I Bought a Pair of 2007 Porsches for a Bargain Price!

August 26, 2021

#437

Gentle reader, 

Once the kids finally stopped moving back in, along around 2006 or so, I began buying fun cars. The first was a 2002 Subaru WRX wagon in WRC blue with a 227 horsepower turbocharged flat-four cylinder engine and a five speed manual transmission driving all four wheels.

Next, I began a hunt for a Porsche. What I truly wanted was a 1976 912E. A one-year-only model made exclusively for the US market. The 912E used the last model year (1975) Porsche 914 flat-four fuel injected VW engine in a 911 body. They only made 2050 of them. The next year, the new "entry level" Porsche came out, the 924. The E stood for eingespritzt, German for injected.

The cries of Porsche Purists were loud and wide. "A front-engine water cooled Porsche! Sacrilege! And it doesn't even have a Porsche engine!"

Since most Porsches in the U.S. are located in California, 912s included, they were out, that and the prices. So, onto eBay I went. 

I came across a black 1987 model, one I had never heard of: 924S. A two-year only model which has a 924 body and interior, but with the proper Porsche 944 engine and driveline. The starting price was $1999. So, I bid and won, buying it for $2225. I could not believe I'd won the auction.

When the Boxster came out as the new entry level Porsche, there was much rejoicing. A proper air-cooled Porsche with a 911 engine but in the middle, not the rear of the car, and a roadster to boot! Image courtesy of  Motor Trend magazine.

But there is another company called Porsche. And it is the same Porsche family that created the design company. It is called PORSCHE DESIGN. Here is a link to their website:

Porsche Design® Official Site | Porsche Design

There have been car company tie-ins to all kinds of clothing and shoes for many years now. But, PORSCHE DESIGN has NO ties to the Porsche Car Company. As I said it is the same family, but they do not design nor make automobiles. The only thing that is the same is the font used for PORSCHE.

And these are a pair of 2007 adidas designed by PORSCHE DESIGN, and made and sold by adidas and PORSCHE DESIGN. I just noticed recently that adidas never capitalizes the first letter of their name.

These are driving shoes, I own a number of them, and in the past had another pair of PORSCHE DESIGN driving shoes which I will show you below.

What attracted me to this particular pair was A, the price, and 2, the design with rows of "PORSCHE DESIGN adidas" all over the body of the shoes. And yes, I know I mixed letters and numbers there. It is for comic relief.

One would not and should not try running in these shoes. They are designed to look cool, fit well and make operating the three pedals which proper cars have more fun.

What little traction the grey portions shown above PORSCHE DESIGN had is somewhat worn away.

Like a previous pair of GOODYEAR adidas driving shoes I used to have, the stripes which usually stand out on adidas in a contrasting color, are the same shade as the body, albeit a bit shinier.

What little wear the shoes have is oddly here on the backs of the body. Note how the shoes heels are shaped like our heels. A key sign of driving shoes.

When downshifting using the "heel and toe" method, the rounded heels come in handy. Not that I've ever needed to heel and toe when downshifting.

Oh, I almost forgot to tell you their price: $27.99 via eBay.

Here are the previous PORSCHE DESIGN driving shoes I had. I sold them and a few other pairs of mostly white shoes because I had too many white ones.

Since PORSCHE DESIGN cannot use the family's official crest like the cars do, they made do with adidas logo in a gold field instead.

Here is a pair of GOODYEAR adidas driving shoes. I have another pair of these in brown suede leather (this white pair was also sold) and Nancy has some Goodyear adidas as well.

White on white stripes seems a little silly to me. But I forgive PORSCHE DESIGN for the current pair. With the script across the body, row upon row, the stripes are more discernible. 

Nancy, who is ever supportive of my interests, as I am of hers, bought me this book, a First Edition, which tells the tale of two German brothers, Adolf and Rudolph Dassler who struggled to get a shoe company going. Eventually Rudy left Adi to form his own sports shoe company which he named PUMA. 

I recently saw a film which was made on the same subject. Prior to reading the book I never knew this story. I have far more adidas than I do PUMA, but the ones I do have, I like.

Why did I bring this up? Why PUMA and FERRARI formed an alliance in which PUMA makes driving shoes with FERRARI's approval which feature the famous Prancing Horse logo. 

A bit of trivia, Ferrari could never trademark the prancing horse. In fact, Breda, an Italian train car building company also uses the prancing horse on it's cars.

Anyway, since I am writing to you about cars/shoes, here are two pairs of Ferrari Puma driving shoes I used to have.

I like the mirror-image the two shoes make.

They too used silver accents on these shoes. Note the subdued PUMA swoosh on these and the white ones below. 

There is a certain stigma to ownership of certain supercars, even Corvettes have a similar stigma of snobbishness. I recall that is why I got rid of these two pairs.

Plenty of grippiness to these soles, unlike the PORSCHE DESIGN soles.

But white soles? OK for walking in snow, but not so good for walking in the dirty world in which we live and walk.

I hope you enjoyed reading my humble blog. I really enjoy researching and writing it. Your kind words and comments, either below or on Facebook are greatly appreciated as well.

For a look at my previous article on another unique pair of adidas which Nancy bought me for my birthday, plus links to other shoes related articles, click this link:

The Robb Collections: Adidas Fame and International Appeal Cannot Be Denied. Found: Adidas Tokio Solar HM, A Collaboration with Japanese Firms

Scott

August 26, 2021

#437