The plan was hatched just after last year's Parade when I found out the 1999 Parade was being held in Mont Tremblant, only 440 miles from home. I had always wanted to attend a Parade and the timing was right. It may be a few years before I can do it again.

I had been looking for over two years for a 356 electric sunroof coupe to keep my 1963 356B Super-90 cabriolet company in my garage. Finally a good prospect appeared in Pennsylvania, a two owner 1964 356C with all the records. I had Bruce Baker, who happened to live within 15 miles of the owner, give it the once-over for me and on his recommendation I told the owner to get the car to me and I would buy it. It arrived on the back of a flatbed truck and we carefully unloaded it, I spent 45 minutes crawling over, under and through it and then fired it up and drove it about 3 miles down the road and back. I handed the owner his money, picked up the additional parts and records that came with the car and proceeded to plan for the face-lift.

The signal red with black vinyl sunroof coupe is a time-warp machine. The interior was entirely original and in good condition except for the rug at the door thresholds and the driver's seat. The coupe still had its original tool kit, jack, owners manual, Porsche service books, Blaupunkt radio manual and Golde (the sunroof supplier) service book. I knew from Bruce and the owner that it was a well optioned car and the Blaupunkt was there along with headrests, fog lights, chrome horn ring, Leitz luggage rack and side moldings (optional on all Porsches and put on at the factory according to the coupe's papers). Even the original, red-tipped antenna rose out of the left fender. There was one other unique aspect to the car; it had a window sticker from the 1964 Monaco Grand Prix on the left quarter window, put there by the original owner when he attended the Grand Prix after picking up the coupe at the Porsche factory. There is a scratch through the middle of it - but it is going to stay there for as long as I own the car. The 10 year old repaint was in great shape with several small dents that I knew Dent Master could take out and there was an oversized, Talbot-shaped mirror perched on the right front fender that had to go. The car resided with Denny Trask at Denny's Coach Works and from mid-March on there was a full court press to remove the mirror, fill in a small drilled hole in a rear panel and spot paint the two areas.

The interior we tried to keep but the decision was made to recover the front seats because the stitching on the driver's seat was just too far-gone. The carpeting was also replaced although utilizing a pair of vintage threshold plates to cover the worn-out carpet could have saved it. I knew I couldn't be in Preservation Class at the Parade because of the one repaint so it became not so important to retain the carpet. The remainder of the interior was brought back to as new condition. The headliner was dyed and all the panels were cleaned etc.

Denny also scraped the underside clean and after we were assured that the car was in fact rust free, it was undercoated with Wurst. The engine came out and got a face-lift--sheet metal was painted, everything was cleaned, new decals applied and all the little time-consuming stuff. The engine compartment got cleaned and several edges of the original soundproofing were glued down. The luggage compartment soundproofing was also all there and in great shape.

The coupe had arrived with a set of early Fuchs and 65 series tires mounted but the original steel wheels and 25-year-old Semperits with lots of tread came with the car. The steel wheels were repainted and mounted on the coupe and I now have a set of Fuchs for sale.

The signal red coupe was now ready to join the black cabriolet in my garage. Now the detail work really began. The list of needed parts went together quickly and I was shortly changing side and bumper deco strips, read bumper guards, the gold "Porsche" and "C" and hundreds of other details. The mechanical break-in was also started and a new starter was installed along with a rebuilt, correctly keyed ignition switch.

The red coupe made a side trip one weekend carrying my wife and I to Skaneateles outside of Syracuse, to see one of my college buddies who was vacationing. Almost to the Throughway exit, an ominous bounce started at the rear of the car. I pulled over and felt the tires for a telltale bump signaling a ruptured tire but could not find any. Slowly we made it the rest of the way, spent several delightful hours with him and his woman friend, and then wondered how we were going to get the coupe home. I had noticed a small garage just outside of the town on the way in and I stopped there hoping for the best. The owner of what turned out to be a used car lot, Bill Carroll, was extremely helpful and let me call AAA while he got out a jack to elevate the rear tires to see what we could find. The right rear tire was egg shaped; the whole casing had failed. No wonder I couldn't feel it - the "bump" covered half the tire. So much for the old Semperits. The even older (I believe original) Michelin spare was mounted and we made it home without incident. There went an expense for four new Dunlop 165/15 tires that I hadn't planned on. Bill would take no money for his help so if you are looking for a used car from an honest guy and willing to travel to Skaneateles call him at 315-685-3921.

