The Saturn Vue is a compact SUV, meaning it’s a small-to-mid size vehicle with higher ground clearance. In the podcast, someone mentions doing something “for Vue,” which suggests they were working with or referring to that model. The conversation uses it mainly as a reference point.
Company
Hopkins
They’re referring to a big hospital/medical center called Johns Hopkins. The host is thanking someone who works there and helped them while they were sick.
A CT scan is a special kind of medical imaging that takes detailed pictures inside your body. It helps doctors see what’s going on without doing surgery.
Harper Auto Square is the dealership business the guest runs. Since it includes a Porsche dealership, it also influences how Porsche owners get service, parts, and support locally.
A Porsche franchise refers to a dealership’s authorized right to sell and service Porsche vehicles. Franchise status usually comes with brand requirements for staffing, training, facilities, and parts/service support, which can directly impact owner experience.
A dealer principal is the person who leads the dealership day-to-day. They’re responsible for making sure the business runs properly and meets the brand’s requirements.
This is a body shop that’s officially approved for Porsche repairs. The idea is that they follow Porsche’s repair standards so the car is fixed correctly, not just “good enough.”
Restoration work means bringing a car back to a better condition—sometimes like it’s new again. For classic or heavily repaired Porsches, doing it well matters for both looks and long-term reliability.
The guest describes their family business starting with Porsche, Audi, and Jaguar franchises. This highlights how some dealer groups build expertise across multiple European brands, which can shape service processes and customer relationships.
Brand equity is the value a brand name has because of recognition and customer trust. The guest argues that keeping the Porsche-related naming helps preserve that equity in the local market.
Allocation systems are the rules brands use to decide which dealers get which cars. If a model is hard to get, allocation is how Porsche limits supply and spreads it out.
Sales programs are the planned promotions and offers that help dealers sell cars. They can include things like special customer deals or structured ways to market certain models.
This is a Porsche 911 GT2 from the 996 generation. It’s a higher-performance, more track-oriented version of the 911, and the “996” part tells you which generation of 911 it is.
Concept
Porsche family car (green)
The speaker is describing a recurring Porsche design/ownership theme: green as a “family” color across different eras. They connect specific decades (1960s/1970s vs. 1990s) to how Porsche’s popular green shades and interior pairings have changed over time.
They mention the Toyota Camry to make a contrast with Porsche. The point is that in the 1990s, lots of regular cars had a similar look, while Porsche’s green identity has its own story.
A “highly curated event” means the organizers intentionally select cars, layout, and programming rather than simply opening the doors to anyone. In this segment, they contrast it with a typical dealership show and emphasize creating a distinct identity.
The “Quarry venue” is described as a former marble quarry used as the event backdrop. This is relevant because the hosts tie the location’s scenery to the event’s photo-friendly, high-end presentation.
Topic
Lee Keens River Works events
They’re listing other car events they like, to explain what kind of vibe they wanted for Platica. It’s basically “we took inspiration from events we already enjoy.”
“Rensport reunions” refers to a Porsche-focused event series that emphasizes curated car culture and high-end displays. The hosts use it as a reference point for the vibe and structure they wanted for Platica.
They’re talking about how the event is set up so the cars photograph really well. It’s basically good staging—angles and backgrounds that make the pictures look great.
The Porsche 356 is an older Porsche sports car from the early days of the brand. It’s important because it helped establish Porsche’s reputation for sporty driving. The podcast mentions having many 356s to race, which shows how common they were in club racing.
The hosts repeatedly contrast Platica with a “dealership show,” meaning a typical event where the dealership is the main focus. They emphasize making it its own identity and then later describe evolving it into a dealership show with multiple partners—balancing brand involvement with event culture.
“10 agency” is mentioned as a creative/branding partner involved in developing Platica’s identity and guidelines. This matters because the hosts attribute the event’s curated look and feel to professional branding work.
They’re saying a car event isn’t just “show up and park.” You have to manage lots of details at once—who’s invited, what cars are showing, the weather, and how people register—so everything goes well.
Concept
invite-only vs ticketed event
The segment contrasts different access models: early years were mostly invite-only, while later years added general admission tickets. This matters for car shows because it changes crowd flow, how many cars can be displayed, and how sponsors/vendors participate.
Corral parking is basically a reserved parking area that’s organized for a certain group. It helps the event run cleaner and keeps cars and people in the right places.
A rally drive is a group drive with a planned route. Instead of everyone driving separately, the event organizes the route so participants can enjoy it together.
General admission tickets are the regular tickets people buy to enter the event. They help the organizers manage how many people show up and how the event is funded.
