Driving a classic car in “LA traffic” requires some fortitude and courage, so it was a pleasure to see how many Porsche 356s arrived at the December’s 356 cruise-in at the Petersen Automotive Museum. Dry weather on the “Miracle Mile” helped boost attendance, yielding just under seventy Porsche 356s.
A touch of Hollywood helped kick off this year’s event when car radio hosts Spike Feresten and Paul Zuckerman arrived in a very low-mileage, original Porsche 356 SC once owned by Jerry Seinfeld. Porsche builder Rod Emory explained that the custom orange color was the result of his father and Uncle mixing it to the liking of Porsche dealer Chick Iverson. The paint was then shipped to Germany for the factory to apply to this chassis (a very early example of Paint-to-Sample).
Next was a panel discussion, “Porsche Culture in Southern California.” It was an absolute pleasure moderating this discussion, which included Zayne Emory (actor and son of Rod Emory), Elizabeth Wallmark, Senior Manager at Porsche Experience Center, Los Angeles, and Aaron Ashton, founder of the ever-popular Fast Saturdays gatherings. From the early milestones and celebrities that embraced the brand in the 1950s to today’s ever-changing enthusiasts, we covered numerous reasons why the Porsche phenomenon in SoCal continues to thrive.
Seeing Petersen Museum co-founder Bruce Meyer in the audience, I couldn’t resist bringing him up to recall the story of a call he received from actor Steve McQueen many decades ago. McQueen was curious about the black Speedster Bruce owned, and after inspecting it in person, McQueen strong-armed Bruce into selling it to him. It turns out McQueen had initially owned and raced the car years earlier, so what Steve wants, Steve gets! A few bagels and coffees later, it was time to embrace the 405 South and call it a day. All images © 2025 Rafael Garcia
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