The forecast said hurricane. The schedule said Saturday. Luftgekühlt 12 chose the schedule, just a few hours late. Porsche reports that warnings pushed the start back, but roughly 8,000 fans still filled the Town at Trilith, south of Atlanta, to see about 300 air-cooled cars once the weather held off.
When thunder crashes at Luftgekuhlt 12 ATL. Photos by @thefirebirdphotography on Instagram
It was the event’s Atlanta debut, and the city has a real claim to it. Porsche Cars North America has been headquartered here since 1998. Luftgekühlt itself began in 2014 as a meet-up in a Los Angeles parking lot, organized by two-time Le Mans class winner Patrick Long and creative director Howie Idelson, and it changes cities and themes every year.
The 935 turned 50, and the story is local
The main theme celebrated 50 years of the Porsche 935. Three yellow cars raced by the Whittington brothers stood next to a Brumos 935. The centerpiece was the 1979 Le Mans-winning 935-K3, driven by Don and Bill Whittington with Klaus Ludwig, the first rear-engined car to win Le Mans outright. The Whittingtons bought Road Atlanta around the time of that victory, so the car’s story doubles as a piece of Georgia racing history.
Targa Florio, and a movie-star 917
The show also marked 120 years of the Targa Florio and 70 years since Porsche’s first overall win there in 1956. Porsche has 11 wins in the race, and four cars represented it: a 1959 718 RSK, a 1960 RS 60, a 1964 904 Carrera GTS and a 1971 908/3. The race also inspired the 1965 911 Targa.
A Gulf-liveried 917K, rented for the filming of Le Mans with Steve McQueen and later shown by the Brumos Collection, brought the Hollywood angle. A 1957 356 A Outlaw added the redemption arc: it was rebuilt from a rusted 356 found in a North Carolina store basement, sold unfinished in 2004, and turned up about 20 years later less than 4 km from its former owner’s home.
What else was on the grass
Keen Project custom 911s from racing driver Leh Keen, a 914, G-series and 993 911s, a 962 C and a Dauer 962 rounded out the grass. Former IMSA champion Tommy Kendall hosted, and creative director Jeff Zwart told Porsche, “There are no barricades at the event.”
If you’re shopping for an air-cooled Porsche, the lesson is boring and expensive: the paper trail is half the car. Nobody drove to Trilith to see a 911 with a mystery past. Name the air-cooled Porsche you think is still undervalued, and what you’d pay for it.
Source: Porsche Newsroom event recap. Photo embed via Instagram, credit @thefirebirdphotography.