Rare Porsches--even a tractor--gather in Illinois for annual event

It's not often that Americans see more than a couple dozen Porsches in one spot at the same time. But those who make it to the annual Porsche Club of America Parade in St. Charles, Ill., can wander among seven hundred Porsches of all ages--even a tractor--from the United States and Canada.

This year, some rare cars were on display at events that started with a concours on July 4.

Among them was a 1952 America roadster, which was reluctantly put into production at the request of the influential U.S. importer, Max Hoffman. Production was extremely limited, and only seven survive.

When Porsche started building cars in 1948, the first units were built in Gmund, Austria. A 356 coupe, the 17th Porsche built, was shown immaculately restored. The simplicity of the interior is striking.

Virtually every model of 356 appeared, including a rare Reutter-bodied 1952 cabriolet. Reutter Carroserie made the first bodies for Porsche until the automaker took over its own production and Reutter subsequently concentrated on building seats--and shortened its trademark to Recaro.

Gene Gully of Chicago brought his pristine 1965 365C coupe which he picked up new at the factory in Zuffenhausen. The car, which has never been restored, wears its original paint and is completely untouched apart from a second set of tires.

Historic competition cars included a 962 which had been driven by Hans Stuck, and a stunning 904. However, the crowds were drawn to two current cars from Porsche AG, the new hybrid racer and the Pikes Peak-winning 911R driven by Jeff Zwart to a record last month.

The 550 Spyder is destined forever to be associated with James Dean, and a 1955 car appeared on the grounds. Compared with current cars, it is minuscule but perfectly proportioned and was a crowd favorite.

The RS attendees included several examples of the 2.7RS that started the separate RS designation and included examples of every model imported into the United States.

Perhaps the most original entry was a completely unrestored 1962 Porsche Junior tractor that is fully functional and shows every day of a hardworking life.

While some of the vehicles are concours-only and not run in competitive events, many of them will appear this week in road rallies, autocross and other events at the Porsche Parade. For more information, visit http://parade2010.pca.org.

Ronan McGrath is a contributor to AutoWeek.

By Ronan McGrath