I just got back an hour ago from a vacation in South Carolina.

Lots of backed up mail after a week, but I went straight for Pano & the Parade results. Of course, me being me, I went straight for the concours results.

Total dissappointment! Not a single stock, or even mildly modified 914 tok its class - not one!

What happened? Only 90 plus cars entered in the entire event & none of you west coast or midwest people made the show?
Pat

There was an ocean of silver 996, Boxters and Cayennes. It was sad - and boring.

Other than the historical section of *maybe* 20 cars, there were probably only 6 to 10 cars that held my interest. This will frustrate you - the most prominately displayed car as you entered the main field was a heavily heavily modified 356 - fenders cut and widened, the custom wheels were made by welding 16" 356 inners to chevy truck dually outer rims. It was one of the coolest Porsche hot rods I have ever seen - but staged as the first car on the first row as you enter a concour?

It was pretty sad. I would love to know how the local and national organizers feel about how successful the show was.

I hear you...and I remeber my 78 Aspen Parade, with all of the glorious racing machines of the previous era. But no hacked up Porsches. Well, maybe a914/6 or two.
I also thought today that Pano only speaks to the class winners. Having placed a second, as well as horrible third, I realized that there may have been some "placers", which Pano no longer plauds. So, anyone in that mix?
Pat

Hi Scott! you talk`n about that blue 356(Gesetzloser) from Colorado ....those are spare wheels from a 928s4 ....Story in August 2009 Excellence...and a 914 did win its class in Modified ...Car was built by Patrick Motorsports owned by a guy from Cali....PS I was there with my 914

Com'on now Scotty we ALL had a good time at your place!!!
Mornin Pat!!!
Yes It Was Sad!!But in many ways it was full-filling, but short..It took maybe
a bit over 2 hours to 'buzz' the field of cars and then another hour to go
back 'over' them again to recheck your faves....
I knew a fair amount of the older local PCA'ers and made a point to talk to
them and go to a few tech sessions and the goodie store etc. and just relax up there..The setting was fantastic and the job the commitee did was outstanding..
I had a WONDERFULL NO >AWESOME chat with my concour hero
Jon Paterek...That alone to me was worth the price of admission..!!
OH and a great chat with our 914 PCA Guru Mr. Mayo...!!
IF not for our Colorado owners entries the 'Field' of cars would have been cut by
close to 20%..especially the special interest cars...
most of the few 914's were hidden for auto x and the one orig Red '6' was in the 'Show ' area..so the 914's did not have much of a voice up there......
I guess most of us 'Teenerz' are workin stiffs, and a week of our time up there
is a bit expen$ive and time consuming...add to that the economic situation..
there was some of our local guys DRIVE theirs up to the concour..
BUT>>> you know how at Parades you go to the parking lot at the concour
and check out those cars??? NO GO..everyone had to take a bus in....
to the golf course...The Cali cars should have come up or even Ariz cars..
but no show.....(my 73 still needs paint to enter..and my 75 project is sucking up all my 914 reserves for $$$)...we had a few (very few) out of state 'Teenerz'
show up..But the ones that did had fun!!Orthobiz being one...
THIS IS> the last LOCAL event planned Parade..from now on National will
run the entire show.....
Porsche factory had a tent at the concour which was okay but not much
for cars brought in....
All in all nice but skimpy ..STILL very well done and I would rather
do a Parade than go to Disneyland anytime....

Hiya!!
Nope - the biege coupe - litterally the very first car on the main row. It was absolutely KILLER - but not anywhere close to anything concour.

Rex, having everyone up at the house under the premise of playing cars was absolutely the best time for me. I love the fact that we had folks from outside of the normal colorado group. The following weekend the nieghbor came by and said we did a good job at "classing up the neigborhood". I really hope we can do something like that again with everyone. I promise to learn how to BBQ better....

Pat, yes, the actual show was pretty weak - but I forgot to say that regardless, I did have a really good time.

