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Thread: Outing one of our Members

  1. #21
    Xavier Petit-Jean-Boret Xavier PJB's Avatar
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    Ah mince ! je suis encore tombe amoureux !
    O-G 26 - Early911S 2407

  2. #22
    Early August, 1967

    Tommy liked the new wheels on the S but thought they looked kinda dull…seems like he could never get them to shine like he wanted them to. “Hey Bernie, I’m done cleaning the wheels on this one…what else you want me to do today?” said a little Tommy Gasser. Tom had a cool name, and he was a pretty cool kid. All the shop mechanics liked having him around but perhaps nobody smiled as hard at Tommy as Erhard did.

    One day about a year ago Tommy just walked into the dealership and marched up to Cici and said he wanted to talk to someone about a job. Cici sized him up and thought him a good, clean-cut kinda looking kid, “Well,” said Cici, “If you want a job you’ll have to go ask that man over there,” pointing at Erhard. “Yah want a job huh?...well dat’s fine but what’s you’re name kiddo and what can yah do?” said Erhard after giving the kid one of his patented killer hand shakes. “Tom, Tom Gasser,” came the reply, “And I can do pretty much anything you want me to do.” “Gahsser!” exclaimed Erhard, “Hah…with a name like that you ought be one of my racers…but maybe we should start yah out in the shop with Bernie for now,” said Erhard, squinting down at Tommy. There was a small pause as Erhard sized him up just as Cici had done. “Yah, if you want a job I can use yah aroun here…go on over through dat door, and ask for da shop chief, he’ll tell yah when yah can start”. Tommy spent most of his time cleaning up the shop, but he especially liked it when a new car came in because he got to clean it up instead.

    “Well, Tommy, I think yah can take a break,” said Bernie, “Or yah can come over here and give me a hand with this speedster engine.” Bernd Leckow, or Bernie, as everyone called him, was a small but tough mechanic with an attitude bigger than his size should warrant. He came over in 1964 much like Erhard did…just a few bucks in his pocket and a family member waiting for his arrival, and nothing but the promise of opportunity. Erhard hired him the same afternoon he arrived and he started the same day. Bernie had a knack for tuning carbs, racing cars, and courting women, but not necessarily in that order. “Or…maybe yah can go outside and help get the race car off da truck," said Bernie. “It’s here??!!!” exclaimed Tommy, and he was gone with a shot.

    “It’s blue!...I thought it was gonna be white like Peter Gregg’s car?” was the first thing Tommy said when he saw it. Erhard was supervising the unloading of the car with his usual grin. “Yah, I changed my mind…the more I saw the Agablau on da other cars the more I liked it, so I had them change it…it looks great, don’t ya think?” said Erhard. Tommy agreed with a silent nod. “Hey, what’s that on the seat…and hey!… aren’t those speedster seats?!!” said Tommy, somewhat proud of the fact he was starting to recognize little Porsche details like this. “Yah, dat’s the racing exhaust, and those are the racing seats, they can’t send the car with the exhaust attached so we gotta do it, but it doesn’t matter…we can’t run that exhaust at Waterford anyways. We’ll just stick with the muffler for now,” said Erhard.

    “Listen Tommy, Bernie and me are gonna be racing at Marlboro next week so I want you to go down to the hardware store and get some contact paper and make this look like a proper race car.” Said Erhard. He stuck out his hand with a couple of folded up dollar bills for Tommy to take. Tommy paused before taking the money. “But Erhard…this is your new racecar…and you want me to do the stickers?” said Tommy. “Yah, I know you kin do a good job, sides…we gotta make up some wider wheels with dose Chevy rims and get this thing broken in, now get goin!”

    Tommy went to Mick’s Hardware and bought 3 rolls of white contact paper and then went home and spent the next three days and nights after school using his dad’s drafting table, drawing and cutting out letters and strips. “I’m gonna make it cool,” thought Tommy.

    August 12th, 1967, Marlboro Raceway

    “A nice sunny day, just like Daytona” thought Erhard. He had his trusty speedster in the pits, if you could call the area they were working out of a “pit”. It was more of a picnic area. He heard the 911 come dawdling around the corner and looked over to see Tommy grinning ear to ear and carefully steering her around the kids and other racecars that were haphazardly strewn about. He had told Tommy to take it over to top off the tank even though it really didn’t need it. Tommy carefully pulled in and parked to the right of Erhard’s speedster and gave the throttle a blip before he shut her down.

    “Hey Tommy, yah did a great job on the stickers kiddo,” said Erhard. “You sure did,” said Erhard’s wife Gretchen. “Why don’t you go over there and let me take a picture of you standing by the car,” she said.
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    Last edited by jimhuiz; 12-14-2015 at 11:34 AM.

  3. #23
    I've talked with Bernie several times but I haven't got a chance to meet him yet. I hope to soon. Dave interviewed him for the Excellence article and he has a wonderful recall and an amazing energy when telling his stories.

    Here's a snippet from a race program back in the day. Tell me this guy isn't the real deal...3 years after moving to the U.S. with only an uncle to help support him and he's racing in the Trans Am series and married to Brigitte. C'mon!!!

    lots more info here...http://www.camaros.org/forum/index.php?topic=9375.0
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    Last edited by jimhuiz; 12-08-2015 at 08:53 AM.

