12 Best Luftgekühlt Porsches at Luft 7
Updated: Sep 17, 2021
“Catch the Wave” with the best of Luftgekühlt 7 Porsches as curated by Air Brigade.
Luftgekühlt , the air-cooled Porsche event held its seventh meet on September 10, 2021 in the art deco Bottleworks district of Indianapolis. Over 200 air-cooled Porsches were on display from an early 1951 356SL Gmünd coupe to the last of the air-cooled Porsches, 993’s. The displays included rare race-cars, barn finds, restoration projects, $1 million Singers and concours perfect Porsches.
Air Brigade also attended Luftgekühlt 6 held in 2019 at Universal Studios in California. Luft 7 seemed like a smaller show from the number of cars and geographic territory covered by the event. It was not surprising given that California is car meccca and probably a greater proportion of air-cooled Porsches exist in the LA area than elsewhere in the world.
The unique aspect of the Luftgekühlt meets is not just the numbers and quality of cars, but also artistic display of the cars that goes beyond just parking a Porsche on the street.
Air Brigade spoke with Luftgekühlt Creative Director and world-renowned automotive photographer and Director Jeff Zwart about how he sets up the display. As Jeff recounted, he relies on his innate creative sense to place cars in a setting and together for what makes a great photo. As a photographer and chronicler of Porsche events that is easy to see Jeff’s Creative Director vision coming to reality. It is hard not to capture several unique artistic photos. The only limiting factor is the lighting and working around the crowds.
There are already multiple photographic posts of the beautiful cars and settings from Luftgekühlt 7 in Indianapolis, but let me share the Air Brigade top 12 air-cooled Porsches that will appeal to the Air Brigade member; one who enjoys owning and driving their Air-Cooled Porsche. Using some of the famous Coca-Cola ad themes helps to describe the synergy between these two great brands.
“Thirst Asks Nothing More” - White Early 911 versus a Turquoise Blue 993
Today’s slang use of “thirst” to describe attention seeking applies to both this early 911 and late 911 in their striking color liveries. When Coke described their brand in the 1930’s with the slogan “Thirst asks nothing more” little did they know how it would apply to these iconic Porsches in the 2020’s.
This Turquoise Blue 993 was a last minute entry but well deserved as the one of one color for the car garnered a lot of attention. It is truly one of the “Little Old Lady car only driven on Sundays.” According to the current owner this 2,900-mile unique color 993 was found in a garage of a “little old lady” neighbor. It required a five-year discussion and relationship building before she was willing to let it go.
The opposite of a state-of-the-art air-cooled Porsche 993 is the 1968 Porsche 911 in Ivory that just happens to be owned by the Air Brigade commander. The Commander used to race a similar car that Phil Bagley of Klub Sports Racing referred to as “Vanilla.”
There is nothing like a juxtaposition of a simple white 911 versus a shocking blue state-of-the art 993. You can see why Jeff Zwart put these two next to each other.
“It’s the real thing”- A Porsche 912 Driver
Coke used the slogan “it’s the real thing” in 1969 but it equally applies to this daily driver Porsche 912. It was good to see the often overlooked 912 in driver caliber with roof rack, ratty door cards and even a CB radio under dash being shown and driven by a 30-year old. Not all air-cooled Porsche owners are old and rich. It was a perfect setting in front of this 1940’s Coca-Cola bottling factory.
“You can’t beat the feeling” - Porsche Coca-Cola Race-Cars
The two iconic Porsche Coke race-cars, a 962 and 935 represent the all domineering race cars and power of the brand(s) of Porsche and Coca-Cola from the 1980’s Bob Akin and team first raced the 935 and then the following year moved up to the 962.
How could a Porsche event held in the Bottleworks district with former Coca-Cola Bottling factories as the backdrop not have these two iconic race cars?
“Go with the Winner” - Hot Wheels and Porsche
Hot Wheels is often inspired by a “cool car” or designs one itself as a miniature that becomes a real “cool car.”It is hard to say which was first with these Hot Wheels’ Porsche 914 ‘s. Their striking purple paint jobs are emblematic of Hot Wheels cars and their look is enhanced with bulging fender flares and raised suspension.
What we do know is that Hot Wheels followed their theme of “Go with the Winner” in depicting Porsches as Hot Wheels’ customs for their young and old collectors.
“When it last raced this 1958 won a championship. That was last week.” – Porsche 356 Race Cars
The Porsche ad slogan is a slight modification and interpretation to caption this photo of two 356 Vintage racers but seemed so appropriate as 356’s are still tearing up the race track most race weekends. They were winners in 1958 and are still winners today.
Porsche 904 GTS: “The Beginning of the Plastic Fantastic Racing Saga for Porsche”
Seeing this Pebble Beach Concours-winning Porsche 904 GTS just sitting on the street for thousands to admire required a quote from the Ingram owners about how this Porsche started a new era of racing for Porsche. Fresh off the 2021 Pebble Beach win this multi-million dollar perfect Porsche was the opposite of a unrestored “Rat Rod” 911 just down the street.
“It had to be good to get where it is” – Unrestored Porsche 911 “Rat Rod”
In 1926 Coke’s slogan of “It had to be good…” was used to describe a soda, but it equally applies to the Porsche brand and every model produced. One would wonder why a in-process restoration “rat rod” looking 911 would be shown at event such as this, but this is what air-cooled Porsche ownership is all about. Owners appreciate the old and worn as well as the perfect and expensive because they know that “It (Porsche) had to be good to get where it is today…”
“Sign of Good Taste” – Chopard and a Porsche 550
Luxurty watch brand Chopard recently announced a partnership with Luftgekühlt in connection with their official timekeeper of Porsche. It was only fitting that they were showing a Mille Miglia Porsche 550 Spyder to commemorate the launch of a special Chopard Mille Miglia GTS Luftgekühlt edition watch.
“You can’t beat the feeling.” - Porsche re-imagined by Singer
Dave Treichel of Zero to 6o Garage in Wisconsin updated or is it backdated a G-body Porsche to a smooth, clean sleek look that fooled Air Brigade into thinking it was a Singer when reviewing photos post-event. There were dozens of examples of Porsches of this quality including the near-million dollar Singers sprinkled around Bottleworks. They could be found in every nook and cranny. The fact that these two visitors are casually talking in the background when this fantastic custom Porsche sat in front of them says what this event was all about.
“Make it Real” – 1967 Porsche 911 Trans-Am Racer
Porsche created the brand based on Sports Car Racing so it was only fitting that this 1967 911 that raced in the second Trans-Am race was showing itself. It has particular feeling for Air Brigade as the dealership was just a mile or two down the road from the Commander’s house when living in the Detroit area. This one was real and authentic.
“Drive the Classic Porsche 911” - Early Porsche 911R recreation
“Driving the Classic Porsche 911” was an early theme of Porsche advertising and this classic 911 recreating the historic 911R model in Porsche’s racing colors of white with the Porsche side stripe captures the “Classic Porsche 911” look and couldn’t be overlooked.
“Red, White and You” – Red on Red Porsche Carrera RS 3.8
A striking image presented by Zwart’s creative insight of placing this unique bright red RS 3.8 in front of a similarly painted bright red wall. Red on red with a big wing Porsche doesn’t provide much more of striking visual to represent this show than this Porsche setting.
A gallery of many of the other Porsches shown at Luftgekühlt will be coming. Watch AirBrigade.com
Tags: Luftgekühlt, Luftgekuhlt, Luft 7, Air-Cooled Porsches, Porsches in Indianapolis, Bottleworks