This Porsche Will Blow Her Tops Off

Bertel Schmitt
by Bertel Schmitt

When I was deposed for my divorce, the other side’s lawyer wanted to know, for some unimaginable legal purpose, how many times my then and soon to be disposed-of wife rode with me on my 90 mph offshore raceboat.

“Once.”

“And why was that?”

“It mussed up her hair.”

At which point my lawyer, who also knew her way around her husband’s much more powerful supercat raceboats, chirped in and said:

“It can get worse. Sometimes, the wind is known to rip your clothes off.”

The court reporter guffawed, then hit her keys with extra energy. The other side’s straight-laced lawyer blushed and moved on to other lines of questioning.

That little episode crossed my mind when I opened the email from Porsche which announced the impending (March 3 2012) availability of the topless models of the 911 Carrera and 911 Carrera S in the new 911 design.

Both cars for fresh air fanatics will have the same engine as their Carrera Coupé equivalent. The rear of the 911 Carrera Cabrio houses a 3.4-litre flat engine generating 350 hp (257 kW) of power driving the rear wheels through a seven-gear manual transmission. The open-top Carrera S comes with a 3.8-litre six-cylinder engine developing 400 hp (294 kW), which are turned into forward motion also by a seven-gear manual transmission. A Porsche Doppelkupplungsgetriebe (PDK double clutch transmission) is available as an optional extra.

The 911 Carrera Cabriolet will be launched in Germany on March 3, 2012. The prices for the 911 Carrera Cabriolet start in Germany at 100,532 Euros, the 911 Carrera S Cabriolet starts at 114,931 Euros including value-added tax in both cases.

If there are any volunteering ladies with loose-fitting garments, then I will ask Porsche for a tester.


Bertel Schmitt
Bertel Schmitt

Bertel Schmitt comes back to journalism after taking a 35 year break in advertising and marketing. He ran and owned advertising agencies in Duesseldorf, Germany, and New York City. Volkswagen A.G. was Bertel's most important corporate account. Schmitt's advertising and marketing career touched many corners of the industry with a special focus on automotive products and services. Since 2004, he lives in Japan and China with his wife <a href="http://www.tomokoandbertel.com"> Tomoko </a>. Bertel Schmitt is a founding board member of the <a href="http://www.offshoresuperseries.com"> Offshore Super Series </a>, an American offshore powerboat racing organization. He is co-owner of the racing team Typhoon.

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  • Michaelhagerty Michaelhagerty on Nov 22, 2011

    Don't know any girls to try Bertel's trick with? Don't worry. The Porsche will get them for you.

  • Ronnie Schreiber Ronnie Schreiber on Nov 22, 2011

    Bertel, do you know about Barry Zekelman's Man of Steel boats? I think this is the latest, from Turbine Marine. It's capable of 200mph. Powered by a couple of helicopter turbines. He takes it out on Lake Ste Claire. http://www.turbinemarine.com/project_ZPM.html Warning, turn the sound down on the video, the music is terrible.

    • David Dennis David Dennis on Nov 23, 2011

      Okay, I'll bite, what's the fuel economy on that thing? One gallon per inch? D

  • Rochester "better than Vinfast" is a pretty low bar.
  • TheMrFreeze That new Ferrari looks nice but other than that, nothing.And VW having to put an air-cooled Beetle in its display to try and make the ID.Buzz look cool makes this classic VW owner sad 😢
  • Wolfwagen Is it me or have auto shows just turned to meh? To me, there isn't much excitement anymore. it's like we have hit a second malaise era. Every new vehicle is some cookie-cutter CUV. No cutting-edge designs. No talk of any great powertrains, or technological achievements. It's sort of expected with the push to EVs but there is no news on that front either. No new battery tech, no new charging tech. Nothing.
  • CanadaCraig You can just imagine how quickly the tires are going to wear out on a 5,800 lbs AWD 2024 Dodge Charger.
  • Luke42 I tried FSD for a month in December 2022 on my Model Y and wasn’t impressed.The building-blocks were amazing but sum of the all of those amazing parts was about as useful as Honda Sensing in terms of reducing the driver’s workload.I have a list of fixes I need to see in Autopilot before I blow another $200 renting FSD. But I will try it for free for a month.I would love it if FSD v12 lived up to the hype and my mind were changed. But I have no reason to believe I might be wrong at this point, based on the reviews I’ve read so far. [shrug]. I’m sure I’ll have more to say about it once I get to test it.
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