Thinking of joining PCA. Worthwhile?

[RobertKing]

As the title says, I'm considering joining the Porsche Club of America. Found out
we do have a local chapter though all of the events tend to take place an hour
drive or more away, I'm wondering if it's worth joining as I likely won't be able
to attend most events.

[thstone]

Yes.

Why?

1. The PCA members magazine, Panorama, is almost as good as the well respected Porsche magazine Excellence.
2. You'll get weekly emails about Porsche events all over Central and NorCal.
3. You might meet a couple of others who are in your local area and you can form a bit of a local sub-group and be in contact with them more often since they are closeby.
4. If you ever wanted to do a track day, autocross, concours, rally, or any one of the many other activities, the PCA is a great way to get started.
5. The PCA people you meet will almost always be very nice.
6. An hour drive in a great sports car to get to a great event is an opportunity.
7. If you ever move, you'll have an easy way to meet new Porsche people in your new location.
8. Give it a fair try and put some effort into it and you might be surprised at what you get out of it.

Best of luck!

[RobertKing]

Originally Posted by thstone

Yes.

Why?

1. The PCA members magazine, Panorama, is almost as good as the well respected Porsche magazine Excellence.
2. You'll get weekly emails about Porsche events all over Central and NorCal.
3. You might meet a couple of others who are in your local area and you can form a bit of a local sub-group and be in contact with them more often since they are closeby.
4. If you ever wanted to do a track day, autocross, concours, rally, or any one of the many other activities, the PCA is a great way to get started.
5. The PCA people you meet will almost always be very nice.
6. An hour drive in a great sports car to get to a great event is an opportunity.
7. If you ever move, you'll have an easy way to meet new Porsche people in your new location.
8. Give it a fair try and put some effort into it and you might be surprised at what you get out of it.

Best of luck!

Not really interested in track days (did lots of that as a teen). But the rest are reason enough. Thanks!
Just joined. We'll see how it goes Thanks

[rexcramer]

Yes, but I'm biased. Just got home from a PCA BoD meeting. My wife and I have made new friends with some really nice people. Gone on some nice group trips/drives. What chapter are you considering?

From a purely financial view, you get a monthly subscription to PCA's Panorama magazine. Dealers will give you a 10% discount on parts and service. Most indy shops will also honor the discounts. (In my case, my membership has paid for itself via parts savings.) You can tap into a network of people who really know these cars and where to take your car for help.

Here is the link to their webpage that goes into more details. https://www.pca.org/membership-benefits

[RobertKing]

Originally Posted by rexcramer

Yes, but I'm biased. Just got home from a PCA BoD meeting. My wife and I have made new friends with some really nice people. Gone on some nice group trips/drives. What chapter are you considering?

From a purely financial view, you get a monthly subscription to PCA's Panorama magazine. Dealers will give you a 10% discount on parts and service. Most indy shops will also honor the discounts. (In my case, my membership has paid for itself via parts savings.) You can tap into a network of people who really know these cars and where to take your car for help.

Here is the link to their webpage that goes into more details. https://www.pca.org/membership-benefits

Zone 7, in California. Sequoia region I believe they call it. My one concern is, my car is a Boxster... I've met a lot of snobs in the Porsche world.

[RobertKing]

Just joined PCA but, I am very much averse to placing decals anywhere on my
vehicle. To me, it's a sacrilege to do so. Always has been. Honestly, I don't like
stickers/decals. I find them to be cheap looking. Don't want to hurt the paint,
don't want to block the view and certainly could never place it on the plastic
rear window so, what do You do? I don't honestly care if anyone knows I'm a
PCA member, not knocking them just, don't care about false status.

[Geof3]

Do some track events... it will teach you that car, and your car will be the better for it. There is a distinct difference between a guy who “owns” a Porsche and a guy who “is” a Porsche. There will be a few in the club, but generally that’s not the case. My chapter is all over the place with 914s all way up to gt3’s. It’s all good!

[Topless]

+1 on what Tom said.

Like any organization or relationship anywhere, you will likely get out of PCA what you put into it. For me that means lifelong friendships and a large network of people who are far more talented and connected than I am. If you sign up thinking this volunteer organization is there to serve you, it will probably be disappointing. Get actively involved and have some shared experiences with other enthusiasts.

Snobs? Sure, every organization everywhere has em. Car clubs, yacht clubs, churches, business associations, musicians, homeowners associations etc. Yep the world is ripe with them. They are as thick as rats everywhere. Who cares? We have three ways to deal with car snobs: We can hide from them, simply ignore them, or drive around them on the race track. Choose the method that works best for you.

We were sitting around the campfire one night at a PCA event and I casually noticed there were 3 MDs, 1 hospital CEO, 2 engineers, 1 Chemist PhD, 1 Nuclear physicist, 1 Planetary astrophysicist, 2 small business owners, and 2 Porsche master mechanics. We all called each other friends, chased each other around the track, trash-talked each other in the pits, and helped each other change wheels, bleed brakes, diagnose issues, exchange track data, and looked out for each other when someone might have had too much to drink. That one event was worth a year PCA membership to me. There are a lot of those events.

You get out of it what you put into it.

