Cars & Coffee 4/7/12 - Porsche Tribute

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Coming a couple of days after the death of Ferdinand A. Porsche, the turnout of great Porsches was to be expected, but after looking at 911s for decades and not seeing much beyond a Beetle on steroids, seeing so many generations of them together made the differences more obvious.

Check out the tails alone and you'll see a huge variety of aero treatments from clean, to ducktail, whale tail, GT, fixed, variable, etc. You'll also see labels ranging from a simple 911, to 911S, 911E, 911T, Turbo, Turbo S, Turbo Carrera, Carrera, Carrera S, Carrera RS, GT3, GT2, GT3 RS, GT2 RS, 2.4, 2.7 and on and on.

Besides the Abarth that was justifiably mobbed all morning, the other non-911 highlight was a low-slung blue jewel wearing a license plate that read "BUTZI S," Ferdinand's nickname. This was the 904 prototype that belonged to Butzi himself. We've seen it countless times at Cars & Coffee and its predecessor, Crystal Cove, but today it held much more significance.

Other highlights of the day might have stolen the show on any other weekend - the Dino gathering that included half a dozen 206/246 models, the Dino convertible showcar that would become the Fiat Dino, and a few 308GT4s as well, a Mercedes-Benz 190E 2.5-16 Evo II, Mercedes SLR Roadster, Luigi,  Isetta 600, Subaru BRZ, Spyker C8, Vector Avtech WX-3R, Lotus Elite racecar, Italias, Scuds, Stradales, Gallardos, a Countach, Dan Gurney, Reeves Callaway, and more. Check out the gallery for the rest.

Cars & Coffee - 10/22/11: Ferrari Day

Cars & Coffee 10/22/11 Pics

Absolutely amazing gathering of Enzo's finest today. From new Italias, 430s, 360s, 355s, Maranellos, Stradales, Scuds and a new 599 SA, to classics like the SWB, TdF, Mondial and Mexico, it was one of the best shows ever. Tillack alone brought half a dozen of the coolest cars ever to show at C&C - Niki Lauda's F1 car, a Scuderia Ferrari Lancia D-50 made from spare parts, a 250 GT Speciale, gorgeous blue and white Vignale bodied 340 Mexico, Superfast and 500 Mondial/Testa Rossa.

Of course, there was also a line that included two 275 GTBs, an SWB, TdF, Lusso, Daytonas and a stunning 250 GT Pininfarina Europa Coupe. And if you're not much of a Ferrari fan (you probably stopped reading by now anyhow), there was a nice line of Porsches, a Lexus LFA, Fiat 600 Multipla, old school 1970 Subaru microvan with wheelie bars, shag carpet and a velour dash, an Aventador and two, yes two, McLaren MP4-12Cs. One in black and one in a ruby red that really showed off the car's shape well. It's amazing how compact and low in the chassis that V8 is!

Absolutely the best thing from the whole show for me, though, was the shifter in Niki Lauda's 312 B3. The classic Ferrari gated shifter, just in miniature. It looked like the keychain version of the polished gate but had a full size shift knob to go with it, which made it almost comical. We envisioned it being used with your thumb kind of like an early joystick. Love it.