The Gray Fox: An Original 1967 Porsche 912 (2021 Bring a Trailer Video of the Year)

Time cannot be influenced by mankind. It gives each of us a beginning and an end. And this makes us question the significance of what comes between. But if you can create something time cannot erode, something truly timeless, this is the ultimate victory. Some decisions have lifelong impact. George Vaccaro of Cupertino, California, made one small decision that would change his life forever. Instead of renting a car for his European vacation in the summer of 1967, he decided to do something different. He ordered a new Porsche 912 for factory delivery. He and his wife spent three happy months touring Europe in their new 912, crossing ten countries before shipping the car home. Once they returned to the States, George maintained his slate-gray Porsche 912 in pristine condition for 54 more years. George always loved cars. His first job out of college was working at the Ford Assembly Plant in Milpitas, California. After five years overseeing labor relations alongside the assembly of hundreds of thousands of Mustangs right outside his office door, George decided it was time for a change. His plan was to quit his job and take the trip of a lifetime to coincide with his wife Nancy's summer break from teaching. He would buy a new Porsche in Germany and then sell it when they returned to cover the cost of the trip. The Porsche 912 was introduced in 1965 as a less costly version of the new 911. It became an instant bestseller. It was in such high demand that the local dealership wasn't very interested in arranging for George's European delivery. Undeterred, he ordered the car through the local office of the California State Automobile Association, now known as AAA, which offered members a car-buying service. It was April 3, 1967, George's 27th birthday. He paid $4,570. The Porsche factory soon acknowledged the order and indicated the car would be ready for delivery in mid-June. To help pay for the trip, the Vaqueros sold their 1965 Mustang convertible, then packed their camping gear and traveled to Stuttgart, Germany to pick up the finished car at the factory. George was familiar with the Ford Mustang plant, but the factory in the Stuttgart suburb of Zuffenhausen was completely different. The new cars were essentially handmade, the process slow and lacking the moving assembly lines he was accustomed to. The cars were pushed on carriages from station to station. When their new 912 Coupe was driven down the ramp to greet them, they were in for a surprise. George thought he'd ordered the color Classic Silver out of the catalog. He wasn't sure if he mistakenly thought that's what the color slate was, but they told him that's what he ordered. Thankfully, they liked it, threw their bags and tent in the car, and took off. With a Michelin map and a Frommer's travel guide in hand, and everything packed carefully into their new sports car, the Vaqueros set forth on their European summer vacation. Because a majority of their funds had gone into the purchase of the car, they stayed at campsites everywhere they went for just a dollar or two a night. They had fun figuring out how to set up their tent for the first time. George also insisted they buy a bucket and chamois so he could regularly wash the car along their journey. The 912 performed flawlessly over the 6,000 mile tour, with only regular service at Porsche dealerships across Europe. George cherished those three months of head-turning, seat-of-the-pants driving, including speeds of 110 miles an hour on the Autobahn, being chased into villages by small children on bikes yelling, Porsche! Porsche! and being asked to take photographs with the car. At the end of that summer, the 912 was shipped from Bremerhaven, Germany, to San Francisco. And by this point, the thought of selling the Gray Fox, as he later named it, was inconceivable. George brought it home to Las Gadas, where it was pressed into service as a daily driver. In 1970, the Vaqueros had twin daughters, Michelle and Melissa, and the girls spent a lot of their early life riding in the back seats. George even created sunshades over their car seats to make them more comfortable under the 912's expansive rear window. While settling into family life, the Vaqueros continued their adventures with the car over the next few years, with trips to Lake Tahoe ski resorts in the wintertime and camping under the redwoods in the summer. Then in 1974, with just under 87,000 miles showing on its odometer, George drove his 912 into Elliot's Foreign Car Repair in Las Gadas for a full engine rebuild, all for just under $1,000. By the late 70s, George had bought a larger car for daily use, and the Porsche became mostly a weekend driver for the next two decades. While he still took it out for regular Sunday drives on winding back roads, the car spent more time sitting quietly under a cover in his garage as he focused on starting his own business, a Silicon Valley executive search firm. Fast forward 25 years, and all that changed after George retired in 2000. He turned his full attention back to the Gray Fox. He began spending countless hours in his garage meticulously cleaning and polishing his car. He regularly showed up at the local cars and coffee gatherings, and he actively participated in the online 912 BBS bulletin board. Just was at a car fender fondle coffee deal in Portola Valley. Decided to take the car for a little ride. Ended up in Las Gadas, and now I'm headed back home. With this newfound interest in his old friend, he made the decision to enter the Porsche into car shows. He liked the attention the car received and took delight in having children and women pose with it for photos. And he went nowhere without his oversized storyboards to help explain the car's history. He was proud of keeping his 912 Survivor on the road and playing his part in preserving a tiny piece of the past. He loved how the Gray Fox seemed to encourage everyone who saw it to share their own nostalgic memories. Over the next 19 years, George entered a multitude of Concours d'Elegance events where he made new friends, took home numerous trophies, saw his car inside the pages of several well-known automotive magazines, and became an integral part of the Porsche 912 community. Despite all the hard work he put into the car, George never took the competition too seriously and was always quick with a smile or a joke. His buddy recalled a prank he played at a car show they both entered in Palo Alto. George put together a fake photo collage which showed a red 912 tangled up in a post-accident mess, along with a current photo of his friend's red 912 with the caption, Great restoration, dude! and placed it in his friend's back window. They then sat back and laughed all day listening to the comments about this miraculous restoration. The car's most outstanding recognition came in 2011 at the Porsche Rennsport Reunion held at Laguna Seca near Monterey, California. This Porsche festival was, and still is, the largest gathering of Porsches in the world. George's 912 was singled out amongst hundreds and hundreds of beautiful Porsches as being an exemplary unrestored 1967 and shown to Dr. Wolfgang Porsche, the grandson of Ferdinand Porsche, the founder of the company that carries his family's name. Dr. Porsche looked the car over thoroughly and was pleased because it reminded him of his own first Porsche, which happened to be a red 1967 912. He autographed the window card, which George framed and kept as a prized possession, a token of recognition for a decades-long love. A few years ago, with 187,000 miles on the car, George again brought his 912 in for a major service, this time to BTM Motorworks in Campbell. They performed a full mechanical overhaul, bringing it back to factory specification. In the end, making the decision to buy and then keep the Porsche for 54 years provided immense fulfillment to George. Through this timeless driving machine, he was able to naturally combine his passions for cars, nostalgia, storytelling, and photography. Perhaps George put it best when he said, Porsche has been an adventure ever since the moment I first sat behind the wheel at the factory. I loved every minute of driving it in Europe and since. It has been a long-time love affair and I'm happy when it also brings pleasure to others. Okay, this is my 1967 Porsche 912, which I purchased and took delivery of at the Stuttgart plant on June 16, 1967. We left the plant and went on a 10-country, three-month camping trip with this car. We were kind of essentially lost for three months and we camped in this tent, which I still have. And basically the camping was not like cooking like we do here and so forth. You could do that, but we didn't. We just pretty much picnicked and ate in little roadside cafes. I ordered this car on April 3, 1967, which is my birthday. Today is April 3, 2011, so today is my birthday. So it's kind of an important day for both the car and me.