For a number of years now, we’ve been attending the Porsche 912 Registry’s Rendezvous event. It’s somewhat telling that we keep coming back, as this event is certainly one worth putting on your calendar year after year. Admittedly we love Porsche’s 912 as an extension of the 356 line of cars, but it is often the owners of these cars that really makes the difference. If the 912 owners that attend the Rendezvous weren’t some of the nicest folks we have ever met, we probably wouldn’t be coming back every year, no matter how fun the cars are.
We say this a lot, but the people in the Porsche community are often so enthusiastic and exceptionally nice that they make us proud to be a part of the same community. With almost 50 cars in attendance this weekend, there were a whole lot of 912 enthusiasts with whom to shake hands and talk shop. We enjoy discussing our cars, and our parts, and the community in general, so we were as happy to be there as the group was happy to have us.
Wednesday and Thursday of the event were rather informal, featuring some driving in the Santa Cruz mountains, as well as a few opportunities to taste the local fare. Some restaurants, breweries, vineyards, and watering holes were our destinations. The journey to get there was often a fun one, and there was plenty of relaxation and revelry when we got there. A fun couple of days to ramp up to the main event.
Friday was the first true day of the planned event. Some folks arrived Wednesday afternoon, a gaggle of So Cal folks arrived Thursday afternoon, so we were all congregated by Friday morning. With a relatively early start, we struck out to attack the mountain roads once again. There was a heavy mist in the morning, so the roads were all heavily coated in wet, and occasionally some leaves or pine needles coated a corner. The entire group was driving spiritedly, but certainly not beyond speeds allowable by conditions.
The big group was actually split off into three smaller and more manageable groups. Group 1 was given a route just over two hours on the road. Group 2 had a similar route, though slightly shorter at about an hour and a half. Group 3 was for folks who didn’t want to get up early, and had a 45 minute trek. We all arrived at about the same time to our lunch stopover at a wonderfully outfitted mountainside vineyard.
After lunch we all trundled back to the hotel for an afternoon tech session. The tech session, held at a local Porsche shop, concerned bodywork and paint. Examples were given and proper techniques were shown. If you were there, perhaps now you know enough about body and paintwork that you’re confident to repaint your own 912. Maybe not.
Saturday we awoke nice and early for a 912 invasion at the nearest weekly Cars & Coffee event in Capitola. It’s not often that a local Cars & Coffee gets a dozen 912s to show up, so there were a ton of people milling about checking out the club’s offerings. In among the hot rods and vintage iron was a gaggle of early Porsche coupes, and that’s enough to attract attention.
We all left the C&C event to head over to Canepa Motorsports facility in Scotts Valley just a few miles down the road. Canepa was gracious enough to offer their parking lot as host location for the Rendezvous annual car show. Splitting the 912s apart by year, with Targas and Outlaws getting their own classes, the voting began. Everyone voted for their favorite among each class as well as a “Best in Show”. The awards were to be presented that evening at the banquet.
The banquet was a lovely affair with excellent locally-sourced food, excellent locally-sourced wines, and good friends. Being that this was the 15th anniversary of the Rendezvous, there was a running slideshow of photos from all of the past events (we even had a few photos of our own photos included). There were door prizes and giveaways, games and awards. Conversation flowed effortlessly. Every year the group seems to grow, but every year we feel more and more like old friends. It is the cars that bring us together, but the people that keep us coming back. Another lovely Rendezvous in the books for 2016, bring on the next one!
For more of our photos from the weekend, check out our Facebook page.
