The Weekend Revs Up
 1
- The Death Valley Convoy |
 Table
of Contents |
 3
- Weddings and Rainbows |
| For many of us, the weekend started with The Boxsters Have Laundered - a pit stop at the home of Keith Vyenielo, where we were greeted by hose, towels and all the necessaries. Keith had kindly covered his gleaming white Boxster, so as not to totally embarrass those of us just in from the desert. But custom painted white wheels peeped out from under the cover. |  |
We inched our way down the Las Vegas Strip. Five minutes to go one block in the traffic. But no matter - the glitz and glitter gave us plenty to look at until we could finally turn into our headquarters hotel, the Imperial Palace (l). And we would soon discover the time-saving back entrance. |
 |
Round and round up the ramp
to Floor 4, past the "Reserved for Porsches" sign, where an amazing sight
greeted us - two rows of Boxsters, stretching as far as we could see (l).
A long check-in line, a quick shower, and we were off to dinner at nearby Freddie G's (r). More Boxsters. Getting used to it. Scottie Scott greeted us in the parking lot, handed us free passes to the Imperial Palace car collection, and ushered us inside. |
 |
| The place was filled with people (below) - nearly all of them wearing TBHL II name tags. And all the effort of keeping the little magnetic clips away from our credit cards suddenly seemed worthwhile, as we whipped out our own tags, applied them and adjusted them perfectly. |  |
At almost every table, we saw names we knew well; unfamiliar faces of familiar people. There were long handshakes, long gazes into each others' eyes as we finally met in person. It had been words, on-line, that had brought us all together here, but for a moment no words were possible - or needed. |
 |
Berkeley Johnston - "Wow!"
Dane Boren - "Wow!" (above) And finally - Chuck Hammersmith - "WOW!"
I was too paralyzed even to take a picture.
Some came by plane. Those who couldn't bring their Boxsters, brought little ones - or pieces. (r) That's Tony Jokester from NY, second from left. |
 |
| Co-TBHL organizer Mark Lysinger
has probably been everyplace in the United States that a Boxster can be
driven. We found him and Cindy (r) in a booth, studying menus.
And strolling behind the radio-controlled Boxster - it could only be - Matt the Car Nut! (below) |
 |
The place was jammed, and
the service was slower than an octogenarian in a Dodge Dart.
But that just meant more time for meeting, chatting, and putting faces
to names.
When the food finally did come, the portions were huge and tasty. We knew Saturday's dinner would be "all you can eat" - but this was more than you could eat. |
 |
Finally, road fatigue and
the size of the portions caught up to us. After just a few more minutes
chatting outside, it was back to the Imperial Palace.
But we still had enough energy left to take the garage elevator one floor up to the famous Imperial Palace car collection (r). |
 |
| We strolled past limousines owned by presidents, dictators, and Liberace. There were old fire trucks, delivery trucks, and an entire room of Duesenbergs. |  |
But of course, the showpiece of the entire collection was the 1955 (I think) Porsche 356 Speedster (l). Sure looks like a Boxster to me. Print, is that Guards Red? |
 |
Saturday morning began with the technical session at Gaudin Porsche. RJ and Todd were busily ripping Boxsters apart for our 8:30 am entertainment (l), while some of us finally got to see that engine whose tune we'd all been listening to (r). |  |
 |
By golly, we marvelled - there
really IS one in there. (l)
RJ took us on a detailed mechanic's-eye tour of the Boxster. (r) We learned about "lifetime" parts. (Those are the ones that they are surprised if they wear out.) |
 |
 |
Out in the parking lot, many
of us were still wandering around, checking out everyone's options, and
putting faces to names. We met Chris Huck (l), from Pioneer Porsche.
He and Jennifer drove up from San Diego with the Southern California convoy
in a 996.
Terry Wells, representing Porsche Cars of North America, welcomed us to Gaudin and the tech session (r). In response to questions, he said that Pete's Boxster Board was read at the highest levels of PCNA, and that customer feedback from the Board was having an impact. |
 |
 |
TBHL co-organizer Betty Choate (l) discovered that an Ocean Jade shifter knob had somehow mysteriously appeared in her beloved SPUNKY1. The perpetrator was soon identified as Chris (Chris from Germany) Kramer, and Betty thanked him graciously (r). |  |
 |
Meanwhile, the prize drawings
were getting underway. (And you thought we were all there in quest
of knowledge.) Matt the Car Nut did the drawing (l), since he had
the most (or maybe the only) honest face in the crowd.
Gregg Harris (r, rear) won the burlwood dash kit, which was installed on the spot by Howard Groveman of Shiller USA Autosport. It looked great in his Arena/Beige Boxster, but Gregg was soon moaning about how much he would have to spend to bring the rest of the interior up to his new standards. |
 |
| Other coveted prizes included a Boomerang from Tech-EFX, and Litronic headlights from CFG, who was keeping busy at the other end of the parking lot (r). Between his efforts and Gaudin's generosity with dozens of 50th Anniversary calendars and other door prizes, Chris was probably the only BoxsterOwner to leave empty-handed. |  |
The skies were starting to sprinkle once again, but spirits were high as we piled into Boxsters and took off for Lake Mead and the next event. |
|
|
||
| 1
- The Death Valley Convoy |
Table
of Contents |
3
- Weddings and Rainbows |
* - Jay Morrison advises: "I know that the Guards Red comment was intentended as a joke, but I have to comment about the color description on the supposed '53 Speedster. FWIW that color is almost certainly Signal Red, a color introduced for the Speedster in 1955. The "almost" is because there was also a Fire Red, very rare, produced primarily with black interior and top."
Text and photos © 1999 Walt Bilofsky – All Rights Reserved. Page last modified May 1, 1999.
Visit Walt's other Boxster pages.