Past Events - Midwest 356 Club

If you drive a 356 much, you’ve had this encounter. You stop at a light, and the person in the car next to you says, "That's a neat car!" More often than not they then ask, "What year is it?" You supply the number, and the other person may have time to begin telling you about a Porsche they or someone they knew had many years ago before the light changes and the conversation ends. It's a gratifying experience, and not just because we all like to receive praise. It is also nice to be reminded that we are not alone in our fascination with these odd little cars—that at least some people outside of our enthusiast circle actually find them interesting too. Their interest may not be as obsessive as ours, but it's a fact: a lot of people out there are curious about 356s, and when they see one they want to know its model year.

It was on the assumption that many people, and especially the kind of people who like to go to classic-car shows, would like to know more about the 356 than can be conveyed in a stop-light conversation, that we decided in 2005 to use the Club’s collective resources—our cars and our knowledge—to create a presentation designed to satisfy that curiosity. The result was the historical car display that we first put up that year at Crystal Lake, with an array of cars and signs. In 2011, we brought the display to the kind of event it was meant for from the beginning: the Geneva Concours in Geneva, Illinois, where the police estimated 20,000 spectators to be present.

We were given a parking lot behind the court house to use for the display, and we posted signs and distributed flyers to let the Concours crowd know what we were doing and how to find us. That seemed to do the trick, because we saw a steady stream of visitors for the five hours the display was open. Who knows, maybe the next someone pulls up next to your 356 at a light they will say, "That's a T6 B, right? I could tell by the twin grilles and the drum brakes."

Because the cars had to be arranged in chronological order, each space was reserved in advance. And every space was duly filled, because every person who agreed to bring his car came through as promised.

Here are some comments that Pat Yananhan reports having heard from members of the crowd:

"Those older Porsches such made a big impression on the crowd."
"The old (Porsches) were more fun to see than the newer ones."
And even from a PCA member: "That was a classy presentation".

Creating this display was very much a team effort. The volunteers from the Club who helped organize and set up the display were Curt Crowell, Ron Felson, Tom Funk, Jim Hinde, Bill Van Nortwick, Hank Weil and Wally Wright.

And, most important, there were the 16 owners who generously offered to put their cars into the display:

Dan Bell, 1953 Cabriolet

Kevin Murray, 1954 Coupe

Doug Feistamel, 1956 Coupe

Jim Ozimek, 1959 Coupe

Charles Staes, 1960 Cabriolet

Mark Wild, 1961 Coupe

Walter Danes, 1962 Cabriolet

Tom McGinty, 1963 Coupe

Bill Van Nortwick, 1963 Coupe

Alan Gordon, 1965 Coupe

Gene Gully, 1965 Coupe

Chuck Schank, 1965 Coupe

Tom Klingbeil, 1958 Speedster

George Peirce, 1959 Convertible D

Jim Hinde, 1961 Roadster

Michael McGinty, 1955 Spyder Replica

The Club extends its thanks to everyone who contributed to this event's success.