Maybelline Kid had Fun, Fun, Fun till Daddy takes the 911 Porsche away.

 

My Brother,  William Preston Williams lll, last Hurrah with the Porsche 911E, at  Casa Guillermo, in 1976.  Like father, like son!

Preston Williams in the middle, with his best friends, on his 16th Birthday.

Born to be CAR GUYS: Concluded:.
Story by Preston Williams.

Tom was pretty much my best friend, and I trusted his good sense, (well as much as a teenager could judge or have.)  He loved cars and was a good, safe driver, so when he said, "hey Press, I'd love to drive that little Porsche, and take it to the limit, but this time during the day, no hair pin turns," I thought, why not.

It was a Saturday and again Dad was out of town, so I agreed, only if I could drive his, quick little 289.  I knew it would never beat the 911E, but it was a fun car, so after he agreed we went back to the Tram road - but this time all the way to the base station, because he wanted to drive the windy road all the way down to Palm Canyon.

The Porsche was so fast, you could zip through the turns and then fly down the straight ways, and because it had great breaking ability, and the quick speedomatic transmission - shifting was awesome, just a fun car.


Tom drove to the base station (quickly!!) and than headed back down, and again since it was summer in the desert, the Tram was pretty much dead.  

Tom began the trip down the mountain, taking the turns at about 60, shifting through the turns and hitting about 75 through the straight ways, than, down shifting through the turns.  The car handled great!  However, about half way down the mountain, the road turns into big long S turn, and that's where he got up to 3rd gear, cursing about 80 through the long S turns.  

The last three miles straighten out, so he tapped the brake and down shifted into 2nd, than punched it!   unfortunately, there was a little dirt on the road, and  caught a little fishtail.  Tom quickly shifted into 3rd and luckily, it straightened out and we were gone!

120, 130 +, just coming out of that fishtail was  exhilarating, and the speed just laid you back in the seat as he hit 4th at 140, 150 +.  At 5th gear the guage was pegged and just flying, until the last mile, when the motor stalled, but we still had momentum, so kept going.

Tom pumped the brakes and we hit the curve onto Palm Canyon about 70 miles an hour, and she just hugged the turn, as we cruised into the North end gas station about a 1⁄4 mile down the road.

 I said to Tom,  "Dud what’s up? Every time you drive this car it dies?"


This time we had gas and the battery was charged, but we had two problems, the Porsche wouldn't start, and it was stuck in gear.

“What the F—k are we going to do?" I said,  "even if we get it home, my Dad will know that it's broken."


So not able to get it home , I had no choice but to call my Dads friend Carl, who owns a gas station or two, and would know what to do, Talking about biting the bullet!!


"Hello, Carl?, uh, this is Preston, you know Bill's son."

"Ya, ya , sure," he said, " Hey Press what’s up?"

"Carl, I have a problem," I said,  "and Dad's out of town, and I could use some help?"

"Okay, what type of help," he said,

"uh, car help,"  I said,

"Did you run out of gas?"

"Well no,"  I said,  "I, um, took the Porsche out and it won’t start?

"I’m sorry Press," he said in dismay,  "you what?  you took your Dad's car for a ride,"  he laughed,  "okay bud, where are you?  I'll come down and see what I can do.

"OK thank you Carl," I said, finally exhaling.


So I gave him the directions, and hung up.


Tom freaks out saying.  "Man you can not, tell your old man I was driving!!! - Not only will he be pissed at me, he'll call my Dad - and he'll kick my ass, and take my car for a month or more.   This is so not cool!

"Ya think?"  I said,"  I'm gonna get my ass kicked if
my Dad knows you were driving.   I may as well kiss my ass goodbye, well, it was fun while it lasted."


We looked over the car to see if we could figure it out? Tom says it could be vapor locked, being so hot outside, and maybe that locks up the transmission somehow,

"Well that would be cool," I said, "if it all fixes itself."


"Listen Tom," I said,  "I know Carl’s a cool guy, maybe he won't tell my Dad about this."

"When does your Dad get home," Tom said.

"Who knows, he said Monday?

"That's good," Tom said,  "then we have two days, to figure this out."

"yeah, well, these days, he always tells me later, and comes home sooner, hoping to catch me in the act?"  I said.

"Great!!  Were F**k*d."


About that time, a big white pickup truck pulls up. It's Carl,  "Hey boys, out for a joy ride?,"

"Yeah, you know just cruising." I said, laying low.

 "This car?"  Carl says,  "Sure, Cruising," he laughs, as he inspects the car.  "Press, all I can do is have it flatbeded back to the house, and Press you know; I will have to tell your Dad, you boy's will have to face the music for this one!"

"Yes I know.


So Carl had the car brought back to the house, and he said, "Press I would recommend that you tell your Dad first, okay kid."

"Yup, thanks Carl."

"Alright Press. I will wait a week."

