PCA

Corey Johnson preps his beautiful 356 Carrera 2 GS before the Concours. (Photo by B McLaughlin)The expression, “Everyone loves a Parade,” was true for those of us attending the 56^th Porsche Parade in Savannah, GA. Parade is a wonderful way to connect with Porsche friends from around the world, as well as participate in enjoyable activities, and excellent meals.

Savannah is a beautiful old city, established as a colony on Savannah’s waterfront in 1733. The riverfront has played an important part in Georgia’s history as colonial port, exporter of cotton, or tourist destination. The last riverfront cotton office closed in 1956, and the revitalization of the waterfront area began in 1977.  The Westin Hotel and Convention Center, site for the Parade, are located on Hutchison Island, across the narrow shipping channel that leads to Savannah Harbor. Huge freighters laden with containers passed close to the convention center frequently.

I arrived an hour and a half prior to the start of Registration on Sunday, and found my friend, Susan Brown Parade Registrar, already at work. Susan gets more done in a day than most people get done in a month. In addition to being Parade Registrar, she is editor of the award winning San Diego Region newsletter, and is HR Director for her international software company, as well as many other things I don’t recall. Susan put me to work as soon as she saw me. There was a huge rush at 8:00 AM when the doors opened, but registration moved very smoothly. The morning saw many friends from across the US greeting each other, which is a particular pleasure at Parade.

Sunday, Concours Prep day, dawned bright and beautiful, but by late morning the sky darkened bringing thunder, lightning, rain, along with the constant humidity. Fortunately, the cars were inside the spacious, air-conditioned convention center garage. The work that goes into preparing these cars is enormous.  I was able to see first hand as I volunteered two four-hour shifts on Sunday. Fellow volunteers, Tilly and Taxi entertained the folks in the busy garage and made the day lots of fun as Tilly pushed Taxi (wearing a race helmet) on a cart to hand out water, as well as other antics.

Corey Johnson, from Minneapolis, MN, had his beautiful 356 Carrera 2 GS on jack stands with wheels off so he could clean every last speck of dirt from the underside of the car. The car looked stunning and it was obvious that this car would score well.  Corey ended up missing top score by one tenth of one point: 298 points. 

Skip & Leslie Shirley with grandson Jared Morrison with their trophy winning 1963 356 T6. (Photo by B McLaughlin)Skip and Leslie Shirley, multi-time Concours winners, had their secret weapon with them, grandson Jared Morrison. Jared said that he could get his hands in all of the tight places to make sure they were clean. Although he is only in middle school, Jared said that he is hooked on the Porsche event.  Their 1963 356 T6 took the Gmund trophy with 298.1 points. Skip even went so far as to have tire covers to prevent scuffing the tires when the car was moved. It was a special pleasure visiting with Skip and Leslie, as I had worked closely with them on activities in the San Diego Region.

Another special car in the prep area was a 1973 911S brought from Indiana by Candyce Jones. The 911S was purchased new by her late husband, Jim.  She said that the car sat in the garage for eighteen months before friends encouraged her to show the car at Parade. Candyce brought the car and entered it in the Concours as a tribute to Jim. She handed out flyers telling the story of Jim and the car, as well as describing her preparations for showing the car.  I was especially pleased to watch Candyce receive a special award for her effort during the Concours Banquet.

Another car that caught my eye was a 2011 GT3 RS Club Sport World Challenge car. Owner, James Cambron, said that only seventy of these cars were built and that PCNA brought six to the US. The car was detuned to use one hundred octane fuel and produces 495 horse power. Ask me about the story James related to me about showing up on highway patrol radar at 9,000 RPM in sixth gear…..

Mark Shevitz, long time master of ceremonies at Parades, was funnier than ever at the Welcome Party. Mark works extremely hard to make every event fun and entertaining for those attending.  Although Peter Porsche was unable to attend due to health reasons, Porsche AG was well represented by Sandra Meyer, world-wide club coordinator, and Paul Gregor, club coordinator for the US, along with the crew from Porsche Classic, that restored the fabulous 1973 911T raffle car.

Monday, Concours Day, dawned gray and threatening, but the thunder storm of the previous day was forgotten as the Sun welcomed all to the Concours d’ Elegance in Forsyth Park. The park had acres of beautiful Porsches lined up, some for display and many for judging. Of special interest were the race cars, which included a 917K, a 962, a 910, a Brumos 917/10, a Brumos 934, and a 966 Spyder built by Gunnar Racing.

Following the Concours, Sharon Neidel, Zone 7 Rep, held a reception for Zone 7 attendees at her hotel a few block from Forsyth Park.  It was so nice to meet others from Zone 7 for the first time. There were about fifteen PCA members from the Zone attending the Parade.

Tuesday turned out to be a day of relaxation.  I discovered a Starbucks hidden in the back of the hotel lobby, thereafter starting each day at the coffee palace. I toured vendor row, made purchases at the popular Goodie Store (wondering how I would fit all of the stuff in my suitcase for the trip home on Delta Airlines), participated in the ice cream social, and watched PCA Executive Director Vu Nguyen skillfully control RC cars around the Traxxis RC track. Traxxis was a major vendor and had a huge display of their RC cars, and offered lessons to anyone wanting to try the cars.  Other activities this day were the TSD Rally, Driving tour to Hilton Head Island, Michelin Drive & Compare, driving tour of Jekyll Island, and a bus tour to Brumos Autowerks in Jacksonville, FL.

On Wednesday a tour bus took forty of us to Robert Irvine’s Eat! restaurant on Hilton Head Island, SC, for a cooking class. Tom Brown, Parade Coordinator, appointed me “Bus Captain,” saying that if I left anyone at the restaurant he would fire me.  Tom and I enjoyed many humorous times together during SDR events. Robert Ervine was traveling for the Food TV Network, so his business partner Lee Lucier presented the program.  Lee regaled us with many humorous stories while presenting recipies that included: Hominy Hoppin John Salad, a delicious cold salad, and She Crab Soup (I enjoyed this so much that I ordered it for dinner back at the hotel).  Of particular interest was Lee’s preference for Porsche Design knives made by Kron. These have a form fitting horizontal handle. After demonstrating the recipies and serving samples, Lee then introduced us to onsite chef Jared McElroy, who demonstrated how to make Caramel Key Lime Flan. While we were eating the delicious flan, I asked Jared what the basic steps to becoming a good home cook might be. Without skipping a beat he responded that mastering salt and pepper is the key to success.  He suggested that we make soup from scratch without salt, and then add a teaspoon of salt at a time to determine the amount required.  Both Lee and Jared said that a properly prepared meal would not need additional flavoring at the table. I guess that is about as basic as it gets.

That night, the Rally Banquet included a Casino Night for the first time. Attendees were given slips of paper worth twenty-five thousand dollars, and after dinner had the opportunity to make bets on a wide variety of games.  Any money retained at the end of the gaming session could be traded for raffle tickets. It was a fun-filled evening. I put all of my winnings in the “all expense paid trip to Germany”, as did most everyone else.  You might guess that since I’m writing this article at home in Sparks that my number was not called. I should have put my tickets in the seat belt holder jar.