The best part of the LA Swap Meet Weekend is always Friday’s shop open houses. Some great shops open their doors to let the public in and see the inner workings. Of course, we always love the opportunity to meet with these guys, as many of them are regular customers of ours. Seeing some of the projects they are working on first hand is an awesome opportunity that doesn't come around every day. So, here are the places we visited this Friday.
Stop 1: Steve Hogue Enterprises -
Our first stop of the day was to Steve's shop. Being that they are always the first shop to open up in the morning, and the closest to our hotel makes this a no-brainer. Add in the beautiful metal work that they turn out, and the intricate attention to detail on some of these cars, and you've got a recipe for a great time.
This speedster served as a greeter to their shop, and it's easy to tell that it will be a long haul to get this one back to perfect. It's worth saving, though, and if anyone can do it, it just might be Steve and his crew.
Hey, that steel speedster seat is prettty cool. That little decal looks familiar, too!
Yep, that's a Stoddard NLA part number sticker on that seat. It's probably at least a decade old at this point, though. It's pretty cool to see our name on something like this, though, even if they are all long gone.
What's that front bodywork section from?
Oh, so that's what it's for. How cool is that? You just don't see a 718 RS61 every day.
Stop 2: Callas Rennsport -
Callas promised four 959s, a 911R, and a few 914-6s. Boy did they deliver. Throw in a few Carrera GTs and a handful of 917 bits hanging around the shop, and you've got more than enough reason to go to their open house.
This 914-6 was among the more clean restorations I've ever seen. Everything looked pretty darn correct on it. And that chrome bumper was polished well enough to use as a mirror.
When was the last time you were in the same room as Walter Rohrl's personal 959 Sport? Yeah, that's the level of amazing stuff Callas keeps around their shop. Stunning.
Oh, and by the way, here's 911R #1. Yep, the first 911R ever built.
And here's the amazing flat-six engine that powers it. What is essentially a 906 engine in the back of a racing 911. Utterly amazing.
Stop 3: Klasse 356 -
Klasse Restoration specializes in keeping 356s alive and well, focusing on the maintenance and restorations of cars that really get used—whether it is for tours, shows or even daily driving. Ed keeps a great stock of New, NOS and hard-to-find used parts on his many neat shelves to keep these classics rolling.
Ed Rutherford and his crew at Klasse are working on a top notch restoration of a very neat Pre-A. This early (Either a 52 or 53, even Porsche hasn't figured it out yet) Pre-A coupe was in gorgeous condition after a recent repaint. Now it's just getting ready to be assembled. I can't wait to see the finished product.
Stop 4: Willhoit Auto Restoration -
When you're at Willhoit Auto Restoration, your eyes can't stop darting around for the sheer quality of cars on display. The two that were given the honor of being up on the lift this year were a gorgeous Carrera 2.7 RS, and the car they took to Amelia Island last year, a 356 Carrera 2. Both were quite worthy of the display, and either had engine compartments clean enough to lick.
Here's a few candidates for perfect restorations. The cabriolet looked quite worthy.
Across the street, Willhoit had hired a mobile dynamometer to have folks test their engines. This 356 sounded awesome, causing many standers by to hold their fingers to their ears, and on top of that, it looked like a whole lot of fun to drive.
You really can't go wrong with a near-perfect Sand Beige 67 911S. Probably my favorite color for 911s, and the 67 S is my favorite 911. Yep. This is the one I'd most want to have, I reckon.
And Mr. Willhoit's personal ride. A fuel injected twin-plug 3-liter in a narrow body long-hood car? Oh yes. Oh yes, indeed.
Stop 5: European Collectibles -
It is worth noting that European Collectibles wasn't officially open for their open-house, but they were open for regular business so we stopped in to chat with a few friends and acquaintances in the shop as they prepared for Saturday's big festivities. (Seriously, if you come to LA and don't go to the EC open house, you're missing out!)
This shop is just four-cam heaven. There are so many Fuhrmann-engine powered Porsches in the same building that I'm surprised the universe hasn't imploded yet. At least a dozen of these engines were either already in cars or on engine stands around the shop. If you're looking for the very best in vintage Porsche, you owe it to yourself to stop in to their Costa Mesa shop.
See what I mean?
Yep, there's another one.
The main showroom was packed to the gills with cars that are on a rocket-trajectory in the market these days. Who would have ever thought that a 1989 Speedster would ever be worth anything close to a quarter of a million dollars?
While we were walking around and talking small, this little number was delivered back from the detail shop around the corner. I've seen a dozen or so 904s in the flesh, but every time I see one it feels like my heart skips a beat or two. Without doubt, this is one of the most beautiful forms ever constructed by human hands in the history of humanity. Oh, and it's for sale.
Did you know that Porsche shipped a very limited number of 1974 Carreras to the US? I thought they were all European deliveries, but apparently this is one of them. The paint is supposedly all original, and it looks so early 1970s fabulous.
I always love paint booth photos, and this one is no exception. There's just something great about the contrast of a freshly painted black body in an all white booth. So cool.
Stop 6: California Porsche Restoration -
Because there is so much Porsche action and only so much time in the day, the Stoddard NLA team split off in the morning in order to see a few more shops. The second team visited CPR, and took these photos. Judging by the row of cars on dollys, the folks at California Porsche Restoration staying quite busy, and staying true to their name.
Of course, the finished result is always much nicer to look at, so they had a few of those on display as well.
Various states of re-assembly, these early Porsche colors are amazing to look at. Why don't new cars come in this kind of variety of paint colors?
Stop 8: CarParc USA -
Team 2 also took a visit down to the premises of CarParc USA. It looks like they've got quite a rack of cars down there as well. When you see an early 911 in the offices of a business, you know they mean business.
Even more great colors.
CarParc has this really cool way of displaying cars, too. I'd like to have a similar setup for my own home. It'd probably make oil changes a lot easier, to boot!
