The Porsche flash was very much alive in the 70s but seams to have slowly died out. I still do it but get very little response

 

When I got my first Porsche in 1973 (a 914 2.0) it was a great tradition and you would see flashes/waves most of the time. Now, sadly, most here in the Phoenix area don't carry on the tradition (most P-car drivers here in AZ aren't enthusiasts - they are doctors/lawyers/bank presidents who drive these cars for the "style points"!) I think we all need to work harder to keep this tradition going.

 

Great thread, Steve!

I wave at all Porsche makes/models. Even the Cayenne's, but the Cayenne's NEVER return the favor. As you guys mentioned above....probably due to the fact that they are soccer moms and are oblivious to the tradition. I notice that when I drive my Boxster....other Boxster's are really good about waving back. When I drive the 996, I get less waves.

The funny part is....sometimes when I'm driving my SUV, I wave at an oncoming pcar, forgetting that I'm not driving one at the moment. I do it out of habit. I'm sure they think to themselves...."who is the crazy lady in the SUV waving at me, and why??". haha!

 

Thank's Jody,
I thought Todd banned you from flashing other Porsche's. He get's jealous - cute blonde in Boxster flashing wrong message to strange guy in another Porsche!
Bonerwall- my friend in Phoenix, I agree we need to get the word out! (or get a Boxster)

 

I will always give a wave, but rarely do others. Some times it is due to them not seeing it in time. I think that some drive a Porsche because it will impress there friends and no nothing about the tradition of the wave.

 

i do it sometimes if the car is clearly modded (implying that the owner actually is into cars not just into spending money to buy stock cars)

 

It's a lost art!!!!

 

It's hard to say, "hello"- When others think you're the "token ugly child" who is "hideous" , "looks like a bath tub".

Usually if there's eye contact, a good head up movement takes place of the hello.........works about 50 percent of the time. The other 50% either don't care or see above- LOL!

Duly noted: Flash Lights next time.

 

When I first got my 996, I'd wave at every P-Car I saw. I waved at 911's from all generations, Caymans, Boxsters, Cayennes, 912s, 914s, 924s, 944s, 968s, 356s, 959s, GT1s, Carrera GTs, 550s, RS718s, LeMans RS Spyders, 904s, 917s, cup cars, Gemballa Mirage GTs, RUFs, TechArts, 9ffs, etc. You name it, I waved, lol...

The point is I always felt like an idiot afterwards when they all pretended like they were too important, as if they were driving a Ferrari FXX or something like that, so I don't do it anymore unless they either look like actual enthusiasts (not just show offs/d0uchebags), or if they're clearly looking at me. Although just the other day a Cayman waved at me first, which was pretty nice. One of my girlfriends who was with me asked "do you know him?" & I was like "no, he's probably just a real car guy," lol... I think the reason for the lack of friendliness, like many have pointed out, has to do with both the mass production & the snobs that buy it for the name, which kind of goes hand in hand, because the fact that snobs buy it is the reason Porsches sell in high volume these days. I hate to say it, but the young guys are usually the worst (& I'm 19, lol). I remember when I was studying at GIA, there was another guy with a nice MKI 996 with full aerokit & I told him "nice aero" & he says "what's that?!" ... Then when he saw my car he asked me "hey, does your speedometer go up to 220mph? 'Cause mine has the special 220mph speedometer, so it's like a faster version" I just said ".... WTF ARE YOU TALKING ABOUT? THEY ALL DO, BUT YOUR CAR ONLY GOES LIKE 180 ANYWAY." People like those ruin it for me because this is a car I dreamed about since I was a little kid. I won't lie, like most people I do enjoy people noticing my car & things like that, but I'm never a snob or showoff about it. I bought it to drive it & enjoy every inch of it's perfectly engineered & unique Porsche RR drive layout.

My rant is finished... On a jollier note, I do get flashed quite often, but not by other Porsches, nor by headlights.

 

The demise of the "flash" has been ongoing since the late 1990s when Porsche ramped up their production. Clearly there are far more Porsches on the road today than there were 30 years ago, and the owner demographics have changed, w/ a much lesser percentage of "enthusiasts". My experience in S. Florida has been that owners of older Porsches wave/flash with regularity. The newer the Porsche, the less likely a wave/flash. My wife is more likely to be waved/flashed in her orange Boxster S than I am in my C2S Cab (young enthusiast vs. old fart?). I've never seen a Cayenne owner around here who wasn't on a cell phone, reading the newspaper, or drinking/eating so they couldn't wave/flash even if they wanted to. That would also apply to the majority BMW sedan owners as well. The M3 crowd around here is largely E46ers, I've seen very few of the new variety, and it's a mixed crowd, but certainly the majority are not the E30 gearheads of yesteryear. In sum, Porsche ownership isn't the fraternity it used to be.

 

I return waves but don't initiate.

 

they're too busy talking on their phones or texting

 

what REALLY gets works is if i drive with my top down and flash them. .

My BOXTER'S top down....that is.

 

Seems to me that most people don't wave in this area if they drive a Porsche. On the flip side, I see all the corvettes wave at each other, and all the sport bike riders (and probably all the standards) wave at each other. The bikers here will even give you the symbol to slow down if there is a speed trap up the road.

I'm on the same side as a previous post .. I waved a lot when I started, and now after feeling like a dunce waving at a bunch of people that don't wave back, I just assume they aren't going to wave. I'll return a wave though! I moved here from Texas, and it's an entirely different feel on the road. Texas had a lot more extremes on both the good side and bad side. For me, CA seems to be just "I'm driving to work" or something..

 

^^^+1 here. the area i live in is saturated with pcars, so the returned wave doesn't happen as much. most, like myself, are on their way to or from work. i felt the same way....like a dunce when i'd wave only a few would wave back. or, we just make eye contact because you know you're both thinking "are they going to wave at me? should i wave first?" i can tell they were on the verge of waving first, because as soon as i wave, there hand pops up really quickly. haha!

and just about the time i decide to give up and stop waving, is when a pcars comes my way and they wave and then i feel horrible that i missed it and i was too late.