We Spend A Memorable Porsche Weekend In Los Angeles

Every year, the VW/Porsche Toy And Literature Swap Meet weekend gets bigger and bigger. Last year, I decided to drive my way down the spine of California to the swap meet, and it was a nightmare. Between the rain, the 8 hour drive, and the cost of parking, it was decided that it would be better to fly down this year. Besides, by flying, I’m limiting the amount of unnecessary stuff I can bring back with me, which is always good. Ticket booked, bags packed, time away from work scheduled, I flew down on Thursday evening for an early morning wake up to get things started. There’s so much to do that this is a three (some people make it four) day trip.

Friday –

On Friday, the local Porsche restoration shops all have their annual open-houses, and it’s a race to get from one to the next in order to see them all. Friday is one of the busiest and most fraught days, mostly because you have to deal with the SoCal traffic, and all of those crazy highway interchanges. That said, that single day of travel can net you visuals of more Porsches than you’ve likely seen in a single day in your entire life. Literally hundreds of air-cooled Porsche favorites dot the landscape in every direction, and some little groups coalesce around those shops for a while before migrating to another shop. I managed to make it to 6 shops on Friday, and spent about an hour at each one. I can tell you, it wasn’t enough.

Stop 1 – Steve Hogue Enterprises

Hogues shop is the de-facto home of lengthy and meticulous metal work. Their work is second to none, but be prepared to wait, and to pay for it when its done. You know when you walk up to the shop and there is a beautifully neglected 356 Speedster out front, that you’re in the right place. This shop is pushed back off of the main road by quite a bit, and it’s a small space, but though they be small, they are genuine craftsmen of the highest degree.

The back of the shop is loaded with all of the old school metalshaping tools you might need to do their kind of work, and either side of the ‘aisle’ is filled up with long term metalwork projects. There’s a 911R, a 718 RSK project, and a number of other non-Porsches including a couple of Shelby Cobras, an old Jag, and even an old Lancia Aprilia.

This RSK frame was here last year, too, and it looks like little progress has been made. A project like this isn’t something you take lightly, and there is probably a lot of non-metalwork work going into this one. Things like research and parts searching and measuring other cars takes a lot of time. It’ll look great when done, I’m sure.

Stop 2 – Callas Rennsport

Callas Rennsport never fails to be anything but stunning in their annual open house. This year they said that they would have a handful of 959s available for everyone to view, a couple of Carrera GTs, a handful of 914-6s, and even a 911R, not to mention the 356s and early 911s sitting around. Not only did they deliver that, but much much more. They had a few engines on stands that some of the technicians were giving talks about, they had some of the cars, including Walter Rohrl’s personal 959 Sport, the white one, up on the rack. That particular Porsche was so nice underneath that it still had it’s perfect waxy undercoating intact from the factory.

This 959 engine was dropped out of one of the cars on site for a clutch change. From the sounds of things, this was a much more involved job than in your average 911, needing a lot of time, and a lot of money, to have the job done properly.

As a lover of all things long-hood 911, this 1968 911R (Chassis number 1) is always a treat to see. Much of the car, including the paint, looks perfect, but it seems that it’s always a bit of a work in progress every time I see it. I really hope this one shows up for Rennsport Reunion this fall. The engine in the 911R is essentially the same as what was available in the 906 Carrera 6 racing car, and those big carburetors and high stacks look so good.

Another favorite early Porsche of mine, the 914-6, was also on display in mid-restoration. This one looked absolutely perfect, which is a nice change from the usual rusty and beat up ones I’ve become accustomed to seeing. The chrome was mirror-like, and the paint was deep and beautiful. This is a quality restoration that the new owner should be ecstatic with when it is done.

I can’t say I’ve ever seen the underside of a Carrera GT before, so this was truly a treat. The gorgeous flat carbon weave underbody trays make for an amazing sight, but the rear air evacuation tunnels are spectacular. The way that the rear lower control arms are shaped to disturb the air as little as possible is fantastic. You can tell that a lot of engineering was involved here. What a fantastic Porsche this is.

