Greeting 968 enthusiasts and PCA 968 Register Members,
As you are aware from recent emails, PCA has appointed me as the new Advocate for the PCA 968 Register. I have served as Co-Advocate for almost 5 years and have thoroughly enjoyed meeting most of you at various 968 Celebrations or on the internet on www.968.net (my name is “redbaron”) and on the newer www.968forums.com. For those of you that have not met me, I am a retired Executive from ATT/Lucent Technologies and Deutsche Telekom North America. I have worked and traveled internationally and especially enjoyed working for a German Telekom company and getting the opportunity to drive on the autobahn. My wife, Elke, is from Germany and I married her 45 years ago while I was stationed in Bremerhaven, Germany with the US Air Force Security Service. I have 2 sons, 1 daughter and 5 grandkids. We live very close to Hershey Park and all the attractions. I have been a PCA member for 15 years, initially owning a 1989 944S2 which was in an accident. Purchased my 1994 Guards Red Coupe new and it currently has a little over 12k miles. My first automotive love is my 968 and the second is my 1957 Chevrolet Bel Air Sport Coupe – Onyx Black with 107k miles. My wife and I are currently helping our Daughter raise her 2 beautiful grandchildren (3 yr old boy, 1 yr old girl), whom we dearly love.
In all of the PCA correspondence concerning this change, Dick Petticrew has been thanked for “his impressive and tireless work as one of the co-founders and driving force behind the 968 Register.” In my acceptance letter to PCA I wrote “I would like to recognize the efforts of Dick Petticrew who, with Dennis Wheary, founded the 968 Register. I was very impressed last year to find out that Dick and his wife had driven from Chandler, AZ to attend the Parade in Hershey. He was also the driving force behind the contest to create a Logo for our Register. In my opinion, his dedication has served the 968 Register well and will prepare us for the future”. I cannot address why the change was made at this time by PCA, but Dick, who was Co Advocate at the time, replaced Dennis Wheary as Advocate at the same time I was appointed, almost 5 years ago. So, PCA appears to use a succession plan.
Well, who is the new Co-Advocate? Jeff Coe has been a member of PCA Connecticut Valley Region since 1994. He, his wife Sheryl, son Greg and daughters Lauren and Julia live in Trumbull, CT (jeffery.coe@snet.net) As you may know, Jeff has served as the Historian for the 968 Register since the beginning and he has a beautiful low miles Amazon Green Cab with 18′ wheels and wood package, that he has earned many awards with, including last year’s Parade. He has attended the majority of the 968 Celebrations over the last 6 yrs and has a positive attitude about everything. Jeff has taken the initiative to compile a list of over 500 Cabriolets in the USA. Jeff is an Information Technology Manager.
Newly created 968 Register Webmaster position – As you know, Ron Salvador had volunteered to update our existing website and PCA has agreed to create the title 968 Register Webmaster for Ron. Ron is a member of the PCA Hudson Champlain Region and he and his family live in Albany, NY. (salvador@nycap.rr.com) Ron and his family are very active in PCA events and he and his son Xavier attended the ’04 Celebration. Ron has a 1992 Black Metallic Coupe and is an Information Technology Consultant.
Please join me in congratulating Jeff and Ron for volunteering to take on these positions!
Jeff, Ron and I will be discussing ways of creating “added value” for 968 Register members. We are well aware of the many 968 websites (we are members of most of them) out there so we do not want to recreate the same content. However, as PCA members, there could be other items of interest to our members and we will be discussing ways to include them. We also want to look at stimulating 968 Celebrations across the entire country and maybe – one day, have that National 968 Celebration in mid USA, that I have dreamed about. If you have any suggestions, please email them to myself, Jeff, or Ron.
Also, if any Register members would like to volunteer to replace Jeff as our Historian, please email me.
In closing, our driving season is drawing to a close in many parts of the USA but let us not lose our enthusiasm for our beautiful 968 Cabriolets and Coupes!
Don Hassenbein
(dhassenbein@comcast.net)