We've never needed a reason to celebrate Porsche cars: "911s rock, let's throw a party" was all it took. However, as the 911 neared its 40th birthday, we decided to do it right. Instead of a kegger and pizza, it was a fully catered affair at the Grove in Anaheim. The night included technical presentations by Porsche's Tequipment crew, a viewing of the film "Le Mans," a car show, lots of adult beverages and a live auction.
Porsche graciously donated the auction proceeds to the Boy's Club of Southern Calif., an organization whose work has helped thousands of young boys become great men. Rather than dig through our "closet of graft," european car donated a photoshoot by the immensely talented Les Bidrawn. Although Bidrawn's day rate is $2,000 (not including expenses), Bob Wolford of the RGruppe Club threw down the entire sum without question. Early one Saturday morning, Wolford mustered his RGruppe crew at the base of our favorite mountain pass. The staccato riffs of flat-six engines made the usually quiet locale seem like the Laguna Seca Raceway. Although we dislike early waking on weekends, this group was well worth the lost sleep. We don't remember such a gorgeous collection of machines assembling before our cameras.
Thanks RGruppe. You guys rock very, very hard.
R These Guys Crazy or What?About 5 years ago, a couple of diehard Porsche 911 junkies, Cris Huergas and Freeman Thomas, got together over a few beers. They quickly started to brainstorm over ways to tie together their vast networks of fellow 911 enthusiasts scattered around the country. Out of this brainstorming session the RGruppe was born, a club dedicated to passionate enthusiasts of the small-bumpered pre-1974 Porsche 911s.
Named after the racing division of Porsche, the RGruppe celebrates a wide spectrum of early 911s, from like-new original cars to the highly modified large displacement early cars to 1973 Carrera RSs. There are now more than 300 RGruppe members located throughout the U.S. and around the world.
About the only rule that seems to apply to these motorheads is drive the cars like the factory intended for them to be driven. Modifications are encouraged, especially if they are in the spirit of what the Porsche factory was doing 30 years ago with its 911 racing versions. Most members, however, will preach to anybody lucky enough to have an original early "S" to leave the darn thing alone-for heaven's sake.
Recently, a group of these RGruppe fanatics gathered for an early morning photoshoot in the mountains just east of Los Angeles. Where else but Southern California can you gather up this kind of machinery on just a few days notice?
Would you believe there were five original 1973 Carrera RSs (a 1-year-only factory hot rod 911)? How about an immaculate 1974 RSR clone, complete with a high-butterfly-injection 3.0-liter motor? Or a variety of early 911s looking as though they just rolled off of the showroom floor?
Porsche may be scoring points with its latest watercooled 911 iterations, but thanks to the RGruppe there is no imminent danger of the purists forgetting about the driving appeal of these early, mechanically injected 911s. As the old Porsche ads said, "There is no substitute!"