You are what you drive – Bloomberg.com had an interesting article written by an auto journalist about the vibe your car gives off and what it says about you to the people around you. He covers everything from Hummers to Porsches and Bentleys to Toyotas. He even had an interesting experience in a Smart car in Manhatten. My favorite, though, is his take on the older Porsche 911. Definitely worth reading. [Via Bloomberg.com]

More talk of a Porsche 928-type successor – This has been running in the rumor mill for a while, but according to a recent entry on TopSpeed, a Porsche GT is in the works. They're calling it "a spiritual successor of the classic 928" and speculating it'll be built on the Panamera platform. The picture to the right is an artist rendering found on TopSpeed.com. I'm still a Porsche 928 fan and would love to see some type of successor be released. [Via TopSpeed.com]

Porsche sponsoring "The Allure of the Automobile" Exhibit – Taking place in Atlanta from March 21 thru June 20, Porsche will be showcasing a number of rare and beautiful vehicles including the Porsche Type 64 that got the whole thing started over 70 years ago. A 1953 LeMans coupe will be on hand as well. This would be the next best thing to visiting the Porsche Factory Museum. If you're in or near the Atlanta area, this is a must see. [Via PRNewsWire.com]

Get a $51,000 discount on your next used Porsche – Sound too good to be true? That's because IT IS! Just try and tell that to Brent Shneider though who was hauled off to the pokey for buying a 2008 Porsche Cayenne GTS (worth $87,000) for $36,000. Turns out the Porsche was stolen from Boca Raton in September. This was the equivalent of buying a watch from a guy displaying them on the inside of a trench coat. Another day another sucker I guess. [Via PalmBeachPost.com]

Test drive gone wrong…at 163 MPH! – We have some doozies every now and then. Thank goodness they don't come along too often. This is another one for the books. A gal drops her car 2008 Porsche Boxster off at a Shell Service Station to have some routine maintenance done (Problem #1: Who has their Porsche serviced at a Shell Station???). The service station owner decides to take the car out for a "test drive" early one morning. He crashes doing 163 mph. He loses control and the car flips. Of course he fled the scene. He wasn't seriously injured and wasn't even charged with stealing it. The gal said she doesn't hold any ill will towards the owner or his business (Problem #2: The dude wrecked your Porsche!). What's more, she's still willing to bring her vehicles back to the station in the future (Problem #3: SAY WHAT?!). Maybe we should go back to the guy who thought he got a $51k discount on the Cayenne……. [Via News-Press.com]

I posted about the Guardian Angel Motorsports car racing at this year's Rolex 24 Hours of Daytona to raise money for several children focused causes. What I didn't realize was that PorschePurist.com was going to be a sponsor with a logo on the car!

John over at PorschePurist.com sent me the picture above. Notice the rear wing. I have to say this is pretty dang exciting.

There are some great write-ups over at PorschePurist.com on the race. Check em out here: PorschePurist.com.

This guy is a bit on the boring side. Don't let that scare because the car in this video is pretty cool. It's a kit car, but the electric conversion makes it desirable in my book. I doubt you'll make it through the full hour and forty minutes, but watch the first video. You'll get the highlights and get to see the big parts of the conversion.

I was cleaning up my desktop today (had WAY too many things parked there) and came across I picture that I had saved for posting on the blog. No idea where I got it, but I love it. It's a great window into what the life of Porsche must have been like in the early days.

Plus those courtyards are very German (European really) and it reminds me of some of my favorite spots in Germany. If this is your picture, or one of you sent it to me, let me know and I'll append the post to add credit.

John over at PorschePurist.com sent me a link to a post he put up about Guardian Angel Sports. For the second year in a row, they'll be racing in the Rolex 24 Hours of Daytona. The biggest difference between them and the other teams, though, is they'll be logging laps in their Porsche 997 GT3 Cup car to raise money for three different charities focused on helping kids in our world who need it.

