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The Holiday Rennlist Gathering December 27, 2002 New Smyrna Beach, Florida Story and photos by Barry "Bazza" Schultz
On December 27th a small group of Porsche enthusiasts converged at my home in the small Florida coastal community of New Smyrna Beach. Of this group, all but 3 lived in New Smyrna Beach. The 3 from out of town had learned of this gathering through the globally famous Porsche mail list serve know as RENNLIST. So, largely because of Rennlist, this group came to know each other and subsequently enjoy this gathering. The weather was perfect - 60's and sunny. We met at 10am at my house and at noon caravaned to a fantastic local restaurant, Riverview Charlies.
The players:
Ralph Schattner , who came all the way from Mississippi. Actually Ralph was staying with relatives in Ormond Beach (about 15 miles north of NSB) for the holidays so it worked out great. Ralph also deserves some credit for initiating our gathering as he had not yet met Der Mayor and so called and convinced Der Mayor to come to my house as a neutral meeting point. The rest as they say is history. Ralph has a beautiful white '80 911SC Targa.
Chris Duffey from Titusville who brought his blue '95 993. Chris also has a Glacier Blue '83 911SC Targa but is in the middle of some restoration work on it so decided to bring his 993 instead. Chris entertained us with stories about his recent glider piloting experience at Edwards AFB - the glider being flown primarily by a Russian former MIG pilot. Chris's SC at home has over 300K miles on it. Hope to see it at the Rolex 24 next month.
Jerry Skirvin , AKA Der Mayor from Christmas. Jerry has a pristine silver '79 911SC coupe, but it's in the middle of some brake repairs so Jerry hitched a ride with Chris in his 993. We won't go into the fact that I shipped a perfect condition spare brake caliper down to help get Jerry's Super Car going in time for this gathering nor the fact that Chris went over on Thursday for 4 hours to try and repair it. Needless to say, Jerry is no longer allowed to refer to it as his "Super Car" until it is at least driveable.
Paul on left and Jerry on right. Didn't get an individual photo of these blokes with their cars. Paul DelFino , a neighbor of mine and all around great guy. Paul is on his 14th Porsche and showed up with a practically brand new silver 2003 911 Turbo. Incredible. The best part was when Paul was practically drooling all over Albert's '70 911S. You see, Paul had at one time owned a '70 911T and so this was like a reunion of sorts, bringing back some old Porsche memories.
Dave Beckler , a friend in NSB who also lives nearby. Dave has a pristine red '86 Carrera Targa. I'm trying to talk Dave into going up to Savannah with the PCA for some Driver Education next year but man o man, we'd all hate to see any track debris show up on his beautiful Carrera. However...these cars are meant to be driven ;)
Albert (don't know his last name or email address), I recently met Albert at a party given by the Bollings (see below) and came to find out he was a Porsche dOOd. Albert brought his green '70 911S but also has a '87 930 at home. Albert couldn't stay for lunch with us because his daughter, a cadet in the Air Force Academy, was going up in a bi-plane for some aerobatics that day and Albert wanted to see it all in person. Albert's 911S has the SSIs and twin Webers of course with the slide injection. His engine sounded really good :o)
Patsy and Bill Bolling , a really colorful and entertaining local couple whom I met through work earlier this year. Come to find out Patsy used to race Mini-Coopers against 356s and beat them routinely when she was in her 20's and also raced in trans-Atlantic sailboat races. She also owned and raced one of Lake Speed's stock cars so she and Bill have lots of stories about racing they are willing to share at the drop of a hat. They currently do not own a Porsche but brought the next closet thing...a VW-powered dune buggy complete with surfboard!
We all had a great time chit-chatting about our cars and what we do with our down time and where we live and how we got our Porsches and also mixed in some general conversation about world events. The food was excellent at Riverview Charlies, located at the historic Riverview Hotel in beautiful riverfront new Smyrna Beach. Below are some photos from the day, a few are thumbnails you can click on to get a larger image. Our next informal gathering will be at next month's Rolex 24 Hour endurance classic at Daytona. Hopefully we will be joined by many other Rennlist Porsche nuts and we will all have a blast. See you then!
The first photo of the day (got a little fog on the lens,eh). We were all checking out each other's P-cars.
The following photos are all thumbnails. Please click on to get larger image.
The first Gruppe photo -at my house - before Paul, Patsy, and Bill arrived.
Parked out front at the restaurant. Snooty Porsche owners...who do they think they are blocking traffic that way? Har....we were a contingent and a force to be reckoned with.
At lunch. Fantastic food, service, atmosphere, and best of all....the company of good friends.
Upon departure I had to take one last photo to commemorate the event. Nice photo with our cars in a circle like that.
Close-up of the Gruppe again. Nice group of folks. Thanks for coming everyone.
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