  4. #24
    Senior Member vipergruen's Avatar
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    Wow
    Fantastic car, and fantastic presentation!
    Andrea
    Early S registry #1082

  5. #25
    Senior Member Jim Garfield's Avatar
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    Yeah, WOW sums it up pretty well.
    '74 leichtbau
    "Sascha"
    R Grp 246
    S Reg 823

  6. #26
    Marlboro cont’d

    Marlboro qualifying went fairly well for Erhard and Bernie. The car was barely a week old and it managed to qualify 11th on the grid, just ahead of Gregg. Erhard and Bernie had a handshake agreement not to push her too hard. There were lots of races ahead of them and they were both experienced racers, so they knew there was some sorting out to do. They also noticed a car that appeared very similar in the pits…

    “Hey Bernie, did ya get a close look at Bert’s car over there?” asked Erhard. “Yah, I wen over and talkd to Evrett’s crew” replied Bernie. “Dat car is not only Agablau…but it got no undercoating and the motor seems pretty dang gone strong, just like ours. Yeah… dats another one of the lightweights… that Bert, he is damn fast too,” finished Bernie.

    Erhard and Bernie didn’t notice but there was another car in the pits that day that was built to the same specs as Agatha. A feller by the name of Jim Netterstrom was also there, and not surprisingly, he too was circulating at a decent clip. Netterstrom’s car was Polo Red, so that made two blues and a red. Nobody but Porsche at the time really knew how many Trans Am racers were made but it turns out that was the whole shebang. Three 1967 Trans Am racecars, all made to the same spec, all of them at Marlboro, and all of them being used exactly as intended.

    The race went about as expected. Bernie turned out to be the faster of the two so he started and slowly made his way up the pack and gained a few positions. He passed off to Erhard who managed a similar pace and was visibly grinning everytime he flew by the pits. He loved the car. Gretchen was cheering him on and watching him closely…when she suddenly looked confused and then yelled “Watch out Ehr!!!!” The whole team looked with her and watched Erhard rapidly approach and then miss a Mini going the wrong direction. Erhard quickly swerved left and just missed his wrongway competitor. The crew swears they saw him laughing out loud as he screamed by, stuck out his hand, gave a wave, and then somehow downshifted for the upcoming right and perfectly hit the apex, like nothing had happened.

    The race ended with Bernie and Erhard in 8th. A respectable showing. Everett won the race but crossed the checkers on fumes. “Better lucky dan good” thought Erhard. Although it appeared to be an all Porsche affair, there was a mean Alfa out there upsetting the supposed world order. Horst Kwech put his Alfa on pole in a last ditch qualifying effort and was buzzing around the track at a speed that matched the Porsches…but he broke out, in fact, it seemed all of the Alfas did. Porsche seemed to have the right combination of speed and endurance that nobody else had. It was going to be a good season.
    Last edited by jimhuiz; 12-14-2015 at 11:37 AM.

  7. #27
    Cool to see Milt on that driver lineup.

  8. #28
    Some documentation from that event...
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  9. #29
    August 14th, 1967 – Post Marlboro somewhere between Maryland and Detroit

    Erhard squinted as the oncoming traffic lights cycled by every 30 seconds or so. He was westbound on Hwy 76 and it was a half moon night. He looked over at Gretchen and smiled warmly, she was leaned up against the window sleeping, with a soft snore coming out every once in awhile. She was the center of his life, and always supported everything he wanted to do. As he looked at her he thought about that slight hesitancy back at Erhard Motors when he excitedly told her that he and Bernie were going to finish out the Trans Am series in the new car… “It’s gonna be great!” he exclaimed. Gretchen came along to Marlboro and was her usual bright self, but Erhard knew she didn’t want him gone every other week driving all over the country. They had a beautiful daughter at home; they had a successful but still growing dealership… “It’s just too much” her face said even when her smiling mouth said “Okay Erh, let’s go do it”. “Ahh, da heck with it!” Erhard thought. “Gretch is right as usual, I been werkin night an day and racing almost every weekend for what, 4 years now?” Bernie had asked Erhard about buying the car the day after it arrived at the shop…and after Marlboro he almost begged Erhard to let him have it. “Yah…Bernie’s a good guy and a hell of shop chief…I gaht other fish to fry, he can have the car,” thought Erhard. “What’s that Erh?” Gretchen said from her slumber. “Aww nothing sweetie, don’t worry about it…go back to sleep. We’ll be home in a few hours,” said Erhard, this time knowingly aloud. Gretchen leaned back against the window and fell softly back asleep, and she had a little smile on her face as she dreamed.

    Of course, Bernie was ecstatic. For once, Erhard lost the handshake battle as Bernie shook him so hard Erhard stumbled forward onto him and they ended up in a bit of an awkward hug. Cici sent the paperwork over to Germany that next week and a Mr. Bernd Leckow of Lakeshore drive in St. Claire, Michigan had his name added to the internal notecard for 308162.
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  10. #30
    Quick editorial -- Erhard parts ways with Agatha but he's not completely done with her and will be back "relatively soon". It's now Bernd's time and it turns out he's as colorful as Erhard, and maybe a bit faster...

    Thanks for all the kind words. This has been a fun way to share the story surrounding this car. Be back in a day or two.

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