Each year the Historic Sportscar Racing association (HSR) organizes the largest and oldest event for Historic race cars on the East Coast. It’s called the Classic Motorsports Mitty and it took place at Road Atlanta, GA from April 27-29. We attended The Mitty to provide race support for Randy Jaffe’s #46 BRE Datsun 240z (driven by our hero John Morton) and Alex McDowell’s Datsun Bluebird Coupe and Hakosuka Skyline.

 

Nissan was the featured marque for the first time with John Morton serving as Grand Marshall so naturally every Datsun-fan was drawn to The Mitty. I took a Thursday night red-eye flight from San Jose with part of the ZCG crew and when we arrived at Road Atlanta our paddock was an absolute feast for the senses. Nestled primely across from the front-straight footbridge, we had an impressive display of West-Coast racers, from L to R: The BRE Datsun 240z, BRE 370z, Comedian Adam Carolla’s #44 Frank Monise Datsun 2000 Roadster and Bob Sharp 610, Alex’s Hakosuka Skyline and Bluebird Coupe, the Friselle GTU 240z, Dave Stone’s Frellsen B-sedan 510, Jim Froula’s (Racecraft) Datsun 260z, our friend Glenn Chiou’s VIPS/Loren St. Lawrence 240z and Bob Clucas’ IMSA GTU 240Z.

 

Take a Lap With John Morton

 

At 76 years of age John Morton is still formidable behind the wheel. Here he is piloting the #46 BRE 240z that we prepared around Road Atlanta; the very same track where he won the 1970 and 1971 National C-Production Championships!

 

Well, That’s Racing

The sweet smell of race fuel, frantic adjustments, checklists, and engines blaring to warm-up for the next session all reminded us how much we love racing!  From the on-board video above, you can see the BRE 240z performed well with John Morton at the wheel but what it does not show viewers is the not-so-glamourous side of racing: part failures. The Z ran great in Thursday’s practice but when we arrived at the track Friday morning, Rob told us the engine failed during the first session. He needed all hands on deck. What followed absolutely humbled me; the ZCG crew went to work in a supreme effort to get the #46 BRE 240z alive again for Saturday/Sunday’s races.

 

John Morton Must Race

To get a first-hand perspective of the Z’s revival I asked ZCG Lead Technician, Josh Corwin, to give us the play-by-play of the heart transplant. Please read on to see a video chronicling the events!

1) How, when and why did the engine fail?
It is still too early to know exactly what went wrong with the engine. A complete teardown will be performed to isolate the root cause. I can tell you that during Friday practice, John Morton was accelerating up Road Atlanta’s back straight coming up the hill before turn 10, in top gear at wide open throttle well over 100mph. That is when a major engine component let go resulting in multiple holes being punched through the engine block, affectively turning the engine into a boat anchor.

2) What was the plan to get John Morton back on the track?
Get an engine, put it in the car, put John Morton in the car, and put the car on track. Simple enough, except finding an engine that could perform was the challenge.

As word spread through the paddock that John Morton needed an engine, the Datsun Community banded together, and offers of engines came swarming in.  Multiple race engines and high performance street engines were all up for grabs. All were seriously built engines, but none of them felt right.

Rob’s ultimate plan to excavate a couple E.B. Parkinson motors, like dinosaur fossils, was crazy to say the least. But, going with his gut, the resurrection of a true vintage race engine was put in motion. Half of the crew went with Randy to his storage to look for a replacement motor, while other half, including myself, received the green light from Rob to began the task of removing the expired power plant in anticipation of the Datsun Relics arrival.

3) Technically, what was involved with swapping parts and prepping the 40-yr old parkinson motor?

The old engine came out quickly, as many hands made light work.  It was then tucked away into the back of the trailer, to be disassembled at a later date, as we worked on getting the car ready for its new engine.  Prepping the vehicle was pretty simple, but there were necessary steps and precautions that need to happen to make this a successful transplant.  We only had one shot at this, so nothing was left to chance.