Here are the charities they're focusing on this year:

1. LOVE146 – They are working to end child sex slavery and child exploitation
2. FAAN (Food Allergy and Anaphylaxis Network) -  Focused on raising public awareness, providing advocacy and education, and advancing research on behalf of millions affected by food allergies
3. Matthew L. Greer Children’s Foundation – An organization that educates children, empowers them to develop life skills and helps them reach their full potential through supporting organizations that serve children at risk of not reaching that potential, especially in low income areas.

Being the parent of two kids, I believe wholeheartedly in what they're doing and think this is a fantastic opportunity to get behind them and cheer them on. Last year they raised over $75,000 for Children's Hospital of Boston.

If you're interested in making a donation, visit the Guardaian Angel Motorsports web site here: Donate.

Below are a couple of videos that talk more about what they're doing. You can also read more on PorschePurist.com here: Racing Porsches Toward Cures for Kids.

Andrew suggested that we fire up a new poll around my SUVs not being trucks rant from a few days ago. It's now live, so scroll down on the right hand side and let your voice be heard. This is an important issue afterall!

For those curious about the wrap-up on the previous poll, here's where we ended up:

Will the Porsche-VW merger ruin the Porsche "mystique"?

• Yes: 33% (14)
• No: 63% (27)
• Porsche & VW…WHAT??!!!: 5% (2)

Total Votes: 43

Always a couple of jokesters in there. Don't know why, but Brad's name always seems to come to mind. Sorry Brad.

I found these YouTube videos referenced on another site somewhere. It's a 5 part series showing the Porsche factory and 356's being made by hand. Pretty amazing. Maybe you'll have extra time to kill this Monday and be able to get through all 5. If not, come back and watch them.

Not a lot happening the past couple of weeks Porsche news wise. This is what I found at least mildly interesting this past week.

Porsche left out of Gran Turismo 5 – Die hard race/driving sim fans the world over are going to be left Porscheless in the latest version of Gran Turismo. Everything from Corvettes to Mercedes-Benz will be in the new game with over 950 cars to choose from set in 20 locations with 70 layouts, but NO Porsche. A spokesman cited "licensing issues" as the reason Porsche wasn't included. Too bad. Gran Tursimo has some unbelievably life-like cars to choose from. Guess all the gamer geeks will have to save their pennies for the real thing. [Via PS3center.net]

2010 Porsche factory drivers announced – In an effort to at least dip a toe in racing this year, thanks in part by James O's challenge to take in a race, here are the factory drivers for the 2010 season:

Marc Lieb and Richard Lietz will again compete in the Le Mans Series for the Felbermayr-Proton team, while Patrick Pilet will compete with IMSA Performance Matmut.

Jorg Bergmeister and Patrick Long return to defend their American Le Mans Series title with Flying Lizard Motorsports while Wolf Henzler will compete for the Falken Tire team, while Timo Bernhard and Romain Dumas will fly the flag for Porsche in the Nurburgring 24 Hours. [Quote from Crash.net]

At least I've got a few names to try and keep up with. Most of the Porsche factory drivers will make their season debut in the Rolex 24 at Daytona. [Via Crash.net]

Fit the punishment to the size of the crime pocketbook? – I thought this was a pretty interesting article in response to the man fined $290,000 recently in Switzerland for speeding. The crazy thing was, he was only doing something like 30 mph over the speed limit. Excessive? Sure, but not crazy fast. In 2007, the laws in Switzerland were changed to let judges determine fines based on a person's income and wealth for moderate misdemeanors. This includes excessive speeding and drunk driving. It's an interesting concept to fine people in a way that will actually cause them to think twice about committing the violation again. Would probably do wonders in helping people take traffic violations more seriously. [Via TheStar.com]

I used to watch Price Is Right all the time with my mom when I was a kid. Even used to watch it while working out up until a few years ago when Bob Barker retired. Check out what happens when this guy bids on a 2010 Porsche Boxster in his Showcase.