Porsche clubs around the World Celebrate Seventieth Anniversary
Move over, Queenie — there’s another Platty Joobs being celebrated this year. Yep, 2022 marks the seventieth anniversary of the first official Porsche club. Seven decades on, there are more than seven hundred Porsche clubs worldwide, accounting for more than 240,000 members spread across eighty-six countries. In terms of both form and size, this venerable global ecosystem of marque-specific enthusiast clubs is unparalleled in the automotive industry.
Needless to say, many commemorative events have been lined up across the year. “Porsche would not be the company it is without the global community of friends and fans who come together to share their passion for the brand,” says Detlev von Platen, Member of the Executive Board for the company’s Sales and Marketing division. “The established enthusiast clubs preserve the legend of Porsche. At the same time, each club’s members are involved in social, sporting and community activities, and in this way are also representing Porsche company values. This makes the clubs attractive to enthusiasts young and old. We are delighted to be able to celebrate this special anniversary.”
On 26th May 1952, Porsche customers joined forces to form what is now Porsche Club Westfalen (its original name was Westfälischer Porsche Club Hohensyburg). The first international Porsche club outside of Germany was established in Belgium in 1953. Two years later, Porsche Club of America was born, going on to become the world’s largest Porsche club, boasting 145,000 members. The second-biggest is Porsche Club Great Britain.
Around the globe, roughly five new Porsche clubs are established every year. These are autonomous, independent, registered associations or comparable legal forms and are organised jointly and on a voluntary basis by each club’s members, who offer a unique programme and range of services, from drives and motorsport events to social gatherings and technical lectures. Many clubs also enjoy hosting road trips, Concours d’Élégance competitions and multi-day Porsche parades in their respective towns and cities.
Back in the early years of the first “circles of friends”, Ferry Porsche and Fritz Huschke von Hanstein (then Porsche’s press relations and motorsport manager) decided to bring brand enthusiasts together in an official capacity for the first time. As the earliest Porsche groups emerged from the motor racing community, Huschke von Hanstein formed the link between circuit and boardroom, becoming active in the founding of the first Porsche club. In 1956, he and Ferry Porsche brought European and Stateside Porsche customers together for an organised road rally. It was the first Porsche meeting in Merano, Italy. Regular readers might recall how the event included the 356 Pre-A coupe (pictured top right) owned by Bernard Moix, proud pilot of the restored 356 Speedster featured in the May 2022 issue of Classic Porsche. Wind the clocks forward and more than six hundred Porsche vehicles and owners gather at Merano each year. It’s a tradition Ferry’s sons, Wolfgang and Hans-Peter, have carried on to this day. In the meantime, management of the clubs has been taken over by Porsche’s Global Community Management team, as well as by approved importers and Porsche dealers in various territories.
To mark the seventieth anniversary in 2022, Porsche is planning a worldwide campaign of events under the banner of ‘Enduring Passion’. In addition to traditional Porsche-branded media materials, assets will include a central content hub, on which Porsche club members can publish their personal ownership stories. The company is also supporting Porsche club events, such as the recent 356 meet in the Netherlands, the highly anticipated Porsche Parade USA and turnout for the tenth running of the Le Mans Classic. Contact your local club representative for information about region-specific events.
MORE THAN SIX HUNDRED PORSCHE VEHICLES AND OWNERS GATHER AT MERANO EACH YEAR