Below, (L): Gary Brizendine and BRE Engine Chief John Caldwell lend a hand and knowledge: Caldwell is confirming the jetting on the 50mm Mikuni carbs.  (R) The original exhaust system from the 1970s is removed from #46. Morton had already blown apart the exhaust tips on the first session!

  

With any catastrophic engine failure, one of the concerns is metal bits getting stuck in the oil cooler and lines. So, first thing is to remove the oil cooler and hoses and flush them out.  Any leftover engine material in the oiling system can destroy a fresh engine in minutes. Luckily, Road Atlanta’s used oil disposal shed also had 2 solvent tanks, which we used to back flush the cooler and clean the lines of any possible debris. While all the reusable pieces were getting cleaned internally, we moved on to cleaning the mess of shrapnel and engine oil that coated the engine bay.  Just as we finished, the oil cooler system came back fresh and clean, and shortly after engines arrived.  We could finally switch gears to the reassembly of the BRE 240Z.

  

The crew brought back two “long block” engines, meaning the cylinder head and engine block had already been assembled. At first look they were identical in every way and definitely appeared to have been sitting for 40 years. Looking closer, we found one of the engines did not have the timing chain installed which led us to use the one that was “more complete.” We put a wrench on the crank bolt and it rotated 720 degrees, smooth as butter. The next task was to take all the undesirable accessories from the old engine. The 40 year old water pump, alternator, flywheel, crank pulley, thermostat housing, oil filter adaptor, and valve cover were all tossed.  We then tackled a quick clean up, removing years of dirt and grim that had built up while sitting. 

  
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There are vintage races every month of the year, but few draw such amazing metal as the Rolex Monterey Motorsports Reunion. Now in its 44th year and commonly known as the Monterey Historics, the Reunion is a highlight of the famous Pebble Beach “car week” in August. This event features the best of every decade of racing history, all condensed into four days of qualifying and competition at Mazda Laguna Seca Raceway.

 

  

The action on the track is only part of the story at the Reunion. The real fun is in the paddocks, where hundreds of cars stand ready to race, attended by their anxious owners, drivers and prep teams (sometimes all the same person).

 

We had a blast at the RMMR and I was once again fortunate to be on the pit crew for a significant Datsun race car. Read further for our report, illustrated by a 200+ shot gallery with videos. Enjoy!

The BRE Datsun 240z driven by John Morton

 

For this year’s Reunion, Z Car Garage prepared and supported the #46 BRE Datsun 240z piloted by our hero John Morton. Owner Randy Jaffe restored this Z over several years with fanatic attention to detail. Briefly, the original 1970 car was wrecked in 1977 and sat idle until Randy located it in 2016. The car was rebodied and reconstructed using all of the original surviving parts with help from Peter Brock, John Morton, John Knepp, and Jon Caldwell from the storied BRE team. Stay tuned for an in-depth look at the build.

  

A sampling of the original parts is shown below including the exhaust header with megaphones, SW gauges, and BRE remote oil filter/cooler. Original BRE heat shield and fuel block pictured above.  All assembled by the crew at ZCG prior to testing:

   

Randy approached us at the 2015 RMMR and expressed his vision to complete the car and have John Morton drive it at the Historics.  Randy made a fantastic, highly (the most accurate to date) correct BRE tribute Z, but it would need full race preparation to compete at the Historics. After taking the Z to several shops Randy shipped it to us from his hometown in Georgia and we began prepping the car. Here is the Z the day it arrived at the shop and in-progress:

   

On the dyno making some beautiful, triple-Mikuni carb’d, straight piped, L-series music. We were now ready to run the Historics:

 

 

The paddock life

 

 

