. "It made a difference to that one." Sometimes that's how I feel when I see a forgotten Porsche. I want to rescue it. I want to know the story behind that Porsche. Is it a race car whose cheers from adoring fans have long since faded? Maybe it was the pride and joy of an owner who had to sell, and the car's polished shine has faded to rust. Does the owner not care? Did it get left behind? Is it last on someone's long to do list? Unlike the Starfish Story above where the starfish are in the hundreds, forgotten Porsches are becoming harder and harder to find. Those that are found quickly earn the title of "barn find". While the quality of the barn find use to mean parked and forgotten, unfortunately more often than not it now means parked and rotten. I have seen early model 911 rusted shells, with no interiors, fetch an asking price of almost $20,000. Is that realistic? I don't know. Should you decide with your heart or your pocketbook? Me? I'd like to save them all. I am sure each starfish has a story to tell. (P.S. The above photo is next to my office. I look at it everyday) - STAN

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