No Radwood event is complete without a smattering of Porsche 924s, 944s, and 968s. The recent Boston event at the Larz Anderson Museum was no exception- there were about a dozen in attendance. Project 944 GTS made the trek from my home in Albany, New York to the event. Though there were quite a number of very nice Porsches in attendance, Radwood brought out some Porsche oddballs. Bringing the weird out of the woodwork is one of the things Radwood is best at. Having Porsches, and everything from a Renault Encore to a BMW M1 on the same show field made for a very fun event.
To my surprise my car was pulled out of the entry line and given a featured parking spot. Apparently my raucous exhaust alerted the nice folks at the PCA that I was coming. My humble 2.5 16-valve was joined in front of the PCA tent by a 924S and a track-oriented 968, all in Guards Red. In most circumstances these three would be oddball transaxle cars, but in Boston they were in peculiar company.
The Oddities
The car above may appear to be a garden-variety 944 at first glance. It is in fact one of 250 Zermatt Silver Celebration Edition cars built for 1988. For the most part the Celebration Edition was par for the course for the 944, albeit with absolutely stellar upholstery.
The checkered pattern Celebration cloth is effectively unobtanium now, and unfortunately it was among the more delicate upholstery options ever offered in a Porsche. In most Celebration Edition cars the material tends to come apart in both high-traffic areas and anywhere the material is exposed to direct sunlight. This example is no exception. Despite the wear, the material still looks absolutely wonderful. Kevin, the owner, also added a 959 Sport-style three spoke wheel rather than the typical four-spoke item.
Parked well away from the road-oriented cars was this Safari-style 924. The owner was originally looking for a 944, but happened across this 924 and decided he liked the skinny-hipped look better. Fortunately for him, even without flares these cars have fairly capacious wheelwells. This allowed for fitment of 27″ light truck offroad tires. The car was lifted using custom-made 2″ aluminum spacers at the front. The rear was raised using the factory torsion bars and custom extended mounts for the rear shocks.
According to the owner the car drives very well, and more so than any other child I saw at the event, his kid was stoked about the car. Cars like this are a great reminder that being an enthusiast isn’t about how much money you can throw at your hobby, but about how much of your enthusiasm you can share. That kid will never forget dad’s lifted 924 as long as he lives.