4:15 in the morning comes quickly – very quickly…..down to the shop to get Porsche U2-7 ready for its first show here in Orange County. Actually the car was ready to go; I did not want to be late for my ride…..escort….POLICE escort!

Since our shop is in Placentia and we live here, it seemed that displaying the Porsche at the Placentia Heritage Day Car Show would be a good thing to do…after all-the show was right up the street from our shop. The city of Placentia has been holding this car show every year for over 27 years and it really is a great show. It is a very casual family type event that draws well over 200 cars, is free to attend and restaurants from the neighborhood provide some great eats; simply a fun event to participate in.

A few days before the event, I had a small dilemma…I had no way of getting the Porsche to the show as the car is by no means street legal and I did not have a trailer available to me. Note: If you live and work in the same city….get to know your local government officials. I made a phone call to a good friend of ours …he is pretty high up the food chain in our city and I told him of our plight. He was at the shop an hour later looking at the Porsche and apparently liking it- a lot! Greg got on his cell phone, called the chief of police and arranged our “escort” for 0 five hundred on Saturday morning.

U2-7 is a full blown race car….the car has straight exhaust and megaphones and at idle, will curl the toes of your db meter. I knew the car was loud….but……I had yet to hear the car at full song….well anything above 3,000 revs anyway. Officer Larry shows up….on time…gotta love these guys. I explain to Larry that we have no lights…it is still dark; he suggests that I follow him. We plan the route very quickly, I fire up the car….he jumps a bit….I laugh but, there is no way that he can hear me. Off we go…a left turn lane light turns red…his light bar comes on and we are through…down Orangethorpe, right on Rose and up the hill. Hey, it is up hill…..a bit of throttle in second gear….ok, perhaps a little more than just a good bit….5,500 revs and there is no way that anyone within 6 miles of the car is still sleeping…..I do mean NO WAY! Up-shift into third at 6,000 and cruise up the hill…..NICE; the car sounds bloody wonderful! The exhaust note is reverberating off of a cement wall and down the long 16^th fairway at Alta Vista Country Club; GOOD MORNING! There is nothing like the music that an air cooled Porsche motor makes; it is simply symphonic! Well, it is to me- I am not sure what the rest of the city thought…

The show itself goes great and U2-7 gets a great deal of attention. The car is quite a bit different than most of the other cars there. In fact, there are only 4 other domestic cars at the show; a fantastic Porsche speedster, a very nice Jaguar XKE, a brilliant Healey and a FIAT 500….everything else is foreign. J  

The drive home was exciting too- Officer Chris followed on his “motor.” At a light, he pulls up next to me and with a huge grin, yells…”it is loud, but it sounds great”. People in other cars are looking…they stare; they wonder what the hell is going on. Here is this full blown, very loud race car being followed by the Police….the cop pulls up next to the car at every light ….says something, but, does not pull it over…the expression on the face of other drivers is absolutely priceless….it really does become quite funny. Chris follows me into the shop and I thank him for his time. I explain to him that it feels far better being followed than pursued…..he laughs and goes on his way.

We would like to thank the City of Placentia for all of their help…… THANKS GUYS!

Another milestone for the Porsche…a police escort on city streets…..NOICE!  

O.C.C.E