Zoneferst

Zonefest – The Zone Festival

It took two years to outlast the pandemic challenges. After waiting it out, the ten Florida Regions and the Puerto Rico Region of Porsche Club of America came together to celebrate ZONEFEST!

Zonefest is a gathering of the Regions for each PCA Zone. Our Zone 12 typically holds an annual event; however, with health and safety concerns, the 2020 and 2021 gatherings were cancelled. With improving conditions, Zonefest 2022 was held over Memorial Day weekend in Melbourne, Florida.

Gold Coast Region was represented by roughly twenty members of the total, which approached 200 attendees. Many folks arrived early Friday afternoon— primarily the concours participants—to take advantage of the car washing opportunity at the American Muscle Car Museum (AMCM) maintenance building. Others that came in early visited a few of the local attractions, such as the Kennedy Space Center just a few miles up US 1 in Merritt Island.

The official kickoff party for Zonefest ’22 was a welcome dinner hosted by Porsche Melbourne. Attendees were treated to a fiesta-style taco bar and a live band. Zone 12 Region participants mingled and reconnected over cocktails, including the requisite margaritas! Porsche Melbourne is a Premier Porsche dealership and they had quite a few previously owned vehicles on display in the dealership. Porsche Melbourne’s new car sales volume is roughly fifty Porsches sold every month. With the exceptional demand and diminished supply, these new vehicles are delivered to their customers almost immediately after arrival at the dealership. Hence, the showroom was festooned with newer and previously owned PCars, the latter in excellent condition. Unfortunately, during the dinner the clouds opened, and it poured buckets (rain, no hail) on all the cars recently washed. This, of course, was all to the horror of the concours participants.

The weather cleared for Saturday morning to bright sunshine and warmth. Concours participants were up bright and early to prepare their cars again, post-storm. It was a short drive from the host hotel, the Melbourne Hilton Rialto, to the concours site. Oh, and what a venue!

Our host location for the concours, and additional functions over the next couple if days, was The American Muscle Car Museum (AMCM) in Melbourne, FL. The Museum contains a privately owned collection of over 350 vehicles. Mr. Mark Pieloch is the owner of the facility. He is a registered pharmacist and founder of a variety of businesses in the pet pharmaceutical industry. Mr. Pieloch’s success in the pet care industry allowed him to begin collecting muscle cars and vehicles of significance. The museum itself is roughly 123,000 square feet of display, storage, and vehicle service. The museum is not open to the public but is used for charitable events. Mr. Pieloch graciously offered access to the museum grounds for hosting multiple Zonefest events.

Arriving early to the AMCM, quite a few Porsches were lined up for the concours. Others were parked opposite the concours area for events later that day, or by those who came to the museum to simply enjoy all that Zonefest offered. If one had to guess on the total number of Porsche cars and SUVs at the AMCM, it would approach 125 or more vehicles.

Concours cars were judged by both the volunteer judges and the Hagerty Youth judges. The Porsches were stunning, and both volunteer and youth judges had a tough job indeed. While it wasn’t an overly large collection of Porsche 356 models, those being examined were in a word incredible.

Immediately after judging concluded, the AMCM staff offered a tour of their maintenance building. Inside the maintenance building Mr. Ed Dedick, Restoration Manager, talked about how the team of experts maintains the collection of 350 cars. It was during this visit that Zonefest attendees were treated to seeing two Porsche 959s undergoing some form of minimal restoration and repairs. One of these 959s, a Guards Red, was stationed on the top rack of a vehicle lift, awaiting cleanup. The museum had recently acquired the vehicle for roughly $2.1 million through a Bring-A-Trailer auction. This vehicle set a new sales record at BAT when sold on February 14th this year. As it was on an upper rack we did not get to examine it in detail; however, the other 959 (silver) was on the floor and was rolled out of its location for a close look. The 959 was considered by many car aficionados to be the first true super car from Porsche.

Beyond examining these two beauties, we also were able to view a few other vehicles in the shop. It was quite interesting to many of the car cleaning “geeks” in attendance to observe the various cabinetry, storage areas, and substantial collection of creams, potions, lotions, polishing tools, and such that are used to maintain the beauty and luster of those vehicle in Mr. Pieloch’s substantial collection. We learned that every car is driven or started at least once per year. Those with substantial significance or very low mileage are only started and driven very short distances to keep the miles LOW. Others are taken out and exercised to a greater extent. It depends on value, rarity, mileage, and the boss’s desire. Seems reasonable to everyone.

After finishing in the maintenance building, we returned to the entrance foyer of the museum, where we enjoyed box lunches of a delicious sandwich and chips in the main area of the AMCM. While there, the AMCM folks performed a startup and short engine run of the 1966 Ford GT40 MK1 Alan Mann Lightweight. It is one of two lightweight GT40s built (only 2,160 pounds) and the only surviving vehicle. It is the most expensive vehicle in Mark Pieloch’s collection, valued at over 9 million big ones. Upon getting fired up, it let out a brief 5-6 second loud roar, commensurate with the vehicle of such vintage. And, of course, we missed getting it on video; it happened quickly.

