If you could choose a car to own for half a century, what would it be?
For a little over 50 years, the 911 has been the face of Porsche. Its sleek style has become the ideal model for other sports cars because it can blend highly sophisticated taste with everyday routine. To quote Ferry Porsche: "The 911 is the only car you could drive on an African safari or at Le Mans, to the theater or through New York City traffic."
The 911 was more than just a car for me while growing up. It was a racing streak by a checkered flag that could make a heart stop. It was a driving lesson on country back roads.
And now, for 50 years, my grandfather Weldon Scrogham has cared for a 911 — it's a piece of family history. When I sat down to ask him about this particular car, I said, "Tell me how you came about buying this car."
Weldon looked at me and said, "I think we need to go back farther than that."
I settled in for a long story.
Weldon's adventure opened right after high school. An opportunity arose for him to trade overseas time in the armed services with a young man who had a wife and a young child. Weldon chose to trade, and he went to spend three years in Germany.
Weldon arrived in Germany on Thanksgiving. there was no one to pick him up, and he quickly became homesick. While he was waiting for a rise, he saw a little glass elephant in a store.
"I noticed how tiny it was," Weldon said. "And that was how I felt."
He bought the elephant, and it still lives with him to this day. Despite being homesick, things went smoothly through the winter. Weldon met a lieutenant in the 93rd engineering company who taught him how to do a proper salute, and then one day, the big steel gate opened and a car drove in.
"I looked at it and said, 'That's a neat car,'" Weldon remembered. "It was a blue 356."
In 1957, Weldon traveled on to Munich and spent two years there before coming back to the States. Shortly after arriving on American soil, he bought a 1961 356.
"Like I promised myself I'd do," he said.
He drove that car for about a year and a half and joined Porsche Club of America in 1962. When the time came for the release of the 911, Weldon made it to New York. When he saw the 911, he thought, "I'd like to have one of those."
In September 1965, a 911 came into Charlottesville, Virginia. It was the car Weldon had been waiting for, so he bought it. However, when he brought it home, his dad confronted him and asked, "How much was that car?"
Weldon dodged the answer for as long as he could. When the truth finally came out, his father asked, "Boy, have you lost your mind?"
Final preparations for Manhattan judging at the 1989 Porsche Parade in Traverse City, Michigan.
In spite of that, Weldon hung onto his 911. He drove it sparingly while he was a day student at James Madison University (then Madison College) in Harrisonburg, Virginia. As time went on, even though Weldon was busy as a student with two jobs, he cared for his 911.
"I thought it was important to maintain the car not knowing what value it may have 50 years later," Weldon said.
The value of this particular 911 has spiked so high with sentimental value that no dollar amount would be adequate. To this day in 2015, the red car lives in Weldon's garage — in mint condition.
The 911 still has its original interior and exterior, and the glove box still holds the invoice from the car's purchase. Right now, Weldon is in the process of getting the car ready for Parade with his son, Cole Scrogham (my father).
"We're going to take the 50th anniversary car along with the '65 to commemorate the 50th anniversary of the 911," Weldon said.
When a car has been in a family for 50 years, it truly is a part of the family. Across the years, it becomes not only transportation for you, but also for your memories. Your greatest triumphs, fears and dreams.
Even in the face of opposition, Weldon clinged his dream of owning a 911. And now that dream has been a reality for half a century.
