Slipstream - September 2004

A Funny Thing Happened In Santa Fe
Photo by Ben Hartsell
by Ben Hartsell
Michelle and I recently went on vacation to Santa Fe, NM. We
decided to drive over and, for comfort and luggage space
reasons, decided to take our ’02 Audi A4 3.0 rather than my
’97 993 Carrera S. I had resolved NOT to talk all week long about
my favorite subject – Porsches. After all, this was to be a vacation for
Michelle as well. So after a couple of days relaxing at our resort we went
into town one morning for breakfast at a French café. As I was standing
outside after breakfast waiting for Michelle to appear I heard the
familiar exhaust note of a flat 6 – no wait! – A flat 4 four Porsche motor.
Then, to my surprise, around the corner wheels a stunning silver
Porsche 356 Speedster!
I thought to myself – “This is Santa Fe – no shortage of money
hear so it’s not so surprising to see a car like that”- and I continued to
wait for Michelle, wishing she had seen the beautiful car. Then, just
as she arrived outside the café and we set off down the street I again
heard the purr of a well maintained flat 4. Thinking the Speedster
had come around the block, perhaps searching for the same café we
had just visited, I caught Michelle’s attention – located the car – and
pointed it out to her. But something was subtly different this time.
The Speedster had a split rear grill – this car had a single rear grill,
different plates,and was not a Speedster at all – rather a 356 Cabriolet!
An exquisite example of a 356 Speedster
Hmmm…what are the chances of seeing 2 pristine 356’s on the
same day, in the same block of downtown Santa Fe, NM? Off we
went for a drive up towards Taos – there are actually a couple of
wineries to visit in NM! On the way I spied yet another Porsche – this
time a beautiful Guards Red 993 with Colorado plates! “Well, there
are quite a few Porsches in these parts”, I thought once again. Later
Photo by Ben Hartsell
There were plenty of Porsches on hand in Santa Fe
that evening – back from dinner and relaxing at the Bishop’s Lodge –
I again here the sound of an air cooled Porsche motor – but this time
a six! I stepped out into the parking lot and there sits a beautiful ’74
911 2.7. This is all becoming too coincidental so I walk over to the
owner and introduce myself. The owner, Al Greenwood, had just
driven over 400 miles from Denver to Santa Fe (averaging 37 mpg!!)
in his 30 year old 911 with 471,000 miles on the odometer! Al, the
original owner, told me he had the motor rebuilt 8 years ago and just
in the past 2 weeks had the transmission out for the first time – he’d
lost 2nd gear. I told Al my story about the 356’s we’d seen that
morning and he informed me that there was to be a mini-parade and
concours in the Santa Fe Plaza the very next day.
Needless to say all our plans changed and Michelle and I spent 3
hours on Saturday viewing many beautiful P-cars and meeting PCA
members from the four corners. Michelle’s favorite was a stunning
pale yellow 1998 993 Cabriolet. My favorite was a sleek Speed Yellow
’96 993 C4S.
The weak effort of the day was a guards red 2000 996 with an
aero kit and GT3 wheels – the car was intended to be GT3 clone –
including GT3 script on the rear deck lid! One look inside told the
real tale, however, this car had rear seats and the tach redlined at 7k
RPM. Until I saw that I had doubts, hopes even, that this was a Euro
import of the Mark I GT3….I just hope the owner made all those
changes to the car – and not an unscrupulous seller!
The Road Runner Region pulled off a great event – there were
even a couple of Mavericks in the concours! What a great surprise,
beautiful day, and fantastic unexpected warmup to Parade ’04!
Photo by Ben Hartsell
Photo by Ben Hartsell
Michelle’s favorite, a 993 Cab
Ben’s favorite, a 993 C4S
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