“Break even” means the event doesn’t make a profit, but it also doesn’t lose money overall. They’re saying the goal is to cover the big costs rather than earn extra.
They’re basically saying this Porsche event doesn’t feel like a typical Corvette-focused show. Different car groups often attract different crowds and energy.
The Porsche Carrera GT is a very rare, very fast Porsche supercar. It’s the kind of car people talk about because it’s special and not something you see every day. In the podcast, they’re basically saying you might not need one if you already have another unique Porsche.
They’re trying to beat a specific “world record” number of cars. So instead of just inviting people normally, they actively recruit owners to make sure the count is high enough.
A “corral pass” is a ticket that gets you into a specific car area at the event. They limit how many cars can be in that zone, and this year it sold out fast.
They’re talking about ticket types—specifically cheaper “early bird” tickets—and that they sell out fast. If you want to go, you’d need to buy early because availability is limited.
Porsche Cars North America (PCNA) is Porsche’s organization for the U.S. market. In this segment, they’re talking about PCNA helping set things up and making introductions so the event gets official support.
Porsche Design is Porsche’s brand for lifestyle products, like watches and other premium accessories. Here, they’re saying Porsche Design has been showing up at the event to support the brand in a broader way.
If only a tiny number of cars were made, there are far fewer available today. That’s why collectors get excited when these rare cars show up—there just aren’t many of them.
FOMO is the fear that you’ll miss an event or opportunity that others will enjoy. The hosts use it to describe why people attend Porsche gatherings—especially when friends and rare cars are involved.
Porsche has a tradition of making cars lighter to make them feel faster and more responsive. The hosts are saying these early cars show where that idea started, and seeing them together helps you notice the differences.
Ferdinand Piech was an important automotive leader connected to Porsche and the broader Volkswagen group. The hosts mention him because they’re talking about where Porsche’s “make it lighter” mindset came from.
The Porsche 917 is a historic race car that’s basically a legend in endurance racing. “Gulf livery” means it’s painted in the classic Gulf Oil colors that people associate with old racing posters and cars.
Car
963 RSP
The Porsche 963 is a serious race car Porsche built for endurance racing. When they say “963 RSP,” they’re talking about a particular version of that race program that’s special enough to be a headline attraction.
They’re setting rules that only real, authentic cars can be shown—no tribute cars. That way the event stays focused on the actual history and original vehicles.
“No repeats” is an event curation rule intended to keep the car lineup fresh across different showings or categories. For attendees, it increases variety and reduces the chance of seeing the same featured cars again.
The hosts discuss varying event start/end times to target different attendee demographics—early risers versus people who prefer sleeping in and staying later. This is a common event-planning strategy to spread attendance and reduce peak congestion.
A “Corral Pass” is an admission tier that grants access to a specific area (the corral) and a specific entry time window. The hosts use it to explain how staggered schedules manage crowd flow and give different groups different experiences.
“Car week” just means a whole week (or several days) packed with car events. People plan their trip around it so they can go to a show, then a drive, then another event.
They’re talking about how some car brands create a loyal fan community. With Porsche, owners don’t just buy the car—they want to be part of events and activities around the brand.
They bring up Lexus as a comparison point—basically, “I don’t run Lexus, but if I did, would it work like Porsche does?” It’s less about Lexus specifics and more about brand-community differences.
They’re comparing Porsche fans to Harley-Davidson riders—both groups are known for strong loyalty and community. The point is that Porsche’s following feels “club-like,” not just transactional.
Platíca sounds like a recurring Porsche get-together where people do more than just look at cars. It’s about community and brand culture, not only driving or shopping.
PCNA stands for Porsche Cars North America. It’s Porsche’s North American organization that helps shape how Porsche supports events and communities through dealers.
They’re saying these events aren’t mainly about selling right away. Instead, they help people remember the dealer and trust them later when they’re ready to buy.
CPO means Certified Pre-Owned, a Porsche-backed program that typically includes inspection and warranty coverage compared with regular used cars. The host uses the example of a CPO 911 on the dealer’s website to explain how enthusiast events can build trust and influence shopping decisions.
The Porsche Cayenne is a four-door SUV made by Porsche. It’s designed to be more practical than a typical sports car while still feeling sporty to drive. The podcast brings it up because it’s one of Porsche’s main models in addition to their other cars.
Concept
pre-sold vs experience-based car events
They’re saying some car events feel like you’re being pressured to buy, while others are more about having a great time and learning. With rare cars, the “experience” is the main reason people show up.
They’re talking about choosing the right rare cars for the event and setting them up in a way that helps people appreciate them. Instead of just looking at cars, attendees get stories and context that make the cars feel more meaningful.
