Canepa Design, Yowza!!! Options

[Dave_Darling]

This was the second time the local PCA was able to organize a tour of Canepa Design. Wow--just wow!! If you like historic Porsche race cars, or historic non-Porsche race cars, or really hot street cars, motorcycles, or even pimped-out SUVs, you have got to see this place!

The 917/10 and 962 were very cool. Ditto the 935s, including one of the original "Moby Dick" cars. The 964 Speedster and recent Turbo likewise. An F1 car, a Nissan GTP car, an old dirt tracker (which Canepa competed in!), a 240Z competition GTU car, some NASCAR stuff, all sorts of neat machinery was on hand.

Oh, and did I mention that they had ten 959s there?

We looked around at the cars in the showroom. Then we went into the workshop to look at some other interesting machinery. From there, we poked around in the warehouse. More cars and yet more cars, plus interesting parts and molds for some of the fiberglass parts... It really was amazing!

If you get a chance in the future, I highly recommend going!

Oh, and for the (IMG:style_emoticons/default/thisthreadisworthlesswithoutpics.gif) crowd--

http://www.flickr.com/photos/58802017@N00/...57600110439815/

--DD

[carreraguy]

Nice pics Dave!

I was on the PCA tour in 2005 about 6 months or so before he opened it to the public - here's my thread:
http://www.914world.com/bbs2/index.php?sho...2&hl=Canepa

Canepa was the tour guide then and had a bunch of anecdotes re: his successful efforts to get the 959 "Federalized". Quite a facility! A must visit for any car nut! I posted a bunch of pics on the Bird too.

[BigD9146gt]

Canepa was the tour guide then and had a bunch of anecdotes re: his successful efforts to get the 959 "Federalized". Quite a facility! A must visit for any car nut! I posted a bunch of pics on the Bird too.

Too bad it had to go that far though... my friends father had 3 959's in the Bay Area 10 years prior to canepa's effort. He had the connections and knowledge to make those cars legal in the states (two of the buyers being canepa & bill gates). I'm not sure exactly what happened, but the rich guys reverted back to tight ass status and didn't want to pay my friends dad what they'd already agreed on... so the cars sat in a container, on the docks in SF or something till canepa murdered a few.

I guess I just don't understand why people destroy low production/homologinized cars for either movie entertainment or because the country in which you reside cannot recognize a world renown auto manufacturer when they see one! Honestly, if you can afford one of these cars, you can afford to vacation to another country and drive it there... maybe someplace where speed laws apply for such a car!?

Sorry, done with rant.

Cheers, Don.

Oh ya, those rubber dampers are to reduce the shock load... when you have that much power on hand and that much rubber touching the pavement, CV's couldn't hold up.

[Cap'n Krusty]

Canepa was the tour guide then and had a bunch of anecdotes re: his successful efforts to get the 959 "Federalized". Quite a facility! A must visit for any car nut! I posted a bunch of pics on the Bird too.

Too bad it had to go that far though... my friends father had 3 959's in the Bay Area 10 years prior to canepa's effort. He had the connections and knowledge to make those cars legal in the states (two of the buyers being canepa & bill gates). I'm not sure exactly what happened, but the rich guys reverted back to tight ass status and didn't want to pay my friends dad what they'd already agreed on... so the cars sat in a container, on the docks in SF or something till canepa murdered a few.

I guess I just don't understand why people destroy low production/homologinized cars for either movie entertainment or because the country in which you reside cannot recognize a world renown auto manufacturer when they see one! Honestly, if you can afford one of these cars, you can afford to vacation to another country and drive it there... maybe someplace where speed laws apply for such a car!?

Sorry, done with rant.

Cheers, Don.

Oh ya, those rubber dampers are to reduce the shock load... when you have that much power on hand and that much rubber touching the pavement, CV's couldn't hold up.

When I worked at Porschop in LA, Otis Chandler was one of our regular customers. While we never became close friends, we saw each other occasionally over the years. I was at his place shortly after he got his 959. He was laughing about what it took to bring his in and to be able to drive it on the street. ATTITUDE! He went to the DOT and EPA and said, in effect, "What can WE do to get this thing done? Can you help me?" He said Bill Gates and Paul Allen went to the DOT and the EPA and said, in effect, "We're rich and we're gonna do this". The absolute WORST thing you can tell a bureaucrat is you're gonna do something whether he likes it or not. Those cars sat, Otis drove his.

The Cap'n