Call me a "geezer", but the most memorable Parades I've been to were designed for gearheads & weenies. My first Parade - car junkies - no kids events, it was a down & dirty CAR week. And it left plenty of time for touring.

You had 3 events - THREE! Concours, Rally & Auto-x. Everything else was free/fun time. The events were designed around Porsche competition (with the exception of the golf event). I know that some ofyou will "diss" me for this, but the Parade was designed to be a gearhead gathering. It's lost its purpose, but so has Porsche. Too bad.
Pat

I can attest that Scott's BBQ skills are better than he says. My buddy John and I had an awesome time.

Amazes me to think that I could have driven my car, entered it and won first place! You're right Pat, there were "no" 914's there essentially...

Paul

Yep. Upmarket. Just like VW.

It sucks. I'll be a geezer at 28.

Pat they do a tri-athalon here in the NNJR pca. Same events as described along with a BBQ. But since I started the CW thing in 01, I noticed a big drop off in 914 attendance. THIS SUNDAY PAT... VW show Flanders NJ.

It’s really not surprising to me that the 914 is not hugely represented. Unless someone has a car like yours Pat that has been maintained for a very long time, a “normal” 914 (not a GT, factory 6, 916, race pedigree, etc etc) is just not a practical choice to restore to a competitive concour level – unless you are a very talented craftsman that can do the work on your own and do not factor in their own labor as part of the cost. I love 914’s. I just could not justify throwing 30-50k into a true competitive concour restoration knowing the value of the restored car wont offset it – or even break even. As well, probably the larger issue is that there are simply to many other options of cars that would cost a similar amount to restore that not only will bring a far greater ROI, but also have a much larger following of enthusiasts making them always much easier to sell. This site is great example of the real “world”. 99% of the restorations on this site have mods to both the suspension and engine. Proabably 85% have significant mods (flares, 6 conversions, etc). So, if such a small percentage of the actual true 914 enthusiasts are restoring the cars back to stock, you can imagine how small the percentage is of overall Porsche folks who would take the plunge on a true concour resto. Would many own one as a toy/race car? You bet – and thankfully – as this is the group that supports the parts vendors.

It kinda sucks, but it is just is what it is… a 914.

A bit off topic, but the Audi guys really have it bad. My brother is very involved with the Ur Quattro Coupe and original S4 cars (the big bodied 89-92 version). These guys dump hoards of money into these huge horsepower builds and either blow them up and start over, or sell them for simply nothing. My brothers car had something like 25-30k dumped into the motor and suspension of his car. He bought it for 7500.00 a year or so ago and has since put another 5-10k into the thing in the past year – and all of that has been hot rodding – not any sort of needed repairs. He thinks it is probably still worth no more than 10k…. but it is realllllllllly fun - and still worth as much as they guys who have the perfectly preserved examples in their club. Heck, he just bought a near perfect, unmolested S6 wagon with under 50k miles to use as his daily driver - it is like a brand new car. It cost him less than 7k to buy and ship it to Colorado from the east coast.

Amazes me to think that I could have driven my car, entered it and won first place! You're right Pat, there were "no" 914's there essentially...

Paul


I was there with mine and the black 914(mod) won hes class ...No you could not have won! you have to have 3 or more cars to make a class! you would have been put in with the same year 911 group.Thats why i didnt enter my car ...Just so ya know

Understand what you're saying - it's been that way for years, and I personally have no problem with it. But that's just me. Every show I've ever entered, I intended to win the top spot. Sometimes it happens, most not.

Point is,I've whipped Ferraris & just about everything else in multi-marque events. Why, because they are smug & expect a win for just showing up.

But when it comes to the Parade, there are very few smug entrants. They are serious, prepared & to be taken cautiously. In rare circumstances, you will get bumped into another class. But, if you're prepared to whip the snot out of anyone, you can hold your own.

Just sorry to see that no one stepped up to the plate this year, that's all. All it would have taken was 3 of you, and I know of many that I wouldn't take lightly, to go for it. Think several of you really missed the boat here.
Pat