Immediately to the right of the Carrera GT was this 356 Karmann Hardtop “Notchback” Coupe. These are still a little bit unloved among the 356 faithful, but for some reason I’ve always gravitated toward them. I think they are unique and strange enough to be quite interesting.

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Stop 3 – Klasse 356

Ed Rutherford’s Klasse 356 shop is an interesting little shop. They have been doing quality work and selling quality parts for a while now, and this is where the action happens. You can see some of their meticulously organized shelves in the background stocked to the brim with quality NOS and reproduction vintage Porsche parts.

They had this car in the middle of a restoration fresh from the paint shop. An early bent-window 356 Coupe, either 52 or 53, this Porsche looked fantastic. The bodywork prep had to have been perfect in order for the paint to look this nice. Someone spent a lot of quality hours making this gorgeous grey look just so.

Stop 4 – Willhoit Auto Restoration

After finding a parking place about two blocks away, the walk up to Willhoit’s shop was almost like walking among the rows of a car show. Not only do the shops have great cars on display, but the cars that enthusiasts drive to the open houses are sometimes as exciting as the stuff being restored. This R Gruppe monster was one of the best cars I saw all weekend. Truly gorgeous.

Further down the street was this beautiful duo of pretty early and late 356 examples.

In addition to the gorgeously completed cars in the other room, Willhoit even displays some of their works in progress. A speedster, a Cabriolet, and a Coupe makes for a not too bad lineup.

In the “finished product” room, Willhoit had the 356 Carrera 2 that they had just barely finished last year, and it still looks just as beautiful. The car competed at the Amelia Island concours last year, and it still looks 100% show ready. I loved the ability to walk around under one of the most meticulously prepared twin-cam 356 in the country.

Part of the appeal of going to Willhoit’s open house (aside from their delicious hot dog, bratwurst, and hamburger luncheon) is that they trot out a portable dynamometer for anyone to give their car a run. This particular 356 was one of the loudest cars I’ve heard in quite some time, and it looked pretty stout for a little flat four. I’ll bet it’s a hoot to drive.

Speaking of ‘a hoot to drive’, it seems like every time I go to a Porsche event, I see Mr. John Eiskamp’s gorgeous 912 hot rod. This Porsche is one of the most beautiful shades of paint I’ve ever seen, reminiscent of the dirty red Georgia clay of Road Atlanta. More than that, though, it’s the detail work that makes this stand out over every other early 900 series car, including the 356 Carrera front and rear deco strips (these have no rubber inserts), Euro front signal lights, and 1973 911 black horn grilles. Every time I see this Porsche, I see something new I hadn’t noticed before. If you get up close to it, do yourself a favor and check out the interior. It’s spectacular.

In another bout of spectacular, this is Mr. Willhoit’s personal hot rod. It sports a 3-liter flat six with glorious velocity stack fuel injection and modified cylinder heads to add in motorsport-style twin-spark. I can’t imagine how much fun this car is to drive, and to make it even cooler, Willhoit has a matching surfboard that he apparently uses regularly, being just a short drive from the ocean.

Stop 5 – Liberty Motorsports

After our stop off at Willhoit, we took a drive down to Costa Mesa to visit some friends at European Collectibles. We got a private tour over there, of which you will hear much more about shortly. Just around the corner, quite literally, from EC, is Jim Liberty’s little part of the Porsche restoration game. His shop is a bit smaller than most, but he only works on a couple of cars at a time, and does a bang up job of it. Case in point, this gorgeous light blue cabriolet on the lift. This cab was unique in that it was ordered without a soft top, opting to use only the factory delivery hard top. Either way, it’ll look gorgeous.

This other cabriolet in his shop was a barn find car that was mothballed more than 30 years ago, and was just dragged out last fall. The car wasn’t perfect, but aside from a few minor niggles, it looked pretty darn good. It certainly was stored nicely, as there was no damage to any of the interior bits. According to Jim, the car arrived to him with ‘some assembly required’. I’d say it looks like a great 3-season driver.