They mention a “restoration challenge,” which is basically an event/program centered on fixing up and bringing Porsche cars back to life. It’s part of the bigger Porsche community that cares about preserving these cars.
“Iris green” is presented as a specific exterior color used for the Micro GT project. In high-end restorations, color naming matters because it affects paint codes, documentation, and how accurately the finished car matches the intended shade. The hosts also connect it to a broader “classic restoration challenge” submission.
“Ascot brown interior” describes a specific interior color/material theme paired with the exterior “Iris green.” Interior color choices are often as important as exterior paint in concours-style restorations because they influence authenticity and overall visual balance. The mention of pepita inserts suggests a more detailed upholstery pattern beyond just a solid color.
“Pepita” refers to a small repeating check/pattern often used in upholstery. “Pepita inserts” implies the seats or trim include patterned sections rather than a plain interior. In restoration and customization, pattern accuracy can be a judging point and also a sign of higher-end trim work.
The “classic restoration challenge” is a competition framework they’re using to motivate the restoration work and to set expectations for winning. For listeners, it’s a reminder that restorations can be judged on authenticity, finish quality, and correctness—not just whether the car runs. The hosts treat the Micro GT as their submission.
Company
classic nine up in Detroit
“Classic nine” is referenced as the shop in Detroit doing interior work on the Carrera GT projects. This is an example of how restoration builds rely on specialized third-party craftsmen rather than one single shop doing everything. For enthusiasts, it’s useful context for how to think about sourcing quality interior restoration.
“930” is Porsche’s name for the older 911 Turbo generation. They’re describing a 1978 example that’s getting a full restoration—basically stripping it down and rebuilding it carefully, including the wiring. It’s a big, detail-heavy project.
“Ground up” and “glass out bare metal” describe an extreme restoration level: the car is disassembled to the shell, glass is removed, and the body is stripped to bare metal before repainting and reassembly. This approach helps address hidden corrosion and ensures the paint and panel fit are done correctly. It’s also typically more expensive and time-consuming than a cosmetic restoration.
The Buick Regal is a mid-size car made by Buick. The podcast is talking about a 1978 Regal and a specific paint color called “medium green.” They’re mentioning it because the color stands out and they don’t like how it looks.
They’re also redoing the car’s wiring. That means replacing or fixing the electrical cables so everything works reliably. It’s common during major restorations because it’s hard to do later once the car is fully put back together.
“Paint the sample” refers to a special paint sample used for color development or custom requests, rather than a standard production color. These samples can become collector-meaningful because they document rare factory paint intentions. The hosts contrast “paint the sample” with how people sometimes describe such cars using more romantic “special wishes” language.
They’re describing how they work on classic cars in different ways: keeping it original, fixing it back to how it should look, or customizing it so it feels like the owner’s dream Porsche.
They’re laying out the competition/judging timeline and locations for regional events, including “Automobilia” and “Indy.” For Porsche enthusiasts, these regional steps often feed into later finals, so the schedule matters for owners planning when to present their cars.
They discuss how the finals location and timing have changed, and that this year’s finals are in Atlanta in October at “PEC.” This is important for owners because the finals are the culmination of the judging circuit they’re preparing for.
“PTS” is Porsche’s official custom paint program. If a color isn’t a PTS color, it means it wasn’t chosen from that bespoke paint catalog, which some enthusiasts care about for originality and judging.
A “track day” is an organized event where drivers can use a circuit for performance driving under controlled conditions. The speaker contrasts track-day use with show/display expectations, implying that some owners treat their cars differently depending on the event.
“Rain or shine” just means the event goes on no matter the weather. Here, it’s used to show that Porsche owners still show up even when it’s raining.
Car
Porsche 962
The Porsche 962 is a famous old-school race car. The hosts are basically saying that even in bad weather, people with serious Porsche cars still show up and drive them.
The “GT3” is a special Porsche built to feel more like a race car. Here they’re arguing about whether it makes sense to make a GT3 as a convertible, since some people think the GT3 should be more serious and track-oriented.
A cabriolet is just a convertible—an open-top version of a car. They’re talking about whether a convertible GT-style Porsche still feels “right” to enthusiasts.
PTS is Porsche’s customization program—basically the options that make a car more personal. They’re saying there may not be enough of those customization slots for everyone who wants them.
Magnesium wheels are lighter wheels than many standard options. Lighter wheels can help the car feel more responsive, and here they’re used as an example of the high-end options people want.
Ceramic brakes are a premium brake setup that can handle heat better and usually makes less brake dust. They’re mentioned as one of the popular upgrades people want on high-demand cars.