It’s one thing to be at Laguna Seca’s famous Corkscrew to watch the cars wind down that 5-story twisting drop, but it can be just as much fun to walk through the paddock, getting a close look at the race cars and talking with their owners who are happy to answer questions. Before we look at #46 on the race track, let’s first take a trip through the paddock and visit our fellow racers:

 

Upon my arrival Thursday morning I was pleasantly surprised to see #46 pitted with several fellow Datsun Z racers from Group 4A: 1973-1981 FIA, IMSA GT,GTX,AAGT Cars.  All of these Z’s were tuned by Rob at ZCG! The camaraderie and good times spent with these folks was memorable. We shared pit space with our friends and fellow vintage racers Glenn Chiou, Dave Stone and Larry Oka. Dave Stone returned to the Historics in his ’73 260z built by Troy Ermish.  Lots of neat details of this one in the photo gallery:

 

Glenn Chiou’s RMMR debut in the Loren St. Lawrence 1971 240z:

 

David Martin’s crowd-favorite Frisselle 1972 240z:

 

The S30s looked awesome together out on the track!

 

A rare sight indeed, four Datsun roadsters were racing at ‘Seca! Michael Sweeney’s ’65 1500, our friend Ron Carter running his 2nd Reunion in his ’67 2000, Phil Mendelovitz’s ’67 2000 and Michael Chandler’s ’66 1600.

 

Rounding out the Datsun contingent were Jonathan Ornstein’s 1979 Datsun 280ZX, prepared by Les Cannaday and the Leitzinger IMSA GTU 240sx owned by Phil Mendelovitz:

  

We’ll visit more paddock candy later, now let’s take a look at these cars on that 2.238-mile, 11-corner wonder officially known as Mazda Raceway Laguna Seca!

Race Day: Keeping Up With John Morton

 

The RMMR was preceded by a “shakedown” event a week earlier called the “Pre-Reunion”.  We had a successful Pre-Reunion race week where John Morton finished 6th and 8th place in a sea of high-powered Porsche RSRs and 934/935s! The#46 BRE 240z ran flawlessly and John was turning faster lap times with each session clicking off 1:41s down to 1:40s:

 

With the Pre-Reunion completed and the Z dialed in it was time for our big race at the RMMR on Saturday in Group 4A.  John put on another stellar performance running consistent 1:40’s with a best of 1:39.6 during the practice/qualifying sessions.  Although the routine of running pit crew was familiar to me it never gets old. From fuel filling, engine warm-up to tire pressures and checklists I love sharing the sights and sounds from each session.

  

John was happy with the Z’s performance. Sylvia Wilkinson, John’s lifelong partner also told us good things by giving us a breakdown between sessions complete with lap times and feedback from John. After qualifying 16th place Saturday morning the only change we made was a fresh set of spark plugs.:

  

After the Z was ready for the big race, John got strapped in and he motored away to the starting grid. John Morton was driving #46 again.

    

We anxiously followed John on foot to the starting grid. A wave of colors from vibrant livery was displayed as the cars staged. I was in heaven because all of the rad machinery in one place…with #46 in the middle of it:

  
The signal was announced and group 4A rolled out to the starting grid.

  

This video coverage of the group 4A race from Motor Trend and Travis Baraki gives you a sense of the staging, rolling start and a few turns, watch for #46!

 

Want to know what it’s like behind the wheel of the BRE Datsun 240z? Take a few laps with John Morton in #46 in this video we compiled from in-car GoPro footage. Lots of multi-camera angle action highlighted here from dicing it up with Porsches to passing BMW M1s 🙂  Turn up the volume and enjoy!

 

Great on-track shots of #46:

 

     

John’s fastest lap (1:39.6) with telemetry from Harry’s Lap Timer:

 

The race was exhilarating and both nerve-wracking to watch. John was driving insanely well yet again, even battling an M1 and 934 for several laps! With only 4-laps to go and in 12th position the halfshaft failed exiting turn 3 and John (thankfully safe) waited to be towed back into the pits. It was heartbreaking but that is racing. We will be back! With help from our friend Glenn a new halfshaft was installed Sunday so we could load up the Z. Thanks Glenn!

