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Iconic Porsche 911 models driving into the sky

18 November, 2014

 

Three Porsche 911 vehicles are planned to tower above traffic with Porsche AG looking into erecting a new landmark at its Stuttgart headquarters in Germany.

The sculpture, which can be described as a work of art in its own right, will be erected on the roundabout in the centre of the traffic-light-controlled intersection on Porscheplatz. The aim is to achieve a visual link with the Porsche Museum by creating an interesting and living scenic impression.

The sculpture is to stand around 24m high, measuring about 10m around its base. It consists of three steles, each of which has a Porsche 911 perched on its top. The cars stem from various model years to document the history of the iconic car, which has rolled off the Stuttgart production lines for the past 50 years. The roundabout’s existing white gravel surface is to be removed, and grassed over.

The position of the work of art does not contravene any existing traffic regulations or disturb the existing infrastructure, and work is to be performed during the 2015 summer holidays. Porsche is currently working with the City of Stuttgart to provide the general preconditions relating to planning law, with a view to having the sculpture inaugurated in an official ceremony in autumn next year.

ROTARY CHIC

Kerry Bowman readily describes himself as a dyed-in-the-wool Citroën fan and a keen Citroën Car Club member. His Auckland home holds some of the chic French cars and many parts. He has also owned a number of examples of the marque as daily drivers, but he now drives a Birotor GS. They are rare, even in France, and this is a car which was not supposed to see the light of day outside France’s borders, yet somehow this one escaped the buyback to be one of the few survivors out in the world.
It’s a special car Kerry first saw while overseas in the ’70s, indulging an interest sparked early on by his father’s keenness for Citroëns back home in Tauranga. He was keen to see one ‘in the flesh’.
“I got interested in this Birotor when I bought a GS in Paris in 1972. I got in contact with Citroën Cars in Slough, and they got me an invitation to the Earls Court Motor Show where they had the first Birotor prototype on display. I said to a guy on the stand, ‘I’d like one of these,’ and he said I wouldn’t be allowed to get one. Citroën were building them for their own market to test them, and they were only left-hand drive.”

Tradie’s Choice

Clint Wheeler purchased this 1962 Holden FJ Panelvan as an unfinished project, or as he says “a complete basket case”. Collected as nothing more than a bare shell, the rotisserie-mounted and primed shell travelled the length of the country from the Rangiora garage where it had sat dormant for six years to Clint’s Ruakaka workshop. “Mike, the previous owner, was awesome. He stacked the van and parts nicely. I was pretty excited to get the van up north. We cut the locks and got her out to enjoy the northland sun,” says Clint. “The panelvan also came with boxes of assorted parts, some good, some not so good, but they all helped.”