They’re saying Porsche used to try lots of different special versions of cars to see which ones people wanted most. That helps a company make money and survive, especially when they’re trying to figure out what buyers will pay for.
“Porsche Classic” refers to Porsche’s efforts to support and service older models through parts, restoration guidance, and official programs. The host contrasts it with an earlier era when Porsche support for older cars felt limited.
“Air-cooled” means the engine is cooled mainly by air flowing over it, not by a liquid cooling system. The conversation is about how people and dealers didn’t always recognize or value these cars the way enthusiasts do now.
They’re saying that if a company keeps making replacement parts for older cars, those cars are easier to maintain. That helps keep them alive and can attract new owners who want to get into classics.
They’re talking about a big Porsche event in Lake Placid, New York, happening in mid-June. Registration is open, but it’s hard to get in mainly because there isn’t enough local housing.
The hosts remind listeners about “Works Reunion” with a date of May 13 and an event date of August 14. This is a club-organized planning note rather than a technical automotive detail, but it’s a key structural item for attendees.
Tech Tactics East sounds like a Porsche club event where people learn practical car-tech stuff. In this episode, they’re pointing to a specific talk by Roff Kitlets. It’s where the discussion about wheel maintenance comes from.
Centerlock wheels attach with one central fastener instead of many lug nuts. That can make swapping wheels faster, but it also means you need the correct tools and you can’t be casual about maintenance. If you don’t have the right setup, it can be a hassle—especially roadside.
Roff Kitlets is the person the hosts say gave the technical presentation. They’re highlighting him as a knowledgeable instructor. The talk specifically covered how to maintain centerlock wheels.
Concept
dealer vs DIY maintenance
Some owners prefer the dealer because it’s done by trained techs. Others do it themselves if they have the skills and tools—especially for jobs that aren’t straightforward.
They mention that track-focused Porsche owners often use specialized tools to service or work on specific systems. The key point is that some procedures require purpose-built equipment, which can be expensive.
Center locks are a different way to attach the wheels. Instead of many lug nuts, there’s one central lock, and that means you need the right method (and sometimes special tools) to remove or install the wheel safely.
LIVE
Welcome to the Porsche Club Insider, your one stop for all things Porsche and PCA.
Here's your host, Vu Gwin, and the Insider crew.
Welcome everyone to episode 215, there's a brand new name coming out of Tennessee, it's
called Platica and we're going to get into that.
But first I want to make sure that we think Pirelli are presenting sponsor, Pirelli tires
have to achieve the highest levels of performance, safety, noisiness, and grip on the road surface.
Innovative tires that can satisfy even the most specific mobility needs of the end consumer.
Thank you all for listening, if you aren't currently a PCA member and own a Porsche, what
are you waiting for?
Grab that VIN if you are looking for a Porsche, check out our test drive program, again head
over to PCA.org and we'd love for you to come on board.
At the table I'm glad to have him back, although he looks a little scruffy as Manny Alvin
and Damon is at the controls and our special guest for today is the president and dealer
principal of Harper Autosquare which also has a Porsche chain and that is Shannon Harper.
Manny, my friend, welcome back.
So I know in the last episode you said I was under the weather I think and that was true,
but I wanted to come forward with what's really happening and I guess those who'd listened
occasionally, please apologize for the few minutes we're going to take.
The regular listeners I figured I deserved to know, essentially about two months ago,
I got diagnosed with stage two bladder cancer.
Stage two for those who don't know, I mean it's in the muscle but nowhere else and so
that was a good news, it was only stage two not three or four.
I started, so all those episodes you saw me from two months ago I was, I had cancer and
I was due for my first session of chemotherapy and immunotherapy, that was like Friday the
27th I think and they told me what to expect, first time wouldn't be so bad, but you'll
be tired and everything.
So I was fully ready to experience what they told me, unfortunately and this is nothing
against the good folks at Johns Hopkins, they did a phenomenal job of taking care of me.
It's just that I think they said less than one percent react like this, unfortunately I can't
be the one percent that wins the mega million or a higher ball, I get stuck with cancer,
but they took care of me, essentially two hours after I got the infusion I had a bad
reaction to it, I had a fever for five days, eight days or six days.