 

  

We were thoroughly impressed by John’s skills (at 75 years old!) and how the Z battled big-dog cars running full aero with massive rubber.

 

John said on several occasions, “This is the best prepped race car I’ve driven”. We couldn’t have been happier to hear this. Worth toasting to!

  

Of course none of this would be possible without a great team so we give a huge thank you to family, friends and the crew at Z Car Garage.

 

The Z was a success off-track as well. Randy drove the BRE car along with other racers via police escort to the Carmel-by-the-Sea Concours on the Avenue Show. Icing on the cake: he even won an award with John Morton riding along:

 

Enjoy this video from the event including the police escort, nice revving amongst expensive show cars and some good times with Pete Brock and John Morton:

Paddock Highlights

 

 

This year’s RMMR was the most enjoyable because of the wonderful people that we pitted with and folks that stopped by to visit. Randy Jaffe really put in a tremendous effort creating a Datsun-lover-friendly atmosphere. In addition to commemorative stickers he placed posters up for friends to sign in memory of John Knepp:

 

John Morton spent time signing memorabilia and taking photos, a true class-act.

  

Another aspect of the fun is family. Randy invited his sisters to be part of the race weekends and Josh’s father Keith Corwin was an integral part of our team:

 

We were humbled by the number of people that stopped by including Pete and Gayle Brock and Mike Joy. I caught Pete Brock taking iphone pics of our engine bay!

 

Here is Mike’s interview with John for Motor Trend’s race coverage:

 

 

Our pit-buddy Glenn Chiou was great to be with. The vintage Datsun race world had better keep an eye out for this rising star!

  

Rob and crew always willing to lend a hand, even if it’s for the competition!

  

It was great to see our friends from Bring A Trailer who had a tent with several cars on display including a Lancia Delta Integrale:

 

Epic Racers

 

At every corner there is wicked metal with history begging to be told. Please visit our photo gallery for more! Here is a Shelby Cobra factory team car CSX2136:

 

One of several gorgeous Porsche 934s. This one mixed it up with John for many sessions:

Mazda’s incredible collection of racer cars from the 767B to MX-6:

 

From highly collectible and expensive to downright zany you never know what to find in the paddock. Check out this Deathmobile from the movie Animal House:

 

Extravagant and impressive rigs:

 

We are huge fans of Canepa and this 935 and 959 were a treat to see:

 

Street Standouts

Throughout the weekend, open areas around Laguna Seca are filled with a selection of vintage and exotic cars that would put most stand-alone car shows to shame. This year we held another Datsun/Nissan Corral but attendance was relatively low. We did spot a few gems like three S30s, a Datsun 510 and ’69 Datsun 2000:

 

 

Lovely E34 M5 and 356:

 

The Vintage Wheels of RMMR

I am a wheel addict and I love vintage wheels. Once again the paddock did not dissappoint. BBS, Volk, Minilite, American Racing…all shod with meaty slicks of sometimes incredible proportions:

        

Thank you!

We hope you have enjoyed our recap of the 2017 Monterey Historics! Please browse our mega-gallery of pictures from race weekend below. Big thanks to our friends and family members that helped us make this possible including the Keith Corwin, Dave Stone, Tim Arnett, Ron Carter, Michael Anderson, Josh Corwin, Andy Vargas, Larry Oka and Meghan Fuller.  We certainly enjoyed the company of friends and visitors in our paddock, here’s to another 60 years of vintage racing in Monterey, California.

 

Special thanks to the following contributors to our photo gallery:

Ricky Silverio, Josh Corwin, Naveed Abed, Mark Hutchinson, Matt Dockery, Kurt Hafer, Chris Brewer, Alex McDowell

Huge thanks to Randy Jaffe,  John Morton and Sylvia Wilkinson!
Long Live The Z!

