Published in the January 2016 issue of “Die Porsche Kassette”

If you have a classic Porsche, I get it.

If you have a Porsche historic racecar, I get it.

If you have a 959, a Carrera GT or a 918, I get it.

If you’re into Concours d’Elegance, I get it.

But what I cannot get into my head is why would anyone give up driving their Porsche every chance they get?

You cannot imagine how many Porsche owners tell me that they won’t go to a particular PCA event because they don’t want to put miles on their car. Wow!

Porsches are made to be driven!

With very few exceptions, modern Porsches will not be collectibles. They made too many of them, and they were made by robots, so instead of appreciating they will be depreciating in value. Why not enjoy your depreciation?

Porsches that are driven regularly have less issues than those that are not.

They perform better and leak less.

If you’re worried about damage while on the road, remember it’s just a car. If damaged, it can be repaired or replaced.

You can minimize the risks by not driving close behind dump trucks full of sand and rocks and by having a clear bra installed on the front nose and sideview mirrors. This is a clear (5 - 20 MIL) transparent film, the width of the car, that is applied professionally right over the painted surfaces to protect them from chips and scratches. On most car colors it is almost completely invisible. On white colored cars it tends to show a bit of yellowing with time but it can be removed and replaced without any damage to the paint at a later time.

Also remember that garage queens tend to have higher water pump and IMS failure rates than daily or regular drivers. This is because regularly driven cars maintain seals and bearings in much better condition than those that allow those parts to become completely dry.

Because of the way Porsches

are manufactured these days, I can tell you that these are not like the cars of old which would rust when it got cloudy!

Newer Porsches have

galvanized-coated body and body

parts prior to painting, so they are pretty much immune to rust.

I have seen a bunch of northern

cars that get driven regularly on

salted roads and perform very

well. You just need to keep the

salt off the undercarriage parts by washing often during winter.

And when you drive them you get the (s)miles.

This is how many (s)miles I’ve put on my ’98 as of the writing of

this article: 265,531.

My Internet friends say I now have permagrin!

For more information on driving Porsches and more, please visit my website:

www PedrosGarage.com.

Happy Porsche’ing,