I went to the emergency room at the cancer center in Hopkins, the Kimmel Weinberg Cancer Center
they immediately admitted me, then I spent five days in short and living hell,
as they tried to, they couldn't believe I was having this reaction, they were
confident it was a virus I had or something that I came into the picture with this and
they didn't pick up. By Wednesday the fever had broke and they had done like I'm not exaggerating
at least 25 tests and we were still waiting for other gross, the mature to determine whether
I think they had every kind of possible disease including those from Africa where I've never
been. Anyways they finally decided Wednesday afternoon that it was a reaction to immunotherapy,
chemotherapy and that I didn't have a virus or whatnot and so Wednesday when the first time
ever I think I did a lot of the preparation work, we had a schedule and everything for the parade,
but by the time we came near I had to ask Vooda to contact Jack because I didn't have the energy,
I mean which was the first time ever that I'd been hospitalized, I didn't have the energy to do
PCA work as much as I wanted to, so Vooda and Melanie did a great job. Then Friday I got released
and so this is Tuesday or excuse me this is Wednesday after the Friday I got released.
Long story short I'm getting better every day, they're going to come up with a new plan
of recovery, they're not going to give me the same immunotherapy or chemotherapy.
I guess side effects that I didn't realize but I had spoken to you a couple of days ago,
I think it was on our content call or something like that, but hiccups, hiccups is a thing.
I do have to apologize that you're going to hear as much as believe it or not I have a Slurpee,
7-Eleven World Farm Slurpee, the doctor said it was probably because the cool temperature of the
Slurpee drink and the fact that it's iced down, it numbs the muscle that makes you have hiccups,
it somewhat alleviates but they're trying different medicine to make me stop that
the hiccup because it's absolutely misery. It doesn't hurt to make sure I told them at the
hospital I said I'm going to say this very carefully, I have chest pains but not heart attack
chest pains, it's muscle chest pains from trying to burp and I can't burp, but that's all. I don't
want to put, I don't want to bum everyone out especially those who are occasional listeners
but I did want to explain to our regular listeners why I have a beard which will be gone,
not the next podcast because we're recording this all on the same day, but the following
podcast. As my daughter who's getting married at the end of April said to my wife,
he is going to shave that thing, which I said yes. I actually did it for Vue because Vue has
always asked me how long would it take me to grow a beard and of course when I was in a hospital I
had no energy much less to even get up and walk around much less shave so I let it grow and
then I was like I gotta see, I gotta see. Number two, Paul Sito said are you going to keep the
beard? I said just for one day so Vue can see how quickly I can grow a beard and be
stopped by almost any government agency for probably a beard of being who knows what.
Yeah, but yeah a big thanks to all my friends. There she goes in a PCA who texted me, who called
me. A big shout out to Rich Bauer who we call Dr. Turbo. He works at Hopkins and I think he's a
technician for the CT scan department. He came to see me sometimes three times a day whenever he
worked and one day I had this craving, I hadn't drank in Coca-Cola since 2012 but I had this craving
for Coca-Cola and the poor technician that worked there she came back with two cans of Shasta Cola.
She said oh it tastes the same I'm like and I don't want to be that person. She doesn't know who
she's talking to. That's what I said and I want to offend all of Atlanta but it's not the same thing.
I said I need the formula. I said I need the formula that will take software off a battery.
That's what I want so I texted Rich and he said let me go on a hunt and he found a deli and
Hopkins by the way for those aren't familiar is huge. They have a whole underground where they
have a metro and they have I can't tell you how many city blocks the underground encompass and
we're lucky those of us that live in Maryland to be so close to such a value institution but
anyway there's a deli that sells Coca-Cola even though Hopkins does it and shout out to Mr. Bauer.
He got me Coca-Cola. Didn't help but at least he found me to Coca-Cola and got my craving out.
Well it's good to have you back as you know we whatever you need we want you to focus focus on
getting better. We will try to keep the ship going in the right direction. Don't ever feel like
you have to. Nothing's nothing's more important than you getting better. It's definitely not the
same without you in that seat next to us we but we will continue to keep things moving forward
and thanks to the listeners for their hopefully patience of my hiccups and if you don't hear
me talk about it anymore it's just because we like to talk about Porsche. Exactly that's
what I'd rather talk about. I'm glad I didn't turn over there in our earlier podcast. You know
Manny shut the heck up. Now that I know. Well Shannon thank you for joining us on PCA Insider.
We're excited to hear about Platica since I'm not fluent in Spanish but you are. I believe
Platica is conversation. You Google what you did. I did. I did because I don't know but
my parents are from Ecuador and I never use that word. You've never used that word. I had to
look it up too. I thought it was German or maybe Italian but I had no idea. I didn't think it was
German. It just didn't sound like a German. So Shannon I want to start right there.
How did we get to Platica? Well so the first event we held was on Cinco de Mayo and at the
time we didn't know what we were really doing and we were trying to come up with some names
as some cool alliteration and I went to Yvette one of our office managers and she speaks Spanish.