I was having a lot of problems trying to get the Zenith carbs tuned in and I decided to take the coupe to an autocross for a real "break-in". I already knew I had a weak #3 cylinder and wanted to see if I could find anything else using a little hard driving. Well, I did. I went to Niagara Region's first Autocross of the season and put her through her paces. She handled quite nicely but there was definitely something wrong with the engine. When I got home I already had decided that the engine had to come out, but now it was late May and time was growing short until the first week in August. Without the help from Tom Keating, a friend and fellow Registry and Niagara Region PCA Member, I could not have done it in time. We started in mid June and the engine was out and all over my garage floor. Working after I got home from work (and Tom beat me to my house many times) it took a few weeks to do it right. The left side was pulled first and there was the culprit, a #1 compression ring on cylinder #3, cracked in half but no loose pieces (whew!!!). It wasn't much work to pull the other side and SURPRISE! Both #1 and #2 had broken #1 compression rings, even though the compression was marginally OK. The four cylinders went to Eksten Autoworks in Rochester for honing and checking to make sure they were still within specifications and they were. A new set of Deves rings was installed and the engine was reassembled and stuffed back in the coupe. Voila! Compression was 170, 165, 165, 165. The biggest problem was taken care of now, on to the others.

The carbs were still finicky so I removed them and took off the top plates. The left carb was clean but the right carb fuel chamber, jet chamber and jets were covered by a forest of light gray growth which comes from years of leaded gas being stagnant for months at a time. Yes, it had been there for quite a while. Three hours later the carb went back together and both were reinstalled.

The carbs ran much better although I will have them rebuilt and replated during this coming winter, however, I still had a problem with idle. The culprit now appeared to be the distributor. The advance was not smooth and it did not want to return to idle so out it came and it also was rebuilt. Now the coupe was running pretty good. I knew I was going to be embarrassed for a while until the new rings seated as I was killing mosquitoes every time the coupe was started after sitting for a while - nothing a few thousand miles wouldn't fix.

By now it was mid-July and the cleaning frenzy was on. I continued to drive it to help set the rings and to find any other mechanical or electrical problems. One more surfaced with the introduction of a scraping sound from the right rear wheel. I got bearings and seals just in case and started to take it apart when I realized there was no torque on the castellated nut. The same garage gorilla who torques lug nuts to the impossible-to-remove setting had not torqued the castellated nut at all. Now the splines on the hub were shot and the call went out for a "like new" hub. One of my 356 "pack rat" friends in California had one and sent it. It arrived two days before I left for the Parade. My wife had just left for California to visit our kids for the month of August. I was alone with our Irish setter, Riley, to fret over last minute details, feed the both of us, and try to sleep.

The following day after work I did last minute cleaning, packed and prayed. The next day was the sixth of August and I woke early. A last minute inspection and off I went. The first stop was at CDI in Victor NY, my friendly repair shop, where the bad rear hub was removed and the new one put on (that snug fit was very reassuring). The air wrench was set to high and the torque climbed toward the 300-ft. lb. mark. The other rear hub was checked for proper torque and we were ready, my sunroof coupe and I were going to our first Parade together.

The weather report the night before had not been too promising but I hoped for the best as the spotless red coupe entered the New York Throughway heading toward Syracuse. Then it was north past Watertown and the skies were ominous. As soon as I hit the Canadian border the skies opened up and down came the rain. I was making very good time as the Canadians generally drive about 75 to 80 (and faster) and I stayed right with the traffic. (Yes, a 1964 C coupe will still do 100+. I had to try.) Then I hit the Montreal traffic. Rain. Dirt. Traffic jam. There went my spotless car. It looked like it got dredged through a swamp by the time I finally pulled into the Village of Mont Tremblant several hours later and found the Parade Headquarters hotel where I was staying. After checking in, I found the one and only wash stand for our use and knocked the major dirt off the car. Then I went back to the hotel, had a great seafood buffet dinner and hit the sack. Tomorrow was not going to be a fun day.