After lunch it was time for the Gimmick Rally. The Rally took participants on a beautiful drive of over 60 miles through different parts of Brevard and Indian River Counties hunting down photo clues. With the concours over as well, the light rain that came in did not dampen the enthusiasm for the rally. It was a fun 2 to 3 hours behind the wheel of our cars.

The AMCM hosted us for a light dinner Saturday night. At this time an actual museum area was opened for attendees to wander about. We had only been in the main entrance area for the afternoon events, so it was the prime opportunity to view the balance of the collection of American muscle and multiple Porsche vehicles in residence.

Owner Mark Pieloch welcomed us and shared a few thoughts before inviting us to view his collection. As one might imagine from the name of the museum, there were muscle cars in abundance. Fords, Chevys, and Dodge/Chrysler/Plymouths were everywhere. Buicks, Cadillacs, Desotos, and so many other makes were housed in the display area. Beyond the American Muscle, over 40 Porsches were shown. Perhaps the most unique was a 1953 356 Porsche limo! The collection includes six Porsche-Diesel Tractors, and a every GT version Porsche has ever built. Virtually everyone was in awe.

The collection includes over 50 Indianapolis 500 Pace Cars and Trucks. We counted the Shelbys, at least 20 Ford GTs, vintage pedal cars, gas pumps, bicycles, automotive neon signs galore, and more auto memorabilia than you could imagine. It was a full evening of photos and talking cars.

Arriving back at the AMCM on Sunday morning, the Zonefest Autocross was held on a 1/8th-mile dragstrip on site. A challenging track was set up for the AX participants. Each participant had three runs, and everyone wished they could have had a couple more. Even a couple of the concours 356s participated in the event. Your fellow GCR attendees held their own against the competition! We understand that it is only Porsche and Corvette clubs which get to use the dragstrip/autocross course. In fact, there is a friendly competition between the two clubs. In alternating years, Porsche and Corvette clubs set up the respective course. When Porsche sets the course, it is tight, with quick turns keyed toward exceptional handling. The ‘Vette folks like longer straights to display their straight-line speeds. The drivers are of course highly competitive, and Porsche most often claims bragging rights!

For anyone not on the autocross course, there was a concurrent scenic dine and drive to the historic Dixie Crossroads in Titusville, FL. Dixie Crossroads is a world-famous seafood and shrimp restaurant. As a shrimp lover, it was probably the hardest choice for me to make for the Zonefest weekend: diving fast on a closed course or a fantastic seafood dinner?

After autocross and another light lunch, AMCM hosted an ice cream social. During the social, Mark Pieloch offered the Zonefest attendees the opportunity to drive a 1961 Porsche-Diesel Tractor Junior. YES! We were allowed to drive a restored Porsche Tractor in the lot in front of the museum. Ed Dedick gave everyone a short demo on how to operate the unique Porsche. This was a tremendous amount of fun and the opportunity brought out the inner child in all of us. The AMCM also offered rides in a 1956 VW 23-window Microbus Deluxe. If you follow VW values, you know that the 23-window bug bus is a $100,000+ vehicle. Did we mention that driving the Porsche Tractor and riding in the micro bus was fun and nostalgic?

Following a highly enjoyable and very full day, on Sunday evening we headed to the Eau Gallie Yacht Club. The EGYC folks hosted a cocktail hour, banquet, and awards presentation. The Eau Gallie Yacht Club was a beautiful location. During drinks and a sumptuous dinner, we were treated to a gorgeous sunset over the marina and Indian River. One of our members, Ms. Marlene Smith, wrote a poem about the Gimmick Rally and recited it to everyone following dinner.

(Die Porsche Kassette has published Marlene’s poem in this issue on page 17.)

A local Porsche restoration shop which specializes in those 356 models, 356 Unlimited, hosted us for an open house and breakfast on Monday morning. 356 Unlimited has the skillset and ability to work miracles with the earliest model of the Porsche marque. They frequently repair, restore, and bring back to original glory those barn and field finds of 356s that are becoming increasingly harder to hunt. Currently under various stages of restoration were four different 356s. It is hard to imagine how they can restore a field find that was smashed into a tree. And yet, they do just that, including a full restoration on one of the 356s that was in the concours and autocross. Their facility was a nice setting for one last gathering before going off in separate directions.

Not related to the Zonefest event, but every bit as welcoming, was a Vietnam museum in a warehouse neighboring 356 Unlimited. The owner of the Vietnam and All Veterans Mobile Museum welcomed us to visit. He had quite a collection of memorabilia, weapons, uniforms etc. It was an unplanned but educational visit. It was also a nice and somber reminder and complementary to the day: Memorial Day.

As mentioned earlier, our Gold Coast Region was well represented in attendees. Pam and Howard Behar, son Kyle, and their ever-present Golden Doodle, Speedster, were there in the family’s 911 GT3. The car won a concours ribbon, second place 911 Water-Cooled! Carolynn Ditrichs, GCR Treasurer, drove her Boxster to the event and went home