2022 Luftgekühlt 8

2022 Luftgekühlt 8

Port of Los Angeles
October 9, 2022

Luftgekühlt 8 had its annual gathering this past Sunday at the Port of Los Angeles in San Pedro, Ca.  If you are unfamiliar with this event, picture your favorite car gathering in every combination imaginable from stock straight out of the factory, to the most modified version possible.  Add in some rare prototypes and winning race versions, and place them with an artistic eye around a picturesque location, then invite all of your friends to stroll around and admire them together. Then Throw in some great food and drinks to top it all off.  If your favorite car happens to be an air-cooled Porsche, then we’ve just described Luftgekühlt.

Luftgekühlt was started in 2014 by Porsche racer Patrick Long and art director Howie Idelson. The original Luftgekühlt was a small air-cooled-Porsche gathering at a hip motorcycle shop in Venice, California. Since then, Luftgekühlt (literally air-cooled in German, metaphorically “Air-Cult” in practice) has grown in size and legend.  This past weekend’s installment was put on by Jeff Zwart, of Pikes Peak fame, and the aforementioned Le Mans-winning driver Patrick Long, and Howie Idelson at CRAFTED, set in and around a pair of 1940s-era warehouses formerly used as a holding point for shipping companies.

Before even entering the actual event, you walked by an all-Porsche parking lot filled with over 100 cars that would have been enough for most people to consider a display, fawn over, and call it a day.
Crowds at the sell-out event mingled among highlights including a 1956 550A Spyder, a 934/5 crafted by Canepa, several 1970s Carrera RS examples, a few custom creations from California-based designers and builders like Guntherwerks (with their Speedster and Tornado versions) and Singer (with their first 911 fully exposed carbon build), and a handful of endurance race winners covering Le Mans, Sebring, and Daytona.  More goodies from Pikes Peak, Safari, and specialty Baja builds like the one by Russell Built, one-off prototypes, a rare Rinspeed 969, and a rare 959 made appearances as well.

But enough talk, let’s move on to the coverage below!!

Photographer: @Adam Hyatt