 

More pictures in our gallery below: …[read more]

 

What Happens in SEMA . . .

2016 marks the 50th Anniversary of the Specialty Equipment Market Association (SEMA) Show.  Every year, people from around the world arrive in Las Vegas to look at the astonishing display of automotive tuning and customization.

 

Within the 1 million+ square foot, 4-building Las Vegas Convention center there are hundreds of lowered imports, resto-modded muscle cars and those crazy lifted trucks.  There’s far more to the show than that including celebrities, extreme demos, parties and general excess.  Unfortunately, SEMA isn’t open to the public, but that doesn’t mean you can’t experience what it’s like to attend the craziest show on the automotive calendar. Enjoy the following highlights from our visit to SEMA in Novemeber. We will start with our display car, the OEMs, Datsuns and move on to the wild stuff!

 

The OS Giken TC24B1Z Skyline

 

Last year at SEMA we debuted the legendary OS Giken TC24B1Z engine inside our ZCG-restored Datsun 240z:

 

The Z was well-received but very subtle (by SEMA standards) so this year we stepped out of our comfort zone and helped build a “flashier” vehicle for display…a 1971 Nissan “Hakosuka” Skyline!

   

This time the TC24 was treated to different induction: Jenvey individual throttle bodies and EFI. Aesthetics were livened up with a red valve cover and white coated exhaust headers. The entire car was wrapped in a metallic red replete with sponsor graphics and 17″ Volk TE37V wheels on Nitto tires. Our “show hood” mod was utilized again to highlight the glorious TC24.

We were flattered by all of the fan pictures and even received a miniature scale replica of the Hako from Shingo!

   

The Hako garnered attention from many social media outlets and drew significantly more traffic than last year’s display. Later in November it went on to be displayed at the Los Angeles Auto Show!
Speedhunters Day1 SEMA
OS Giken Hakosuka
Race Cars at SEMA
Japanese Nostalgic Car
SuperStreet

Huge thanks to the crew from OS Giken and Alex M. Stay tuned we will have a full feature on the build soon!

 

The Big Manufacturers at SEMA

As always, there’s a big presence from US manufacturers, but this year Honda and Toyota (among others) made an impact on the show floors. Here’s our round up of the big displays.

Ford

 

Ford had the largest display in the main hall with an extensive showing of their hottest cars and trucks. My favorite was the new GT supercar complete with battle-scars from a LeMans race. It even sat across from an original Ford GT40. Ken Block’s “Gymkhana 9” Focus and other tricked-out Foci below:

 

   

Honda

 

Honda announced its return to the Pirelli World Challenge series in 2017 with this NSX GT3…being towed by Acura MDX!  Below, the new NSX looks great in white, the new Civic showed as body-in-white tuning platform and the new (for the US) Civic Type R:

Toyota

 

Toyota had a neat throwback-style displaying paying tribute to its heritage vehicles. They even brought out the entire generation of Corollas in celebration of its 50th anniversary! Below: 1951 Land Cruiser, 80’s Van and the “World’s Fastest SUV”: a 2,000hp twin-turbo’d v8 Sequoia

 

  

Datsun Domination at SEMA!

We begin our coverage of all the Datsuns/Nissans at SEMA, and there were plenty! Let’s start with our OS Giken booth neighbor, ENEOS. Their display car was none other than Ginash George’s C10 Skyline. Ginash is the founder of the successful JDM Chicago and also owns a beautiful NSX.

 

Ginash enlisted the expertise of JDM Legends to build this stunning Hako. All the right choices on this one! And he’s a wheel aficionado to boot as well. Super Street gave it a SEMA award!

 

FOUR S30 Z cars were at SEMA. If we had to pick a favorite it was the ChasingJs 280z built by Dominic Le. You might be familiar with his last SEMA creation, the Hakotora that was featured on Jay Leno’s Garage.

