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Fast cars & slow planes Joel Weyhe poses in the early 1970s at Ocean Shores, Washington, with the 1965 Shelby Mustang Fastback he bought for $3,000, sold five years later for $5,000, and watched it auctioned last year (40 years later) in Portland for $335,000. [Contributed photo] Monday Aug 21, 2017 at 12:01 AM By Jim Flint for the Mail Tribune Joel Weyhe finds nothing more exhilarating than zipping down the road on a warm summer night in one of his Porsche 911s with the top down, or taking a scenic flight in his Citabria airplane that’s so slow a school bus once passed him as he flew overhead. Weyhe, 67, is a fan of fast cars and slow planes. The Central Point resident was born in Iowa but spent most of his life in Alaska. He worked as a computer programmer and after moving to Central Point about seven years ago, did some part-time information technology work for Jackson County. “I had an early interest in sports cars,” he said, “from when I was in grade school. I soon learned that a sports car has nothing on it that doesn’t make it go faster.” He bought his first car when he was 16, a ’55 Buick Century for $75 — no sports car, for sure, but the price was right. “The starter button was mounted beneath the accelerator pedal. You pushed down on the pedal, and you were off. I thought that was cool,” he said. His second car was a ’62 Oldsmobile F-85. “It was smaller than the full-size Olds and had bucket seats,” he said. (It might have been the radio reverberator that sold him on it.) By the time he was a high school senior, he owned his first sports car, a white ’65 Mustang Fastback. Since then, he has bought and sold various sports cars, always owning two or three at a time. He has owned several Porsches, the Shelby, a ’75 Fiat Spider, a ’90 Mazda Miata he bought for himself on his 40th birthday, a ’68 Mustang convertible, and a ’62 Karmann-Ghia convertible. The Fiat was frequently in the shop for repairs. “It was a ‘Fix it again, Tony’ car,” Weyhe said. “The Karmann-Ghia was Volkswagen’s idea of a sports car, a Beetle in an Italian suit. It was a product of the Italian Ghia design house, and the German firm Karmann built the body, which was mounted on a VW ‘Bug’ chassis.” When he retired from the state of Alaska, he cashed in his accumulated sick leave and unused vacation pay that paid for about half the cost of a brand new 2005 Porsche 911 Carrera with a top speed of 177 mph. “It was too fast for me. It was so fast, I couldn’t have fun with it on the road.” He sold it a few years ago. He said he used to accelerate up the freeway on ramp to about 110 mph, then brake to 75 to merge with the traffic, the only times he really aired it out. What does he look for in a sports car? “I really appreciate good design, a design that lasts. It must age well,” he said. Today he has a ’72 red Porsche 911, an ’88 ivory Porsche 911, and the ’62 red Karmann-Ghia, all convertibles. He also owns a ’98 red Toyota pickup he uses when it’s hot (air conditioning) or if there’s a heavy rain. “Right now, I own one more car than I should.” He said it’s the cost of ownership that limits him. “Eventually I’d like to have a ’71 or ’70 Porsche 911-E. If I find one, I’ll probably sell two cars before I buy it.” The $335,000 car Last year, he had a reunion of sorts with the ’65 Shelby Mustang he bought in 1972 for $3,500 and sold five years later for $5,000. “It was number 377 out of 500 built,” Weyhe said. “I never thought about it much after I sold it. Then I reconnected with an old friend I found living in Klamath Falls who still owned a ’66 Shelby and kept in touch with the Shelby community. He told me my old car was going to be sold in a Portland auction in June last year.” Weyhe went to the auction, saw his old Shelby, and walked up to the man who had owned it for 38 years to introduce himself. “I used to own this car,” I told him. “He replied immediately, ‘You’re Joel!’ ” Weyhe had left documents in the glove compartment when he sold the car, and those were part of the provenance that can increase the value of such a car. When the vehicle came up for auction, Weyhe watched with interest as the bid prices climbed. When the auctioneer announced that the (secret) reserve had been reached, the bidding became more spirited. When the auctioneer’s gavel came down, Weyhe’s old Shelby Mustang had sold for $335,000. A pilot, too Although his dad worked as a station manager for a small airline in Juneau, Weyhe never gave a thought about doing anything with airplanes, much less learning to fly one. But one day in 1982, a computer programmer buddy at the office asked him to go with him to look at planes at the airport. “There was an orange, two-seat Grumman Yankee with a for sale sign on it for $7,500.” He was smitten. “I could picture myself in that thing,” he said. After finally deciding he wanted to learn to fly, he found a Cessna for sale by Renton Air Service in Renton, Wash. He negotiated a price for the plane that included free lessons. “I took nine weeks off, bought the plane, stayed with a friend in the area to save money, and learned how to fly it in six and a half weeks,” he said. Today, he’s instrument-rated. He returned the next spring to fly the plane from Renton back home to Juneau. It was his first cross-country trip, so he had a pilot ride along with him as a precaution. He later sold the Cessna and bought a 1984 Grumman, which he now owns in partnership with his wife, Monica. “After we met, I gave her a flight lesson for a birthday present. She liked it! Now she’s active in the 99s, a national women’s pilot association.” She’s participated in some national competitive cross-country events sponsored by the 99s. Weyhe shares the plane with his wife, but also bought one just for himself, a Citabria, a small plane designed for aerobatics. It has a cruising speed of 75 mph, when there isn’t a head wind. Flying can be a stress reducer for Weyhe. “Even if you’re just burning holes in the sky, it’s a good way to get your head out of whatever it’s mired in, escape the bonds of earth.” Weyhe is a member of the Rogue Valley Flying Club and recommends it to prospective pilots. “It’s an inexpensive way to meet local pilots and learn how to fly.” Is there any downside to owning a plane? “Well, there’s the cost of keeping it at the airport. But people have similar expenses when they own a boat, trailer or RV.” He said he prefers planes and cars to other adult toys “because they can take you on adventures. With jet skis, for instance, you’re just going in circles.” His next adventure is a multi-week exploration of the Baltic states in September. Jet skis will not be involved. — Jim Flint is a retired editor/publisher living in Ashland. You can reach him at [email protected].