Our First-Ever Air-Cooled Drive

from August 2023 Anzeiger

by Oregon Region Porsche Club of America

ANZEIGER MARKETPLACE

BY TODD ETCHIESON, PHOTOS BY KAYLA MORRIS AND RAVI RAJARAM

Enjoy the photos. There are more on our Smugmug here: by https://orpca-pix. smugmug.com/2023ORPCA-Events/Air-

On Saturday, July 15, Kurt Fuerstenau organized ORPCA’s first-ever air-cooledonly tour. I was excited when I saw the announcement for this event - as much as I enjoy seeing all types of Porsches, it can sometimes be a bit harrowing to drive the older, more finicky, less powerful air-cooled cars when mixed in with newer wasser-kühlt models with a lot more horsepower. And I’m guessing it can be frustrating for a driver of a newer model to sit on all that horsepower while the air-cooled car in front of you gets up to speed. It was not a long event, just about 90 minutes of driving, starting and ending in Troutdale.

We had a great representation of the air-cooled universe:

• A 356 replica and a 550 Spyder replica (this car is worth a chat with the owner - it actually has all Porsche internals, including a Super 90 engine)

• A beautiful 914-6

• Various 911 models - SCs, Carreras, 964s, and a 993

• A gorgeous 930.

We also saw many of classic aircooled colors - silver, maroon, white, Guards Red of course, and even four shades of blue (Maritime Blue, Gulf Blue, Petrol Blue, and another shade close to Petrol Blue). We even covered all body styles - coupe, cabriolet, Targa, and Spyder.

The route itself was great, incorporating parts of the historic Columbia Gorge Highway, but we also went further south into the hills and crossed both the Sandy and Bull Run Rivers, including a stop near the historic Bull Run Powerhouse, where we took a break, checked out the cars, and took in the beautiful view upriver from the bridge. I was the third car in line, so I often got the thumbs up from oncoming drivers when they realized a long line of classic Porsches was coming towards them. We ended the drive with lunch at Ristorante di Pompello in the center of historic Troutdale, giving us a chance to get to know each other better (and even talk about non-Porsches, like Caterham and Spec Miata race cars).