In the summer of 1962, we decided to go the World’s Fair in Seattle, Washington. Our plans were to camp out all along the way. That meant the Porsche had to have room for two people and their luggage, but also a tent, bedrolls, pillows, and an absolute minimum of other camping gear.
Our solution to the problem was a luggage rack. Since accessories for the Porsche were very expensive and I had access to an acetylene welder, I decided to make a rack.
The Porsche was rear engine so the rack had to be about four or five inches off the air intake grill. I accomplished that with spacers. We couldn’t chrome it so we painted it a light gray. It was at a 45° angle so I put a small lip on the bottom for things to ride against. It worked well, and solved our problem.
When we left Lubbock, gasoline was 19 cents a gallon. That area of Texas was notorious for its gasoline price wars. As we got further away we began to pay more, but it was a nice way to start a trip.
The first time we stopped for gasoline we had a catastrophe. The fuel tank was in the front trunk where we stashed our camping gear. The opening for the nozzle was very large to make it fast to fuel when racing. The station attendant put the nozzle in, turned the pump on, and walked away. When he came back, the trunk and our gear were full of gasoline.
The term, “not a happy camper” was first used that day to describe Bill. Until then, I had never seen a guy with smoke coming out of his ears. Fumes were not only coming out of the the trunk, but out of Bill’s ears. From then on, he took care of the gasoline duties himself!
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