[That986]

Sounds like PCA is better than the London chapter of PCGB. All i've found there is a load of elitist snobs who are very cliquey.

[Quadcammer]

ehh, depends strongly on the region and how into cars you are.

I disagree with Tom, Panorama is a terrible magazine and after about 5 minutes of looking at the pics, it goes in the trash.

Some regions are very active and do good events. Others are more sit and chat oriented, which can get old. Some regions the track events are like the wild west while others are like nazi germany. Its very region dependent.

Further, if you like the occasional chat about cars, I think its more interesting to go to the local cars and coffee where you get a variety of cars, not just porsches.

I became a member solely for the discount on track days, I have no use for the other stuff.

[steved0x]

Originally Posted by RobertKing

Just joined PCA but, I am very much averse to placing decals anywhere on my
vehicle. To me, it's a sacrilege to do so. Always has been. Honestly, I don't like
stickers/decals. I find them to be cheap looking. Don't want to hurt the paint,
don't want to block the view and certainly could never place it on the plastic
rear window so, what do You do? I don't honestly care if anyone knows I'm a
PCA member, not knocking them just, don't care about false status.

The decal you get from PCA is a static cling decal that goes on the interior of the windshield, I've got mine down low on the passenger side, it doesn't block the view and is easy to move around and reposition if needed. In fact this decal was on my previous windshield that was cracked by a rock and I moved it to the new windshield. That one along with the Boxster register decal (to the left) and the 60th anniversary decal were reused, the rest are exterior vinyl and I had to get new ones dang it.

Way back when it was the only decal I had, it was in the very corner of the passenger side. It looks good there, try it



It kind of blends in with the other decals though on mine

And +1 to all the stuff thstone said above about joining PCA, I too am about 45 minutes to an hour away - they do have socials and dinners around every month or so, and they had a car show at a nearby airport, and while I have only been to a few, that combined with the folks I see every few months at the track events, I have made a lot of new friends And the Panorama magazine is pretty good too.

And welcome to here, even with the various FB groups (and I really like the Boxster Outlaw one) - this 986forum is in my opinion the premier 986 Boxster hangout and technical resource.

[steved0x]

Originally Posted by Quadcammer

ehh, depends strongly on the region and how into cars you are.

I got lucky and my home region (Florida Crown) is a good fit for me. The few times I have gone to the dinners or social events I feel like youngster but everybody was always really friendly.

Originally Posted by Quadcammer

Some regions are very active and do good events. Others are more sit and chat oriented, which can get old. Some regions the track events are like the wild west while others are like nazi germany. Its very region dependent.

I am also lucky in that we have several good regions down here that do track events - Florida Crown, Florida Citrus Region, Coastal Empire, Suncoast. All are well run, while some do permit more (albeit) mild shenanigans than others.

When Coastal puts on a DE they have a BBQ at the hotel saturday nights with live music put on by some of their members, one of which has some connection to the Allman brothers band. I don't know exactly what the connection is, but she rocks on the electric guitar.

The others usually have pizza at the track or back at the hotel Friday nights.

Originally Posted by Quadcammer

I became a member solely for the discount on track days, I have no use for the other stuff.

I had forgotten about the discount but that is a nice perk as well

[Bald Eagle]

I've been considering joining even though I'm close to two hours away from any activities. Been thinking about it for 4 years and the above posts convinced me to become a member though I doubt I'll be able to get to many events. The check is digitally in the mail.
Larry
The Bald Eagle

[Anker]

The NER region is extremely friendly and runs some terrific events. Not targeted at Bald Eagle, but readers in Massachusetts and Rhode Island.

[paulofto]

PCA membership is 46 bucks a year. The magazine alone is worth that even if Quadcammer doesn't like it . I look forward to Panorama each month as well as Excellence.

[husker boxster]

Our club just celebrated its 50th anniversary. We had a dinner with Hurley Haywood as our keynote speaker.

"It's not just the cars, it's the people".

[husker boxster]

[morgal48]

PCA is my one exception to the Grouch Marx rule: I will never join a club that would have a person like me as a member. My 18 yo 986S gets (almost) as many compliments as the 1973 911 RS that regularly shows up at our GTGs - for different reasons, but there is little snobbery here. Nice cars. Nice folks.

[Seadweller]

I've been a member for a long time, but as was called out in our latest Panorama, the Suncoast chapter seems to be an aging group. Unfortunately, I haven't attended many of the functions because it's like going to a geriatric convention. When I'm the youngest guy at the event, well, that says something!

I will say however that the autocross and track days at Sebring are definitely awesome!

[Deserion]

Originally Posted by husker boxster

Our club just celebrated its 50th anniversary. We had a dinner with Hurley Haywood as our keynote speaker.

"It's not just the cars, it's the people".

Have been to more than a few dinners with Hurley when he was the VP of the former Brumos Porsche.

I disagree with Quad, Panorama is an excellent magazine for the membership cost alone plus it's digital as well. With my PCA membership I get discounted insurance from Leland-West (garaged and not driven that much), plus reductions on parts if I need to hit the dealer (honestly sometimes they're cheaper than going online).

I have my PCA decal on the bottom driver's side. Hell, I even put one on my Subaru in the same spot. It's not a lie.