October Editor’s Note

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Our lead story for October comes from Bruce Sweetman, who drove his 356 from home near Nashville up to Toledo for the East Coast fall 356 meeting. His story reminds us all why we love Porsches, love driving them, and how much we enjoy encountering others who feel the same way.

With Randy Wells’ examination of the differences between the 996 GT3 and 997 GT3, we leap decades ahead. But we encounter the same senses and sensibilities. Two owners joined others in the R Gruppe for a summer rendezvous in – of all places – Palm Springs, California. There, the temperatures can soar into the teens – as in 110-plus. And two wise individuals chose to drive more modern machinery, complete with air conditioning. And then, amazingly, they let Randy drive!

Porsche’s 550 Spyder has steadily been a newsmaker since last winter when Jerry Seinfeld offered one of his for sale at Gooding’s auction at Amelia Island. Since then, the temperature of interest on these cars has risen steadily until the thermometer broke early in September at Bonhams’ auction at Goodwood. There, an original unrestored “time capsule” 550 reached nearly $6 million dollars.

As it happens, one of its past owners – George Reilly – is a close friend. This was the result of an encounter in June 1990 during a Porsche Parade in Monterey when I asked him if I could photograph his car for my first book on Porsches. Gamely – if somewhat skeptically – he agreed. We forged a friendship that day and, as it was the car he owned for more than 20 years that nearly hit Six Mill, it seemed worth revisiting in this issue what it was and how he found it.

Finally, we review recent auction results in the U.K. These are sales that happened as we were closing our September issue but because of timing conflicts we could not include them. They are worth visiting now because  – for those who wondered about the effects of Brexit on the collector world – these suggest that their market is healthier than one might imagine. Some prices certainly reflect the condition or history of an individual automobile, but overall results are pleasantly surprising! And one or two are downright startling.

This is our October issue. With November, we have other matters to present, and we will reintroduce pre-holiday book reviews so you know what to get for yourself or suggest to others that they find for you.

Meanwhile, thanks – again – for reading us.

Randy Leffingwell

Editor, Road Scholars Magazine

randy@road-scholars.com

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