 

 

The build was based on a rendering from talented artist Jon Sibal…and built in Dom’s garage!

  

The clever John Player Special striping was hand-applied by Dom himself. Note the rare G-Nose headlamp covers. Power comes from a single-turbo 2JZ-GTE with 1,000hp as the goal. We love it!

   

The Liberty Walk Fairlady Z turned heads with its unmistakenable bosozoku style. Sporting their fender flare kit, “notchback” rear hatch, smoothed rear panel and small-ish 15″ wheels it seemed a bit out of place in the DUB nation booth, but still cool.

 

Chris Forsberg’s 280z underwent a total makeover for SEMA.  The single turbo RB26 revieved a custom billet valve cover and the body showed off a new kit from Carbon Signal.  The kit really flows well with the G-nose and front spolier. The interior was also finished by Amir and his team in the UAE.

 

The legendary Pete Brock displayed his personal BRE Tribute 240z in the Braille booth:

 

A lone Datsun 510 slammed via AirLift suspension and 13B rotary power. The BBS wheels were mint!

 

This Datsun Bluebird L320 pickup was a pleasant sight amongs the wild bodykits. You see those chunky rear tires on widened steelies? They’re probably necessary to reign in all the instant torque from the electric motor conversion!

 

Late Model Nissans

Steve Pham’s unorthodox turbocharged BMW N54 turbo. This Rocketbunny “Boss” kitted Nissan 240sx (S14) had new BRE-inspired livery for the show. Below, a JDM model S15 Silvia with a widebody kit:

  

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What Happens in SEMA . . .
Every year the Specialty Equipment Market Association (SEMA) takes over the 3,000,000 square feet of floor space at the Las Vegas Convention Center for a weeklong trade show that covers everything automotive. Exhibitors feature cars, trucks or SUVs in their displays to showcase their products or simply to attract attention. In a town where weird is normal, the masses of over-the-top and extremely modified cars seem at home inside the multi-building center.

 

Tens of thousands attend the SEMA Show each year, and while a trade show and not open to the public, it’s the one auto show every enthusiast wants to attend. Despite the propensity for depravity that comes with a no-last-call town, SEMA is never anything short of a legendary gathering and we had a blast during our 2-day visit.

 

SEMA 2015 marked a special milestone for the crew at Z Car Garage as we prepared a special 1971 Datsun 240z for display at the show.  Through an exclusive collaboration with OS Giken we unveiled the world’s first North American (LHD) S30 to be powered by the legendary TC24-B1Z engine. This mythical twincam cylinder head bolts onto an L-series block giving it crossflow breathing and high revving operation.

 

 

The Z was well received by show goers stopping by the OS Giken booth which featured video displays of the engine being assembled and tested at ZCG. Jaws dropped at the sight of the TC24 and we also heard admirable reviews from fellow Datsun/restorers for the build. Our friends at Japanese Nostalgic Car (JNC) and Speedhunters featured the car in their SEMA reviews:
JNC
Speedhunters

 

 

The lucky owner of this OS Giken-equipped Z is our friend and customer Gary Stephenson. In short, his build highlights our restorative powers and sports full suspension (allowing 255/40/17 tires under stock flairs), our ZCG Big Brake Kit, nos OEM glass, integrated roll cage,  KA24 transmission, Recaro Competition seats and more.

 

 

 

In current tune/configuration the TC24 produced 376hp/281tq to the wheels on 91 octane, proudly displayed by the car at SEMA. This Z will be driven on the street and track so stay tuned for videos!

 

 

Huge thanks to the crew at OS Giken for a killer booth and memorable experience. Look for an in-depth story about our collaboration with OS Giken and TC24-B1Z build on the blog soon.  Long Live the Z. Here comes the TC!

 

 

Datsuns Everywhere at SEMA!

Our favorite vintage cars were in great numbers this year. One of the most prominent of course
was Sung Kang’s 1973 Datsun 240z affectionately called “FuguZ”.

