Nor-Cal Treffen 2015

[John Z Goriup]

First year I went to this event……and am I ever glad I did.

Held in the miraculously green Dave Brubeck Park, ( we're in the worst drought on record, water-use is rationed & severly restricted in California, but there were mud puddles everywhere in the park ) it was extremely well attended, a great variety of all manner of Porsches from 356s as well as most yerars of 911s, 914s, GT3s and current production models and a stunning selection of air-cooled Volkswagens of every vintage.

As mentioned yesterday in my EASY post, the heat wave finally broke and it was a delightfully breezy day with clouds and perfect light for shooting the almost 200 cars that were on display and kept streaming in all morning.

The perfect format for a low-key, informal local show……a very reasonable entry fee to show your car, great venue, easy access from anywhere in the Bay area ( ran into friends from Santa Cruz, Marin County, Los Gatos ) entry for spectators is free, danish and coffee is served as long as it lasts and a wonderfully loose, relaxed atmosphere in which to chat with friends and make new acquaintances. I wish Michael Rogers, the founder and organizer of the event the best of luck and want to sincerely thank him for his efforts and also assure him that I'll be there in 2016 ……….too good to miss.

Note: The following is a highly random selection of my best keepers from earlier today……..the only difference is that I shot yesterday's entire posting at Jim's with the latest 35mm Leica M Summilux f1.4 M FLE lens, becuase the cars on Harlan street are parked close together and there isn't always room to back up & capture the entire vista, so the moderate wide angle perspective of the 35mm is a welcome solution to getting the shots you want, whereas all of today's images were taken with a new Leica M 50mm Summilux f1.4 lens, also the latest iteration with floating element for incrdible sharpness, definition, color fidelity and contrast, simply because the park setting allowed a lot of options re positioning, perspective and there was ample room to maneuver. It's fun playing the " bring only one lens for the day" game, but I'm not quite ready to try that ploy at Monterey car week over the next two weekends - it's a once-a-year event and for all peactical purposes some of the cars on display and at the track are once-in-a-lifetime encounters and I'm not going to risk missing images due to a capricious, inflexible decision to arbitrarily limit myself to only one optic and miss never-to-be-repeated opportunities to shoot the rarest of the rare. I plan on bringing the whole kit and use whatever it takes to bring the best images I possibly can.

Enjoy and thanks for looking, see you next weekend at the 'Pre-Historics" at Laguna Seca.

JZG

[John Z Goriup]

Next set…..

[John Z Goriup]

This set is devoted to one extra-ordinary '55 VW in the midst of a comprehensive bare-metal, nut-and -bolt restoration by the owner…….the rest of the components not yet on the car are in various states of completion at his house. 'Extraordinary' because this gentleman has appearantly mastered the art of not overrestoring his 60 year old car as is so often the case, rather, making it all look as if he rolled it out of the showroom yesterday.

[John Z Goriup]

…..and the next set.

[John Z Goriup]

This entire next set is devoted to John Eiskamp's utterly charming and exquisitely restored and prepared '58 single-cylinder diesel-engined Porsche 'Junior' tractor. Just like John's 912 and the old Chevrolet family pick-up he restored with skill and taste, the tractor displays exemplary workmanship, attention to detail and absolute authenticity……... rare and delightful.

A real attention getter all day long, John started it effortlessly and let it warm up to the delight of everyone who stopped to take a look and listen to the 'one-lunger' chuffing away. Reminded me of my old BSA 441 cc single cylinder trial-bike from the early '60s which had similar power-delivery…….for every 'whomp' of its one cylinder with its ridiculously long stroke, the bike seemed to lunge foreward at least 10 feet.

[John Z Goriup]

Another set of random shots of Porsches that were all over the map quality and design-wise.

[John Z Goriup]

In one of the postings in the "Porsche picture of the day" thread in 2011 I asked the rhetorical question about what people thought made Porsche Speedsters so special - some interesting replies and opinions were offered, but photo #2 of today, the interior photo of the red Speedster finally answered the question definitively: SIMPLICITY………..for here is a car that provides only what you need, and is totally devoid of anything you don't absolutely require for full and exciting enjoyment of simply motoring.

[Nine17]

The Porsche-Allgaier one-lunger was backed-up to a tasty Creamsicle...

[John Z Goriup]

Thanks, David, a surprise and a pleasure to see you today .

…….and another set, this one with a group of shots of Ruprecht, my '70 911T snuck in - after all, two event in two successive days - and a third outing at Werks Reunion week after next and Rennsport in Sept…………hope I don't break it.

[John Z Goriup]

If it were painted, or still in primer as this 356 has been for some time now, it would be pretty difficult to put one's finger on exactly why the rear-view presented a slightly chunkier, beefier silhouette than 'normal' 356s - if you take a close look you'll see two welded seams running several feet parallel to the long axis of the car atop the rear fenders. They start out about 1/2" apart at the rear edge of the door, and wind up about 1-3/4" apart at the rear, to slightly widen the rear and give it a more robust appearance. I think subtlety is crucial here, too much and you'd risk looking silly, too narrow and what would be the point ?