I said Yvette I need some cool Porsche and something in Spanish and she goes oh Porsche
Platica and I'm like that sounds awesome. Like what is that? And of course I immediately
mispronounced Platica as Platica. Oh sure. Tennessee but she's all this Porsche chat
and I was like that sums up the event perfectly. It's a Porsche chat where you hang out in a nice
environment and you're just having a nice Porsche chat. And that's the toughest part
about having an event is figuring out what the name is. It's easier to pronounce than Locacult.
I still manage to mess it up. So welcome to the show and let's kind of kick it off.
You are the president and dealer principal for Harper Auto Square and of course you have
the Porsche franchise and tell us how you ended up where you are today.
So second generation dealer in Knoxville Tennessee. We have seven dealerships in Knoxville.
Body shop. We have a Porsche Certified Collision Center. It does all of our restoration work for
us and just started working in the business. Started washing cars when I was 13 years old.
Always had a passion for it. Enjoyed the people. Enjoyed the product and worked my way up.
It's in your blood. Yeah. Is it a family business that you were involved in?
My dad started in 81. That's awesome. Started Porsche Audi and Jag. And so now we have seven
stores and 13 different franchises. So is it called Porsche Harper Square or the Porsche Knoxville?
It's Harper Porsche. They want us to change the name but we said look you know there's a lot
of brand equity and I think when you've been in a market for 45 years and you spend a lot of time
connecting that there's people behind who represent whatever it is. Porsche Audi and Jaguar
Infinity, Maserati. People want to know that there's someone that they can call. There's a
face behind the facade. So Porsche really wanted us to change the name and we politely declined.
It was just that easy with Porsche. I was about to say that. He's kind of glossing over that.
That's a big deal. That's a big deal because obviously most of the franchises that you see
out there it's Porsche Knoxville and Porsche. A lot of people were familiar with these names,
not as Porsche Annapolis, Porsche Union Mills or other names. So when they were forced to change
that was something hard to swallow. Yeah, well good on you all to be able to keep it.
It was a secret on how to smooth the Germans. Yeah, they like everything in their boxes.
That's why they're great engineers and great car manufacturers. The best stuff in the world.
So you have other franchises. Do you focus strictly on Porsche or do you dabble in all
the different franchises as well? You personally. Yeah, so we have general managers at each of the
seven stores, but I'm on the Porsche Coastal National Dealer Council, the Board of Regents.
So it's me and eight other dealers. We're on the Board of Regents together. So I kind of
naturally have a focus on that because I speak to other dealers and we try to collect
all the other dealers' sentiments and distill them to something that we work on directly with
Porsche cars in North America for things like loaner cars and sales programs and
allocation systems, etc. We hash out everything on that level. So how many new friends did you
find you had when the 911 ST came out? I wish I would have kept that car for my
but oh well. I'd say it's the brand I had the most passion for and we also have a very nice
big Porsche collection of green, green Porsches. So that's always fun to play with.
How'd that come about? Green? We had five or six at the time and then we had a
four screen 996 GT2 that turns 25 years old and a couple months from now. So we're able to bring
it back but it's been in Belgium for a couple years and it just kind of morphed into that and
then we said you know this is we really like the green colors. It's the Porsche family's favorite
color. So I think Porsche has a lot of really interesting green colors that have been produced
and so now our entire collection is green and I think it makes it more difficult to
collect that way too. It does. It keeps you from having to get everything because you're looking
for something that's a specific color. I'd be happy with multi-color GT3s that would be my thing.
And it comes in cycles too like in the 70s and such with the Irish greens and such.
Green as we know is the Porsche family car. Not a specific green but every car they come out with
you check in the 60s and 70s that was special for the family was in some shade of green.
And then you talk about like cars in the 90s when every single you know every Camry,
every whatever was like force green with tan interior and they kind of went away for a while
but now I think it's kind of back. It's back in pretty strong in the different greens.
Yeah you see a lot of the neos. I'm driving an oak green neo. Oak green. Oh that's a gorgeous color.
Yeah a green neo. Tycon turbo. The wagon. The sport tourism across the road.
Oh nice. So rewind for us. How did Platica come about? The idea for it. When was the first one
and who's involved? So this 2026 we the third year so we started in 24 when PC&A was encouraging
their dealers to host lifestyle activity community events and they had a ton of different formats
of stuff and we've been doing events in Knoxville for a long time and we knew what really resonated
with our community and so we said what we need to do is a very highly curated event
and a very picturesque beautiful place. So we found this venue called the Quarry venue that's a
former marble quarry and it's beautiful and you see the pictures. Yeah it's an amazing backdrop.
So we started with the place and then we layered on just an insane collection of cars and we drew
inspiration from Rensport reunions to Quail to Lee Keens River Works events all these different
events that we love and still love going to. I know you're not going to say it but I'll say it.