Sung ( “Han” of Fast and Furious movie fame) chronicled the build through social media, enlisting parts from around the world with final assembly by Kenji at Greddy. Sporting the latest Rocket Bunny body kit, Volk TE37s and an ITB’d RB26 drivetrain this was a crowd favorite and inspiration to all. Congrats to Sung and the Greddy team for an epic build!

 

For the first time in SEMA history a Datsun roadster was on display courtesy of Socal specialist Kevin Desirello.

 

This fully restored 1967 SPL311 was treated to a complete S15 SR20DET drivetrain swap but Kevin and his team didn’t stop there. By adding a VVL head and punching the displacement out to 2.2L, they essentially made an SR22VE-T with power levels of 450whp anticipated!

 

 

Garret wanted the car for its SEMA booth and it was placed alongside the famous Mad Mike Whiddett’s insane twin-turbo FOUR-rotor powered Formula-drift Miata. We are especially proud of Kevin and his roadster for making it to the Top 21 in The Battle of the Builders competition!

 

 

This Datsun 520 pickup was actually a contender in the Optima Batteries challenge with a Mazda Miata drivetrain and double A-arm suspension F/R!

 

Hakotora! Take one Sunny ute and graft a Hakosuka front end on for a mean little pickup. This build had some great details and a built SR20DET under the vented hood.

 

This BRE 510 was on display in the Tokico booth. A celebrity driver car, this is now owned by Datsun-freak Adam Carolla. Our hero Pete Brock was not too far from the dime!

 

Eric and Josh from JDM Legends made the trek from Utah and displayed their superbly restored Ken and Mary Skyline. The C110 had all the choice parts from the triple-carb’d L-series, Comp seats and Watanabe wheels.

 

There’s a New Boss in Town . . .

Not Datsun per se, but the following Nissan 240sx (S14) sports cars all have one thing in common: The “Boss” aero kit from RocketBunny/TRA Kyoto. The kit transforms the front end of an S14 into a B110/Challenger looking vehicle… it takes some time getting used to, but we dig it.

 
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The final Canepa Cars & Coffee of the year was held on 10/11. To celebrate our good friend Lou S’ birthday we joined him for a morning drive to Canepa. Instead of taking the direct route via HWY 17 we Enjoyed the Ride though HWY9/Big Basin Way and Skyline.

 

A Skyline mountain blast wouldn’t be complete without a Skyline! Lou naturally chose to drive his classic R32 Skyline GT-R:

 

Adding to the fun our group also included Andy in the Mazda RX-4 wagon, Rob J’s beautiful S30, Henry’s R35 GT-R, my ’67 Datsun Roadster and Rob Fuller in a Porsche 911 Turbo (for sale soon):

 

 

When we arrived, Canepa’s parking lot was already full and our group was relegated to overflow parking, which was a car show in itself! Mandatory Datsun content: I found two S30s,  stock and with massive flares/Chevy V8 power

 

Canepa as usual were gracious enough to open their entire facility to the public. Touring the showrooms and shop areas with soft pretzels and strudels in hand was a great way to start the morning!

 

Looking pretty in red, a recently restored Ferrari 288 GTo and Testarossa:

 

Turbo Fan madness! Love these BBS icons on the several Porsche’s. The Rennsport prep was strong inside Canepa!

 

This ’32 fordor hot rod caught my eye with old-school tricks mixed with modern touches. Halibrand wheels, 6-piston AP calipers, 427ci small block with Gurney Weslake heads…

 

Back in the parking lot, more interesting cars show up. A crowd pleaser was this La Ferrari, parked next to Mclaren:

 

Lots of bathub and 911 Porsche’s:

 

Great Muscle Car attendance:

 

Gorgeous Alfa and Jaguar:

 

Many more pics in the gallery. See you at Canepa Cars and Coffee next spring!

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