I had a lump in my throat the size of a grapefruit, when telling my Father what happened. He was so pissed, especially when the repair would cost $2,500.00, he took my car away for a month, and from that point forward when he went out of town, he'd either lock me out of the house and make me stay with friend, or he'd have the neighbors check in on me all of the time.   He also took the car keys with him, when he'd go - and that summer, he went to Europe for a month, and locked me out of the house.

However, the good news was, Dad, made arrangements for me to stay at my Girlfriend's house, but for a teenager that was more of a blessing then punishment!

I guess the good old times were over and it was time for me to grow up. At least for today.


The Last Hurrah!!
 

The 1969 Porsche 911E, was the car I loved the most, as boy's love fast cars, and this one was a rocket!!

 

I remember the day that big car hauler pulled through those big electric gates at Casa Guillermo.  It was 1976 and I was all of 16 and what do you know?  I had a license!!

The driver of the truck got out and came around to the end of the trailer to release the back door and attach the tracks that would allow the machine to roll down.  One of the two men hopped into the trailer and got into that sweet ride and started it up.  I never heard such an awesome sound.  It had a throaty roar, as he backed the car up and his partner guided him down the ramp. 

My Dad put his arm around me,  as he often did, and squeezed my bicep, "hey muskels."  (Dad always had such a fun way with words,)  "What do you think of this one!  This was my cousin Bill Stroh's car, I bought it from his wife, when he passed away.  You know he used to race cars, on the professional circuit.  The motor in this car is no ordinary motor." 

 I said, "really, why is that?"  and then he paused a moment as the car backed out, and the bright sunlight hit that burnt orange paint, with the cool racing stripe across the bottom, and the word PORSCHE in it and on the back hood, all in gold lettering and beneath it -Sportomatic, 911E.  

Gleaming in the sunshine it looked like a beautiful jewel, and Dad said, "isn't she beautiful!!"  

I said so what's up with the motor Pop?  Wanting to know every detail. 

"Bill had it specially built, by his Master Mechanics, all of the pistons and rings were forged by hand out of aluminum, as well as many other parts to be extra light weight, everything about this motor was designed for ultimate performance, this motor won him many races, when it was in his race car, so when Bill retired he had this motor put into his Wife's Porsche 911E, so you see this is no ordinary car" 

"Well Dad how is that possible? I mean a race engine?, that doesn't seem legal."

"Well Press,  it had to be tuned down a bit, to make it safe for the road, and as well the car has a specialized breaking system to support the high speeds, and they modified the suspension as well all to make it fast and safe, and best of all it looks original." 

"I said oh, you mean it doesn’t' have all of the fancy spoilers and air dams to make it look fast!!"

"Yep that's it, this is a serious machine!!." 

(You see my father liked style - not so much flash, he believed that a car should maintain the original look, the classic lines, as it was designed.)  With that my palms were itching, and you bet I could not wait to show this to my friends.

So once the moving men left and the car was placed in the car port, next to all of the other beautiful cars, we looked it over, and were so impressed with how clean it was.  It looked like new, Burnt Orange, with all black leather interior.  I knew this was going to be mine some day,

Dad said, "what do you say we take her for a spin."

"Are you kidding?  You don’t' have to ask me twice," I said, and we hopped in.  Dad in the driver’s seat of course.  He turned the ignition on, and revved that throaty little beast!!  

The quick response was quite thrilling, the sportomatic transmission, was so unique, in that it had no clutch. You just let it idle, put it in 1st gear and go, and release the gas between gears, and I mean to tell you we went!! The response was amazing.   Dad just cruised at first, through the neighborhood, but he could not help himself wiping through the winding roads.   He said "she handles like a dream."   But I wanted one thing - to go fast !!!

"Hey Dad, let’s take her on to the Tram Way road."  This is a 10 mile road, with long stretches of straight ways, mixed with mountain terrain, it takes you to the base station of the Palm Springs Aerial Tram Way.  This was my favorite place to joy ride the cars and being the middle of summer in the desert, there would be no one around. 

So we made our way there, about a ten minute drive from the Casa.  Upon turning on to the tram road, off of Palm Canyon, Dad let it rip.  1st gear we hit 50 miles an hour, in what seemedlike 1.5 sec, it was like a rocket, I am telling you I have never felt G-Force ever, but that day I believe I understood the meaning, as I could barley, if at all, lean forward off of the seat, and then Dad hit second gear, and it pressed me back further into the seat and with in another second or two we were flying past 95, 3rd gear was over 120 in a second, and he shut her down, and we were blown away as this was a five speed transmission and the speedometer went from 0 to 160 and I am sure it would do all of that and more, but 120 was cool for now.

Dad did not let me drive that car for quite sometime, as he had already found out about some of my escapades, parties, and joy rides, and to think of that day, even amazes me that he was doing anything with me, because, during that period of my life, I seemed to be a loose cannon, but in any event that was a great day for us.