"It's kinda cool the way she's always looking at me." - Jake Ryan, Sixteen Candles…read more Okay, maybe "Jake" was a bit of a narcissist lol. Back in the day I had a wardrobe of sweater vests, polo shirts, and tight acid washed jeans. I also had a Porsche 944 Turbo nicknamed "Jake Ryan". A name taken from the pretty boy jock in John Hughes classic, Sixteen Candles, staring Molly Ringwald as "Samantha Baker" and little known Michael Schoeffling as "Jake Ryan". Molly became a Generation X icon and "Jake" slipped into obscurity. I actually purchased my Porsche used (2nd owner) years after the movie came out, but I remember it like yesterday, back in the 1990's when Grunge was now the rage. New Wave now an afterthought. I saved enough on my own to target a German sports car... at first, I was leaning towards a classic 914 or 912, since the vintage 911 Carrera and the James Dean 356 were out of my price range at the time. Nope I sure wasn't a yuppie LOL! After paying in full... It was time for me to clean-up and customize my new baby. Then I remembered... wait... Sixteen Candles... the sports car "Jake Ryan" drove... the one "Samantha Baker" sat in! Well let's not get carried away it wasn't the actual car, but it was a similar model, in fact my Porsche had more horse power! As crazy as it sounds the movie convinced me to keep it as original as possible. Though Jake had a '85 and I had the '89 Turbo. I guess the spirit of "Jake Ryan" lived in me LOL! And now he's a cabinet maker! Oh that freckled Samantha Baker! As the years rolled on, as time flew by, I still drove my Porsche, in between other cars. College went. I moved on to other jobs and jobs, and the girlfriend, ex-wife, fiancé, next girlfriend all moved on too, lol. Yet, my reliable "Jake Ryan" stayed with me through thick and thin... and before you know it a decade passed on, and then two decades. Finally after about 22 years of being w/ "Jake" the engine finally died. "Jake's" heart stopped beating:( And like all cars, there's a time when we just must let go. In the end, I honestly can't recommend a Porsche to just anyone. And that's why I'm posting this in the Porsche Factory Tours in Stuttgart, Germany. It takes someone who appreciates the intricacies of German engineering, or a dude who just fell in love with "Samantha Baker" and wanted to be "Jake Ryan" if only for a minute, or in my case for over two decades. And with all the cars I have owned over my lifetime... the one car I'll never forget is my dragon-red Porsche... called "Jake Ryan". "...But just like the rain i'll be always falling, yeah only to rise and fall again..." - Sixteen Candles What a handsome car. The End.

TOOK THE FACTORY TOUR ON MONDAY APRIL 20, 2026…read more============================================== My husband is a Porschehead if that is a word. If it isn't then I just created a new word. I convinced him to take a trip to Germany with the promise I would book tickets to the Porsche Factory. The only day available for us to go was on a Monday. The sad thing about going on a Monday is that you cannot go to the museum or the Gift Store. So while we were waiting to start the tour my husband could see all these little model Porsches in the Gift Store that he wanted that he could not buy. I would say that if the Porsche Factory Tour is running on Mondays it would be really nice if the museum and Gift Store were open too. I was happy with the tour because it was for 911's which I love. I am surprised I didn't start drooling a few times. The colors and different types were amazing. No photos are allowed unfortunately. Personally I felt most areas of the assembly line process were included in the tour. My husband felt that a lot of things that a Porschehead like himself wanted to see were not included. To get there it should be easy, but there is a lot of construction going on at the Stuttgart Train Station. To get there from Munich we took the S Bahn to the Munich Train Station and then took an ICE trains to Stuttgart. It was a two and a half hour trip each way.

I'm not a big tour bus fan, but this was fantastic!! The audio guide was wonderfully educational…read moreand the ability to get off and on at all the locations really made it worth the purchase of the tickets. For the most part the times were really reliable as well. One of our locations the bus was about 20 minutes late, but it was beautiful out so we didn't mind. I would highly reccommend this if you aren't familiar with Stuttgart. You won't be sorry. It will help you also decide if you want to do some things in more detail.