 Saturday –

Out in front of the Hilton, East Coast restorers extraordinaire “Road Scholars” brought along a pair of gorgeous early Porsches. They are one of perhaps five shops in the country that I would say do the best restoration work. On par with, or better than, many of the shops in the Los Angeles area. Always top quality.

Saturday starts bright and early at the Airport Hilton for the swap meet itself. This is officially a literature and toy swap meet, but people bring a little bit of everything. Vendors show up with parts both used and new, people bring poster boards offering whole cars for sale, and there are some restoration shops that use their booths only as a space to talk to prospective customers. A little bit of everything shows up at this event. It’s huge.

Looking for Tamiya models, hand painted tchotchkes, or even desk lamps made of crankshafts? Chances are likely that you’ll find it here. If you don’t find something you’re looking for, ask around, as someone here knows a guy that has what you need.

Do you need an original parts book for your 935 race car? This one can be yours for only 500 big ones. On another table, I saw a rebuild manual for a Fuhrmann four-cam engine with a four-digit price tag on the cover. I have one on my archives shelf, do you think it’s really worth that?

You see, that’s part of the problem of events like this. If you don’t buy anything, and don’t plan on buying anything, you might see something you already own with a massive number on its price sticker, and think “maybe I should bring some of my own stuff here next year”. Dangerous.

One of the great things about this event, though, is seeing all of the really cool Porsche people out there in the scene. It wasn’t hard to spot Nicolas Hunziker, as he had a booth selling his shirts, prints, stickers, and posters, but I also exchanged pleasantries with Jerry Seinfeld, Magnus Walker, Jeff Zwart, Wayne Dempsey (Pelican also had a booth), and so so many more Porsche enthusiasts I’ve met over the years. It’s a great time, and a great event.

Saturday after the swap meet is European Collectible’s open house, which is fantastic. We opted to go on Friday because Saturday is so jam packed that it’s difficult to get any kind of decent photos of their cars. They slam literally hundreds of people in there for a few hours to show off their gorgeous shops, beautiful cars for sale, and provide a bunch of free tacos and hamburgers. I still went, because it’s a fantastic time, but more to peruse rather than to report. You’ll see more soon.

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Sunday –

Following a day at the Airport Hilton for one swap meet, a grittier and dirtier parts swap meet crops up early in the morning on Sunday over in Anaheim. This one is definitely worth going to see, as some really rare bits will crawl their way out of people’s attics and garages and basements. In addition to that, there’s a ‘car show’ aspect of this event as well, as they pack dozens and dozens of Porsches into the “German Club” courtyard.

Inside the tent, there are a handful of vendors, including Pelican Parts. Owner of Pelican, Mr. Wayne Dempsey, trotted out one of his 962 race cars in a bid to attract a crowd.

And attract a crowd it did, especially when he started it up around noon time.

Outside of the tent was where the real deals were to be found, however, as there were some really neat parts that might help someone finish their 100 points restoration, or their hot-rod.

Speaking of hot-rods, this decklid looked so gorgeous to me. If I had a 911 or 912 hot-rod, I’d put this decklid on the back of it with absolutely zero changes whatsoever. A mesh grille would set it off perfectly. Patina is something I really enjoy on a car, and this decklid has earned it.

It’s times like this that I wish I’d had more room in my bags to get these BBS TurboFan wheel covers home with me. They were so 1980s cool that I would love to give them a good wash and hang them on my office wall.

This was a very busy weekend, but a very fun one, for sure. I plan to make the pilgrimage every year, as the quality level of both the cars and the bits for sale seem to increase every time. If you live somewhere cold and nasty, it’s always worth a trip to sunny SoCal for a weekend of Porsche pleasure.

We’d be remiss if we didn’t thank Stoddard NLA LLC for inviting us to tag along. They brought hundreds of really cool pieces from their Cleveland, Ohio warehouse to display on both Saturday and Sunday. It’s hard to miss their display, in fact, as it was the largest one of either day’s swap meets. Gorgeous stuff, too.

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