Weird and Wonderful Comments on my Porsche!

by Debi Wolf

I can’t be the only one with a list of things said to me thanks to my car-a 2010 911 Carrera convertible in Carrera white with a dark brown top and a tan interior-and one-of-a-kind white calipers thanks to my amazing brother Brad Gibson! I’ve had the car since May of 2014 and the list keeps growing.  Brad and my parents (Der Wirbelsturm proof-readers Karen and Jim Gibson) agreed it might be a good idea to share the comments I’ve had and find out what everyone else hears thanks to their car!
First-the most common comment, heard almost daily, is “That is one beautiful car.”  I’m sure everyone gets that one.  My car is my daily driver so I hear it A LOT!  Also, it’s true.

The very first truly unusual incident happened shortly after I bought the car (and Brad had already painted the calipers) when I went to University Ford in Chapel Hill to pick up a replacement bumper for my son’s F150.  Yes, I took my car to get it.  It was warm-the top was down! While I was inside the service shop, checking out, a small crowd of Ford mechanics was growing around my car.  I think they heard I planned to stick the bumper (in a box) in the car and wanted to see it in person.  They admired the car greatly when I came out, expressed a great deal of surprise that I thought I’d get that bumper box in there and then ended up helping.  Of course, it fit.  I only had to travel about 4 miles anyway.  All the guys asked lots of questions about the car, complimented me on my willingness to stick a truck bumper in it and then stood around to hear me start it up, which brought more admiration.  Just as I started to drive off, with a wave, one of the guys noticed the calipers and called out “Look!! Her calipers match her car-they’re white!”  Spontaneous applause broke out and followed me out of the parking lot.  Thanks Brad!

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​People talk to me all the time at stoplights when I have the top down.  They always compliment the car.  Admittedly they are all guys.  Every now and then I get a compliment too-but it’s more of an afterthought.  They really just like the car.

Once, in the Food Lion parking lot, I had the “hood” up to load up my groceries.  A little old lady came by and stopped in amazement.  She asked me how I planned to drive anywhere when I had groceries instead of an engine under the hood.  I told her the engine was in the back.  She expressed disbelief.  I told her “I promise you there is an engine in the back.  Just stay right here and I’ll start it for you so you know”, which I then did.  She was still rooted to the spot, watching, as I drove off.

One day I came out of my bank and headed towards my car in the parking lot.  A thirty-something guy in a suit left just before me and was walking by my car.  He slowed down so he could look at it-and kept looking at it over his shoulder.  Then he tripped over the curb.  By then I’d caught up to him and reached the car.  He smiled sheepishly and said “That car is just beautiful-guess I couldn’t stop looking at it.”  I told him I knew the feeling!

Once, when the top was down, someone asked me “Do you get to put the top down much?”  The real question for me is “Do you put the top UP much?”

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​Another favorite was expressed the best by someone who said “There is no better license plate for that car.”  My plate says “LOVE SUN”.
An often-asked question, usually at gas stations, is “How fast have you gone/can you go in that car?” The most recent form of this question was “Hey, how many times have you made it up to 100 in that car? Betcha do it all the time.”  Incidentally, the answer is never and no but I’ve gotten close while driving on I-95 to Key West.

Speaking of driving it to Key West, I was on my way back in it, around Jacksonville, when a Corvette pulled up next to me in the left lane.  People (guys) do try to get me to race (usually they’re in a Hyundai or a Kia-go figure) but this driver just revved up his engine as he went by me-too much traffic and it was after dark so I like to think he was just acknowledging the awesome-ness of my car. 

Once I stopped at a rest area on I-95 on my way to Miami with a friend. I locked the car while we went into the restrooms.  When I returned, one of a group of Harley riders also at the rest area was waiting for me on the sidewalk.  He said he and his friends had been arguing over whether or not the car had an alarm that went off when the top was down.  I said it did and he replied “I knew it!!  No way would you leave the top down on a nice car like that without an alarm!”

No one ever wants to put anything in my car. “You want to put THIS (usually a piece of furniture) in THAT car?” I had to buy gallons and gallons of paint for a rental house once and went to Lowes, bought it all and then had someone push the cart out and meet me at the curb.  He said “You’re going to put all this paint in THAT car?  You don’t want to do that!”  I promised him it’d be fine.  We compromised when he got a hammer to be sure all the lids were on tight.

Just last week I had my husband’s 2016 Cayenne with me at our beach house.  We’re updating the 20-year-old bathrooms and initially the car was blocked in the garage by the contractor trucks.  I got the guys to move their trucks so I could get out to run some errands. When I came back yet another guy had joined the crew with a big truck and trailer-and he hurried to move it out of my way.  The first guys there told him “She can’t leave her car outside-it’s a PORSCHE!”
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Ok, GO-it’s your turn!

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