First time I saw pictures of this I thought simply because the cars are set up in what I call the
Instagram look where any picture you take even you you're a lousy photographer it's going to come
out like you are perfect like picture we have now is a red car GT for the I mean that's a Porsche
calendar photo right there. Absolutely. Yeah. So we did the first year and it was kind of chaos
and it was there's how many how many cars was that the first one the first one we probably had 40
or 50 cars but they were all I mean we had 356's to race cars I mean we had a little bit of everything
and we had over 1000 probably like 1500 people the first year we didn't even count it was just
kind of a fun thing and after that we said this this is this is something and and we we felt that
um nobody wants to go to like a dealership show so we said we need we need to get this thing
is its own identity and we worked with a couple guys that were at 10 agency uh Mark Tengy and
Nevin Pontius and we created a brand guideline for what Platica is and last year really made
a concerted effort to have it not be a dealership show but a dealership show with multiple different
partners involved. So was there a future car in the first year? No the first year was just
let's check this box for Porsche and then it was everyone was raving about it and it got a lot of
great great press uh and we said this this is something we can pour into and make
make into something that we enjoyed it's so much fun like I the work that it takes to put on a show
as you all know is exhausting it's not the it's not the money it's the time and oh yeah the phone
calls you make and uh but it's not work it's so much fun among so many different group texts of
hey have we invited this guy how about this car this this car hadn't been seen in 10 years how
we get it out of the lies and so I mean I'll stop you short because it is work but it's work that
you enjoy and it's and the toughest part about it is there are all these variables right these
variables to make a successful event and you're managing all that from the cars the invites to
what we're gonna say the weather uh registration there's so many moving parts of it so kudos to
you to put all this together yeah well it's uh i'm on the i'm on the back of the the work that the
real guys doing the work is is connor hankle uh i mean it's this is 100 credit goes to connor and
all this stuff so the spectators that are coming the the for the first show was it so the cars are
by invite that are being displayed and then the spectators is open is it a ticketed event or is it
yeah so uh you know we wanted the first year it was it was just kind of a wide open event and and
almost almost a hundred percent invite the first year and then the second year we
knowing kind of where we wanted to take it i still had the general admission tickets
free but we charged for the corral parking and the rally drive and a few other things
uh and then in third year we said we're gonna layer this up build build up the credibility
and then you know charge a nominal fee for tickets so the general admission tickets are
$35 um it's affordable yeah that's reasonable yeah yeah we it's it's not meant to be a profit
center it's meant it's it's a enormous expense but if i can basically break even exactly it's
it's like a huge win but it's a great marketing opportunity for the dealership and the brand
yeah i think i think it's it's very you mentioned um louft you know there's really the vendors that
are there are not really seen you know they're a part of it but they're not there's no tents there's
no guys in lawn chairs type thing it's not the corvette expo it's it's it's much different um
vibe so we see we see a lot of benefit just in the relationships created
there it's it's meant to be more authentic and kind of subtle um
where was it where was 2025 it wasn't at the quarry it's all been every year oh every year
it's been at the quarry okay and is that at the point this year is also at the quarry
yeah and and so this year you know we say okay we we every year we try to improve
upon our mistakes in the prior year so this year we rented the the event venue which is a wedding
venue typically we rented it out saturday and sunday give us more time to kind of move the
schedule to make the schedule fit people's lives better and give our team a little bit more time
for setup and create create more of a true experience so before then you were setting up
the day of the event it was a nightmare i mean yeah yeah yeah we you could have called us and we
could have told you yeah you want to set up the day before yeah well you know starting off it's
the wedding venues they're not free oh i know oh we know we know very much we have to pay for
the setup day as well it works for union we thought it was a luxury when we got to set up
the afternoon before we went in like one o'clock in the afternoon and we thought we were living
in a high on the hog and now now if you ask us to do that it wouldn't be possible we need a full
day stuff comes in uh start excuse me on wednesday and uh it's it's it's just like you know you
know what the experience when you're doing an event of that size it's different what works is we
have a lot more cars because it's a club event ultimately so we have to be uh inclusive not
exclusive so um if you're in surely you don't need a career gt you can bring your steel gray
boxer like mine and uh and show it off but that's the way that's that's that's how we as a club
that's a different model it's a whole different model yeah but i'd love going to lift the car we'd
love to go to your event because there's a lot to be said about the uh curated event you may not
show your car off but uh you're gonna be so busy looking at the car you're here too how many cars
were shown did you grow or did you keep it the same no we had about 65 70 cars in year two