Saturday dawned chilly but dry. You can never trust mountain weather; it will do what it wants and when you least expect it. I was up at 6:00 and down to the Concours staging area where several other brave souls were already hard at work cleaning. I was resigned to the fact that, because of the rain damage, I had to rip the coupe completely apart and put it back together in order to make sure it was clean enough for the Concours. I made some great new friends that day and the next as I spent 13 hours straight working on the car on Saturday working beside a 914 couple who placed first in class and division on Monday. I guess I wasn't going to stop until they did. Boy were we tired by evening. But not too tired. I met some friends and went down to the village in the Arial tram (like a ski lift for the tourists to get back and forth from the low to the high point of the village) to sample the great food and drink available from so many restaurants and bars. I had no problem sleeping Saturday night. There had been one break in the morning as I ran down to the registration area and got properly "Paradized" and then went back to cleaning.

Sunday looked like it was going to be a repeat of Friday and it rained off and on all day. Between the rain, the crazy concours people, yeah, me included, continued to prepare their Porsches. I started bumping into other Registry and PCA friends. Dan Deegan, Niagara PCA, was there, broken foot and all; he drove his 968 Cabriolet up with the cast on his foot - now that's dedication. Rob Dean, our Niagara Region President showed up with his wife, Michelle and they were trying to prepare for the Concours. Rob had opted for full concours - a real glutton for punishment for a 911 Carrera driven 500 miles in the rain. Other familiar faces surfaced through the crowds like Terry Hammond from Finger Lakes and Bill Norosky and Steve Turco from Central NY. I had plenty of time to visit the goody store where I bought a great Porsche jacket. The art exhibit was worth spending some time going over the works of the various artists and I met more friends during my stops at the hospitality suite. I made one last trip to the red coupe and checked for any rain puddles in unsuspecting places. The battery compartment floor showed a little and I dried it up. I was as ready as I was going to be. Off to the village for food and drink - tomorrow was the day.

Monday dawned with broken clouds and the sun peeking through. Maybe it was going to be OK. The 356s and the 914s were the first to be staged at 7:30 am. Lots of cars were already positioned as I drove slowly over the golf course's driving range to the spot designated for the 356s. I had been brave and worn shorts but at least I had a windbreaker and that was a good thing. The hot coffee from the concession tasted great. I got one for Dan Deegan also since he wasn't too mobile with his cast. Last minute primping was taking place and I surveyed my competition. A few I knew I could beat but then there were the trailer queens - no way was I going to beat them. My class had 12 cars but there were more 356s in the full concours and in Preservation class. All in all, I think the "original version" had a very good showing.

The judges started at the other end of the line and I had time to wander around and gape at Porsche #1 and so many other great Porsches. The Porsche factory did a great job of restoring #1 from the fall on its nose last year. My camera was working overtime. Finally the judges got to the car before mine and I went back and stood beside that little red sunroof coupe and waited for them to poke holes in all my hard work. And they did. However, the only thing that got me upset was that the rain, in the middle of the night, had deposited another puddle in the battery box so there went one whole point. Ouch!! Overall I think the coupe did herself proud and, if anything, her originality up against the fully restored trailer queens, was going to save her. Then came the excruciating wait until the scores were posted. And it rained again on and off. I figured sixth, maybe fifth if I was lucky. Lo and behold - a third place was staring at me from that scoreboard. I will always feel better about that third place than all the firsts I have taken with other cars.

The awards reception and ceremony that evening was very nicely done - especially after they got the trophies synched with the award being announced. Peter Porsche spoke and everyone enjoyed himself or herself. Receiving the award was almost anti-climatic but you won't see me giving it up to anyone. Ann says she will bury it with me one day when I die.

I did get a good night's sleep Monday night and Tuesday morning brought out the sun once again. The red coupe looked proud as punch in front of the hotel as I packed her for the trip home. And then we were on our way back to Rochester, back to work - and I would have much preferred to stay. Winding our way down the mountains and back through Montreal and the sky grew ominous once again. As we approached the U.S. border the rain started again and stayed with us all the way home. But it couldn't hurt us anymore so it was OK that we scooted along with a good-sized rooster tail. She purred and was thumbing her nose at more precipitation over 5 days than she had probably seen in more than 25 years.

I didn't unpack right away - just too tuckered out. I thought about the year long planning and my solitary assault on the Parade Concours and then paused to reconsider. I wasn't alone, she was with me all the time and she thanked me for all that great care by getting me that third place in Touring. Much to Ann's dismay, the little red sunroof coupe is now part of the family and she joins the `63 Cabriolet that joined us 18 years ago. I wonder what I'll do about Sacramento next year?