Porsche Is Challenging Its Dealers to Restore Classic Sports Cars
It’s always lovely to see a classic Porsche driving down the road. However, keeping a vintage car roadworthy isn’t always an easy task. Additionally, restoring a classic car on its last leg is quite an undertaking. Furthermore, it can cost tens of thousands of dollars with things like Porsches. Fortunately, Porsche doesn’t want to see its heritage rotting away, either. So, the company is doing something about it!
Porsche Classic Nationwide Restoration Challenge
Porsche recently put out a press release announcing the second consecutive year of its Nationwide Restoration Challenge. In this challenge, Porsche dealers around the U.S. compete in a contest to restore a Porsche. The rules are pretty straightforward. Any Porsche from the 1950s to the 2000s qualifies. Indeed, that broad age range allows for plentiful cars to pick from. Additionally, Porsche states that the U.S. market is home to more classic Porsche sports cars than any other place globally.
About 60 Porsche dealers are partaking in the contest this year. Porsche reports that as a 50 percent increase in dealership participation over last year’s competition. Ultimately, the goal is to see which dealership does the best restoration in an effort to bring classic Porsche cars back to their former glory.
“With the Restoration Challenge, dealers and service teams are able to showcase their skills and capabilities while revitalizing these dream machines. Our inaugural competition in 2021 produced some truly stunning examples of classic Porsche sports cars, and we expect even more from our participants this year,” said Jonathan Sieber, Manager of Porsche Classic with Porsche Cars North America.
There are some exciting entrants to the contest this year. One example is a Porsche 356 from Porsche Woodland Hills. The body is completely gutted and rusty, so it will be a substantial effort to get this car back to its former glory. It’ll be a remarkable transformation. Additionally, another example of an exciting entrant is a 964 Porsche 911 Turbo.
Last year’s winner was a 1989 Porsche 911 Targa
There was certainly no shortage of high-quality entrants last year, either. The overall winner was a Porsche 911 Targa G-model that Porsche Ontario restored. It was a complete engine-out restoration, and Porsche Ontario decided to make it an RS tribute car. This Targa really talks with a 3.2-liter engine, iconic red wheels, and red “Carrera” lettering. It’s a gorgeous piece of Porsche history. One would never know that the chassis has over 117,000 miles on it!
Porsche declared the winner of the contest last year in Indianapolis. The announcement came from Victory Circle at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway during Sportscar Together Fest.
This contest is definitely one to watch. It’s always great to see iconic pieces of sports car history brought back to life. This is especially true when they’re exceptionally rare models like a 356 or 964 911 Turbo. Hopefully, each one of these dealerships knocks it out of the park with these restorations. It’s going to be awesome to see the final results and find out who is declared the winner!
