Porsche By Design exhibit, December 2013

December may not be the perfect month for a road trip from Chicago to North Carolina, but when the destination includes an opportunity to see the Berlin-Rome car up close, that was enough to persuade us four 356 nuts (Wally Wright, Curt Crowell, Jeff Leas and Jim Hinde) to pile into a Camry and head South-east.  After driving through two days of rain, sleet and snow, we reached Raleigh in time to use our pre-purchased tickets to Porsche By Design: Seducing Speed at the North Carolina Art Museum.  The exhibit was worth the trip: 22 rare and significant Porsches, all in perfect condition and beautifully presented. Some of our snapshots of these cars are here, but to get a clear sense of this show, by all means click on the link above.  Better yet, go to Raleigh and see the show for yourself--if runs until January 20, 2014.

After we left the museum, our day of feasting on Porsche eye candy was only half over, as we had been invited to visit the Ingram Collection in nearby Durham that same afternoon.  There our host, Rory Ingram, generously gave us a guided tour of what may be the finest private collection of Porsche cars in the world.  He took us through the cars one by one from a split-windshield Pre-A to an America Roadster, to a 550, a 904 and the latest 911 special (just to name a few), telling us the story of each one and pointing out numerous interesting details.  Would you like to see the engine of this 356 Carrera GTL? No problem, let me open it up for you, and please take this flashlight so you can get a really good look.  We could not have been made to feel more welcome, and by time we left, hours later, we were sated.  Taking photographs of the collection was not permitted, so we have none to share with you here, but rumor has it that a book about the collection is in the works, and we can't wait to see it.

To see the our snapshots from the museum exhibit, click on one of the photographers below: