Mike Moses and Corky VanHazebroeck attended Speedsterfest, the Porsche Speedster 50th Reunion, on June 26, 2004, in Monterey, CA.  Here's Mike's report:

Just wanted to tell you about the unbelievable weekend we had in Monterey.  Regardless of what anyone says, it was the best 356 weekend I've ever attended.

To anyone that missed it, they took a pass on something they'll never see again.  I left my '57 Speedster back here in Chicago and flew out to Los Angeles where I picked up my '65 Cab that I keep at my daughter's home, and made the drive north with Mike Brock and his '59 Cab.  We hooked up with thirteen more 356s in San Luis Obispo and caravanned up the coast to the Monterey Hyatt.  When we saw what we saw at the hotel, we knew this was going to be spectacular, and it was. Speedsters, Roadsters, and Cabs everywhere, and the only place to park was the red zones, if you could find one.  We had dinner at the Monterey Aquarium Friday night with all the tunas, sharks, and jellyfish.  That was cool.

Saturday morning, we went to Pebble Beach to the site of the original race course, where we had breakfast and talked with a lot of people from all over the country.  The crème de la crème was right there in front of us, but I didn't realize it until a silver Speedster blew by me like I was standing still.

Let me backtrack here for a minute and set this up.  Apparently the organizers of Speedster Fest got permission from the Pebble Beach Homeowners Association to set up the original 1.8 mile track (which is still there but now lined with multi-million dollar homes, adjacent to the famed golf course) and have a leisurely cruise around the old asphalt drive for the purpose of taking pictures and reminiscing about the good old days.  So what they did was to have a start finish area with the pits and put these hay bales on the corners all around this (now residential) two-lane street.  California's Finest, the CHP, manned the intersections that crossed the 17-mile drive.

So back to that silver Speedster...  I had just pulled away from the start finish line, just minding my own business, when the Speedster blew by me, which is the worst thing anybody could do to this old autocrosser.  Well, I slammed the C Cab into second and chased this guy full-tilt the whole 1.8 miles. When we came back to the start again, he looked at me and I looked at him, and then we buried the accelerators through the floor, and it was wheel to wheel the whole way again.  Fortunately for me, my passenger, Corky VanHazebroeck from the Chicago area, acted as ballast in the four right turns so the Speedster never had a chance.  My car had no problem exceeding 5000 RPM, and handled like it was on rails under full throttle, with 75-80 MPH being no problem.  This, I might add, was with the full blessing (and the biggest grin you've ever seen) on a CHP officer's face. They knew what we were doing, and it looked like they enjoyed it as much as we did.

After four high-speed runs, I told Corky that I'd better cool it, because I had to drive this thing back to L.A.  A friend asked me later if any of the residents came out to see what was going on.  To be honest, I didn't have time to look, as I was dodging hay bales and curbs.  What a hoot!  I wonder what the track record was back then for a lap around this fabled course!  After that, we toured Laguna Seca, where I drove as if my wife were in the car.  I checked out the Speedster and 356 showing at Quail Lodge, where we had a great dinner and terrific entertainment.

On Sunday morning there was a swap meet at the hotel, and then it was back to L.A. six hours later, with no hitches.  If they haven't taken away my keys by then, I hope to be at the seventy-fifth, if they have one.

Thanks to all those hard workers at Speedsterfest.  It was the best.

Mike Moses