We organized a series of shop tours to area shops both before and after the LA Lit Meet. Here's a bunch of images we took--we are still finding more!
We started out the Thursday tours with a long bus ride down to Fallbrook California to visit CPR. It's been raining a lot in Southern California and the normally-brown hills were blooming with color.
Next, we stopped at Autos International in Escondido to see their upholstery shop. Always top-notch work there.
Next up, a visit with John Benton at Benton Performance. They really rolled out the red carpet for us, with a great lunch and goodie bags for our Bus Tour guests. Thanks, John!
While one bus headed South on Thursday, another one went North. Our first stop on the Points North Bus was TRE Motorsport
We then stopped at John Esposito's shop, Espo Resto. John is a true craftsman and had a lot of great examples of his work on display and in process.
A stop at LA Dismantlers in Sun Valley was next on the itinerary. Here, we learned how the cars are brought in and parted out, or sometimes sold whole. Their business is mostly in the later model cars, but we did see a handful of G-body 911s.
The open house at Sierra Madre Collection was next. They shut down an adjacent side street and had plenty of excellent Porsches on display.
Beverly Hills Car Club isn't in Beverly Hills and it isn't a Car Club, but they did show us a wide selection of classic and collector cars, some nice, some that would be nice projects.
Friday Morning, we embarked on a Tour of the South Bay and Torrance area. We had three busses running this route. Our first stop was Callas Rennsport in Torrance.
Tony Callas is the go-to guy when it comes to working on your 959. He had one in his shop this week—so interesting!
We took a ride up the street to visit Klasse 356 and shop-owner, Ed Rutherford.
In the same complex, there is Nicolas Hunziker's gallery of fine automotive art. Nicolas had everything on display—plus great snacks!
A perennial favorite is a stop at Willhoit Restoration in Long Beach. John has facilities on both sides of the street and there were dozens of concours cars on display. Simply stunning work.
Next up was the open house at Pelican Parts. Founder Wayne Dempsey was there showing off his toy collection, like this 962.
After the LA Lit Meet on Saturday, we had a bus tour that ran down to Costa Mesa. It's first stop was CarParcUsa, an early 911 specialist.
Jim Liberty of Liberty Motorsports had his shop doors open for a peak at some cool cars.
Our annual pilgrammage to European Collectibles is always fun.
On Saturday, we also had a second bus going to the Open House at Emory Motorsports in North Hollywood. Emory's shop just moved and his new place is outstanding!
Rod Emory's latest creation is this twin-turbocharged monster. It's powered by Emory's bespoke 911-based four-cylinder and has a later model 911 suspension under it. Fantastic!
