#102: Beautiful Dreamer

Another thing to love about the Southwest: dream cars aren’t only up for auction, they are all over the roads.  The dry heat keeps them pristine, and oh are we happy that it does, because if every place had a climate like New York our dream cars might be in heaping piles of rusty junkers.

I was passing through Sedona, AZ a day or two before The Vintage Racing League’s West Coast Holiday and Porsche 356 rally. I’m not sure whether my crazy-person excitement is really shining through here…  One would be lucky to see such a delicious specimen in a lifetime, and there I was, spotting a 356- my ultimate dream car- at every corner.  If I had hung around an extra day or two, I would have been swarmed by hundreds, one reveler told me.

Here are just a few:

Red Speedster, found in the little mining town of Jerome.  This sweet cherry had a crack in the driver side door, meaning it’s more than likely made from fiberglass, meaning its more than likely a kit car.  A replica.  Getting closer and closer to the real thing, but not there yet…

Just a few blocks down the street, we stumbled upon this rare beauty:

But with the customized paint job and modern antenna, we realized that this is a replica, too.  Who would have the heart to desecrate an original?

Then in our little hotel parking lot we came across this black beauty:

You be the judge: would you drive your 45 year old Porsche Speedster through the dust and dirt of Red Rock Country and Oak Creek Canyon?  Not sure if this is an original or not.

But don’t you ever doubt whether the dream still exists.  Later that day on our way to Utah outside of the Twin Rocks Trading Post, we found our darling, a perfect sweetie pie: all original.   Gray with red interior.  Flawless.

And, by the dim light of the high dessert dusk, I even saw one just like dear old Dad’s… which rusted through the bottom in good old New York State.  Keep dreamin’.