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From the Archives #18, September 2023

We came across a vintage and telling advertisement in the June 1975 issue of our Region newsletter. The ad offered engines (!), either complete or “basket cases” for the buyer to rebuild. They said they had the parts you’d need if you chose to do it yourself. The advertiser was Porschaus, which became Carl’s Place, and is now 900 Series Motorsports. Buit it’s still in the same location. Stop by and ask Tony if the ad is still in effect. I know of only 50 or 60 of our current members who would take the engine out of their 911 or Cayenne and rebuild it. Or their Taycan. Right?

The Region held an autocross at the Las Vegas Speedrome (predecessor to the current Speedway). The times of some of the participants are interesting: Fastest was a Lotus F/F (whatever that is) at 118.6 seconds. Slowest was an Audi (maybe an early 70s model?) at 155.7 sec. In between was Carl Young in his 911 (anybody remember what year 911 Carl drove in 1975?) as the quickest Porsche at 130.2 seconds. Others included my old friend Joe Stonskas in a 356A at 145.2, and an MGB at 133.1 (compare that MGB to Carl’s 911 time; pretty good huh?)

And in a flashback reminding us of today’s medical care problems, there was a full-page ad in Sandscript in 1975 by Sunrise Hospital offering, believe it or don’t, a “revolving charge card” for your medical expenses. The card itself was clearly labeled “sunrise hospital” (no capital letters; and not Visa or MC or Discover) and allowed the user to spread his payments over a “period of time.” It let the user charge prescriptions at the hospital’s pharmacy. Upon admission to the hospital, no deposit was required if you had the card, and no payments were necessary during hospitalization. The hospital said they could help you “get well” by removing all worry about how your hospital bill would be paid. They wanted you to “rest assured.” Wow!

It looks like a number of our long-ago LVR members had a good sense of humor. There were frequently a couple of chuckles in the old newsletters. They may be a bit dated (remember they are mid-1970s) but I think are still funny.

There was an extensive list of oxymorons. Here are a few:

Temporary tax increase

Airline food

Government organization

Synthetic natural gas

Clearly misunderstood

Computer security

Well, maybe not really dated.

Finally, where are we going? And what’s with this handbasket?