From Humble Origins

Luftgekhült originated as a small SoCal gathering held outside Deus Ex Machina in Venice Beach, way back in 2014. The show came about after Long bought his first air-cooled (and street-legal) Porsche the year before, a 1986 Carrera in silver over black with 23,000 miles on the clock, sport seats and a factory limited-slip differential. Already well acquainted with the German automaker after winning the 24 Hours of Le Mans in his first year as a factory driver in 2004, Long wanted to share his newfound enthusiasm for classic Porsches with a group of friends, like-minded or not.

“My hobbies never were around cars because my job was,” Long admitted, “But once I got into the vintage Porsche search and hunt, and then wanting to learn about these cars and meeting the characters that have been lifers in the scene, I recognized that the existing events and meets were never going to be somewhere I could take a non-automotive person.”

“I just wanted to be able to invite people to my world, but interest them,” he continued, “The other part was taking Porsche people out of their comfort zone and introducing them to the culture of bikes and surfing and skating and all of that. Let’s take two worlds and cross-pollinate them and introduce opposite ends of the spectrum.”

What started small wound up blocking traffic down the block already that first year. And Luft, as fans of the show typically call it, evolved over the ensuing years, eventually moving to a series of increasingly expansive venues including the Ganahl Lumber yard in Torrance, CA, a waterfront in nearby San Pedro and the familiar film sets of Universal Studios’ backlot. Then, the series went fully international, with appearances in Poland, the U.K., Germany and now Tokyo.

Long explains that Tokyo almost arose in experimental terms, as a test of whether Luft’s unique vision can translate to Japanese culture and the nation’s specific type of automotive enthusiasm in particular. Despite a quieter atmosphere, Long believes the show landed well in Japan, over a closed section of freeway in Ginza stretching more than one kilometer in length, where 11,600 attendees strolled among 225 air-cooled Porsches.

“Introducing these brands to international territory has been something that happened organically,” he admitted. “What these people are attending is a piece of Southern California, celebrating Stuttgart and the brand, the human aspect that comes along. And Japan was no exception. It was a very Japanese cultured event, but it was our way, it was our design, it was our aesthetic.”

Air|Water, meanwhile, began as a more inclusive event tacked onto a Luft weekend in San Francisco. The year was 2023, and if Porsche collectability had skyrocketed in the few years leading up to the Covid-19 pandemic, the resulting popularity after three years of a new world order only emphasized the importance of being able to invite a broader swath of the Porsche pantheon. At Mare Island, the fare stretched back as far as Porsche’s earliest water-cooled “transaxle” cars—the 924, 928, and their derivatives that all used water-cooled engines as early as 1975.

A Show for Every Aspect of Porsche History

Of course, as the name suggests, Air|Water still invited air-cooled cars from the previous three decades of Porsche history, too. But even the “transaxle” category is something of a misnomer, since every single Porsche used a transaxle until the Cayenne SUV debuted for model year 2003. The smaller Macan crossover and Panamera sedan also employ water cooling, and even the Taycan to help the batteries and electric motors stay in their performance window, so these often overlooked aspects of the Porsche story also qualify for Air|Water.

Almost as importantly, a broader selection of Porsche’s most successful race cars can appear at Air|Water, alongside the legendary 959 that straddles the historical line by featuring a ground-breaking air-cooled block with water-cooled cylinder heads. Now, Long views Air|Water as more of an annual celebration, held at the same enormous venue every year to welcome both the enormous selection of cars but also the thronging crowds eager to get up close and personal with their automotive idols.

“Air|Water is a destination, a large campus with many facets of experiences,” Long mused. “We really want to give everybody who works in some aspect of the industry a place to call their playground for the day. Whether that's Porsche releasing their latest product or a startup guy who's doing picture books, everybody who has that passion for Porsche culture. If it’s air, water, it's race and street, it's two-door, it's four-door, even electric. If it's Porsche, we want to tell the stories.”

But how does the presentation of Air|Water differ from Luftgekühlt, I wondered aloud.

“Luft is that wild spontaneous gathering that keeps you on the edge of the seat,” he replied, “And you love or hate it because it just never makes you feel comfortable. Air|Water, very literal name, very literal logo, a very predictable format, and the idea is that it will be a sort of global hub. If you're going to go to one Porsche show a year, this is where you're going to find a little of everything.”

Attendees in Costa Mesa can expect over 1,000 cars arranged in what’s become a quintessentially artistic fashion perfect for photography. In fact, Long recognizes how neatly Luft’s own rise coincided with the boom of image-focused social media apps like Instagram, helping to establish significant momentum that the brand has capitalized on, and supported purposefully over the years.

“The idea of our car meets is to create a gallery where the cars are the art, so that means the total environment matters,” Long said. “So we build the arena and then we let the photographers take their shots in their own way, whether they're an amateur kid with an iPhone or some of the most professional and celebrated photographers, not just car photographers. That's the idea, and that wasn't always the plan, but it has turned out to be our strategy.”

Air|Water will also focus on a more active aspect, too, alongside plenty of exclusive parties and afterparties taking place around Los Angeles and Orange County that week. The show includes a dedicated area for off-roading demonstrations, and partner Overcrest plans a drive event in advance of the show.

Enjoying Porsches, New and Old

As much as Patrick Long’s life has evolved from racing driver to show coordinator, his own Porsche collection has continued to grow—entirely of the air-cooled variety, though. He keeps a 1957 late-A 356 in non-metallic Aquamarine in a restored, but still patinated condition. He bought an Irish Green 912 from its original owner in 2016, who cried as Long drove away in an heirloom that had been in the family since 1966. His Aubergine 1972 911T features a host of subtle and not-so-subtle modifications to bring it to “Carrera RS spec-plus” as Long describes it. A 993 Carrera 2 originally sold by Vasek Polak reminds him of a dentist’s car back in 1996. And a tastefully tricked-out 914, with a 2.7-liter flat six and Weber carbs, provides a bit of contrasting aural signature because the engine flips around backwards compared to rear-engined cars.

No water-cooled projects yet, though as America’s first Porsche factory driver, Long still serves as a brand ambassador and gets to experience every model in the lineup year in and year out. In that modern oeuvre, he appreciates the Paint to Sample (PTS) phenomenon and the modern GT cars plenty, though everything from the textures to the smells still makes classic Porsches more alluring.

As years pass by, even water-cooled cars built in this millennium now count officially under the auspices of Porsche Classic when it comes time to find parts. Hence why no matter the era, no matter the Porsche, and for spectators regardless of historical context or late-date enthusiasm, all are welcome at Air|Water.