August 15–21 was the annual feast of Porsche motoring, touring, racing and viewing for San Diego Region members. The first major event of the week was the return of the Carmel-by-the-Sea Concours along Ocean Avenue. Last year the event was cancelled due to sponsorship and expense issues but this year it was back, bigger and better than ever.
Skip and Leslie Shirley returned from the Porsche Parade to display Skip’s Gmund Award winning 1960 356 “B” T-5 coupe. The Porsche display was beyond belief. Every car there, from pre-A cabs to 1973 911 RS coupes and later cars all looked as if they had just rolled off the factory floor. And Carmel offered a variety of cars we had not seen there before. SDR members Gretchen and Guy Finlan, our former Concours chairs, were there discussing car prep with several of the display owners. These venues are great sources of information on tips for restorers. As Jaguar was the honored marque at the Reunion, there were Jaguars from early SS days to modern cars, with many XK 140s and 150s and more XKEs than one could imagine. The streets of Carmel were absolutely overflowing with people. One could not believe there were any issues with the economy until you walked further west on Ocean, where most of the cars were staged, and saw the bankruptcy sale at Pierre Deux and several empty shops along the way.
Thursday, August 18th was Pebble Beach Tour Day, when cars entered in the Pebble Beach Concours d’Elegance drive through Pebble Beach and stop for lunch in Carmel. The cars are lined up along Ocean while the drivers and passengers enjoy lunch and thousands of viewers swarm over the cars, talk to the mechanics and detailers and take photos. Normally the cars roll through about 11:30 or so, but due to technical difficulties, most did not arrive until shortly after noon. Spectators are lined three or more deep along the parade route, and there is always a sense of anticipation. These events are wonderful for local merchants as the hotels and inns are full, restaurants are fully booked, and those who do not enjoy cars can still enjoy the local cuisine and lovely items in the shops. For the first time in anyone’s recollection, locals voiced resentment of seeing so much money being devoted to old cars in a time of high unemployment and difficult financial times for many families. This resentment was expressed in letters to the editor in local papers and talk show comments. Still, the crowds were larger than ever, and the quality of the cars was as high as ever before.
Car auctions are held throughout the weekend. At the Marriott Hotel in Monterey, Russo & Steele displayed a number of auction cars in the outdoor driveway and inside lobby. Across the street at the Portola Hotel, cars were displayed inside the hotel and in the park adjacent to the hotel. One can buy a viewing ticket for a smallish fee, or buy a catalogue for a whole lot more, or buy a bidding pass for even more in order to bid on the cars. Auctioned vehicles display a form listing the year, make and model of the car with an estimated range of values. The quality of the cars in terms of rarity and level of preparation was extremely high, certainly the best in the last four or five years. Porsche sales at the RM Auction included a ’61 356 S-90 race car in silver going for $60,000; a matching numbers silver ’58 356A Super with GT modifications sold for $129,250; a ’55 Speedster with a 1750cc 912 motor and front disc brakes with 12 volt conversion, fully restored, sold for $167,500, while a 1958 silver Speedster with “upgrades” was a no sale at $170,000. A red ’62 356B T-6 roadster sold for $170,500. One surprise was an ’81 935/78 “Moby Dick” race car with a modest racing history selling for $550,000. In the good buy category was a fully restored ’67 912 soft window Targa that had an estimated range of $50,000-$70,000 but was sold at $35,200. Russo and Steele sold a ’73 911 RS described as having had a mechanical restoration at a cost of $50,000 plus for $286,000. These may seem like generous numbers until you saw all the Ferraris going for $1 million plus. Even a ’66 Ferrari 330 GT 2+2 sold for $115,000. It wasn’t too long ago that these cars were selling in the $30,000 range.
Friday, Saturday and Sunday at Laguna Seca Raceway, sorry, Mazda Raceway, are the main reason that many people attend these events. Racers sign in on Thursday, practice on Friday and race on Saturday and Sunday in ten lap events. SDR member Stanley Gold had a number of his Shamrock Racing Porsches on display in the paddock and on the track. Among others, he had a 356 Speedster, Abarth GT and a 904. The cars were displayed in the pits with car racing histories set out on sandwich boards. Another SDR racer in attendance was Kaid Marouf, although racing an Alfa Romeo and not a Porsche. On the track, Porsche was well represented in the 1955-1962 GT class. Two 356 Porsche Abarths finished 3rd and 4th behind a 1962 Aston Martin DB4. In the 1973-1982 IMSA class, Ransom Webster of Reno, Nevada, finished 3rd in a 1976 935/K3, and Bruce Canepa was 4th in a ’79 935, behind two large bore Chevrolet racing cars, a Monza and a Corvette.
Jaguar, as the honored marque at the Raceway, had a ton of historically significant cars. The main display tent featured a history of Jaguar Racing with Bob Tullius’ Group 44 race cars in white and green livery, with visual displays and videos recording their racing victories. Outside the tent there were a number of new Jaguars, including the XKR models outfitted with superchargers and super prices. Another exceptional display was the 50th Anniversary of the ’62 Ferrari 250 GTO. There were only 25 or so ‘62 250 GTOs ever built and many of the cars were in attendance. It was a tremendous thrill to see so many of these irreplaceable cars on the track on Saturday. And they were racing each other.
There were more vendors displaying their wares this year than we have seen in the past. Even if the economy is not doing well, you would not believe it based on the displays. A full scale mockup of a private passenger jet was on display, with a line of people waiting to go through the cockpit and passengers’ compartment. The race crowd did seem smaller this year, about the only place where this was true during the week. I heard several complaints about poor organization from racers who complained they had been assigned to a pit where others had been assigned at the same time. For the first time ever there were even empty pit areas. Last year the race’s organizing body declined to continue with management from the founding body, Steve Earle. Earle moved his Historic’s crew to Infineon Raceway in Sonoma and his event is now run in June. For whatever reason that the crowd was down a bit, the quality of the cars and competition on the track was still outstanding. If you had the energy to return to the track on Sunday or opted to go to Pebble Beach for the Concours on Sunday, you were not disappointed there either. Advice for next year? Reserve your hotel room early, get lots of rest before you come, and remember Sunday is the best day to drive as long as you have to leave and arrive early. Going through Los Angeles traffic on Sunday afternoon or evening is impossible. See you next year.