the the big feature car was the career gt so so we had uh 18 career gts last year we knew the
world record was 17 uh we needed we needed and i think of course you gotta set the record of
course you have to set the record now how do you find 17 career gts or 18 career gts
you wait for them to register or is there somebody comes to you and says hey i have a lot of friends
of career gts can you let us in the show it it was a lot of different um partners like like
zwack out of miami to merit partners to graham ray hall to ryan freeman and it was just year two is
calling and begging these guys hey we promised these hicks from tennessee we put on a really good
show will you bring your you know at the time you know million five million eight career gt to this
to quarry not only that the event's only a year old so it's not like luffa cult we're establishing
you know uh you can just throw the name around you know so here you gotta like you said sell it
in noxville and uh not that noxville is a bad place no it's just that it's not la it's not miami
you know yeah it's and and i think that's where there's there's a there's a huge amount of thirst
for this in you know mid-atlantic southeast oh absolutely and you know there there's there's
drt and in miami there's uh the the bridges up in new york and you know all the the the
works for union amelia allan yeah exactly yeah i love uh we we've had cars on i was gonna say
your your uh kyan's been on there yeah the off-road one that's what maybe i love as soon as i heard
heartbreak i'm like i've seen that car it's like blue i think uh but like rough like just like
rotham script i think well before we go too far let's let's give the for our listeners
can you just uh give uh all the details for this year's event sure so uh this year is um
may 3rd sunday may 3rd uh at the quarry venue in noxville tennessee um
Porsche dash platica dot com where you just google platica and uh most of our our media is on on
instagram on Porsche platica on on instagram um but the event is from from 12 to 5 um we had uh
we sold out of our corral passes i mean i had people text me said hey i got online to get a
corral pass and um they're all sold out what happened i mean they sold out like 20 minutes
this year it was how many how many cars will be in the corral we're limited to about a hundred
a hundred okay wow that's that's that's tight yeah um and so so but it's it's all contained on
on the event property so uh then we had our early bird tickets those were 99 dollars and those sold
out as well uh and the general admission tickets uh they are capped i don't know where we're at now
but um they've they sell out they will they will sell out so uh go to Porsche dash platica dot com and
so you mentioned um Porsche cars north america uh being a part of this like how are they bringing
cars are they what are they doing when did german take notice yeah Porsche car north america suddenly
vp of marketing very high jon cappella this yep yeah same thing very high and uh i don't
know if y'all know dav curts yeah oh yeah and if we're like i know all these characters absolutely
yeah so they all came up and isa is like what are y'all doing up here this i'm bringing all my
girlfriends i'm coming here on my own this is amazing we're gonna be fashion the little yeah
i showed the icon of fashion yeah yeah yeah she loved i mean it fit what Porsche's really going for
a being being an aspirational brand that's still inclusive you know we want as many people will
get exposed to the brand as possible and um so so pcna uh they're gonna have a presence there this year
Porsche design has been involved the last couple years with watches and uh the biggest thing has
been their support not just word of mouth support so um team oh the ceo he he has opened up so many
doors i mean when the ceo forced pcna calls and says hey this this guy's got uh he needs your
not 11 r i need you to take it to noxville people say yes yeah so i didn't get the team i didn't
get the call well but actually i got the email the reason why shannon's even on is because
peace the folks at pcna put us together and like hey you guys make sure you you know unfortunately
as as may said you know he and i aren't able to come but they're like you gotta have shannon on
talk about you spoke for me already i did i call somewhere that we can with you
you know we've had team on the on the podcast so he knows our reach exactly exactly you mentioned
the 9 11 r so that's the the feature car uh the modern as well as the classic 9 11 r
yeah so so we're we're in california in february and we we shot a series of 9 11 r um owner videos
and we met with some guys and uh we went out to uh tony callous's job oh yeah of course we love
tony you say 9 11 r you have to say tony callous absolutely yeah i didn't have a lot of digital
media left on your uh his sd card because he is a uh he's a Wikipedia about our knowledge yeah
oh man him and brad davis it was like i was telling the camera guy i'm like just just
what we need i want i want to just make sure you have enough memory yeah it was unbelievable
uh so we went out and visited their cars um and uh really got a lot of great knowledge from
those guys but so we'll have um five of the 67 rs uh they only built 20 of these cars for
little people listening yeah yeah and we we have one we have one special car uh it's a special
color 67 r that hasn't i think i've only found one picture of this car on the internet really but
i'll leave that out as a as a teaser oh wow oh man you gotta leave shan and you gotta do that to us
you will you want to know you got to go and then hopefully we'll see it later in social media
that's cool though yeah you'll see it without giving away the color how did you find out about that car
uh a big collector um and colorado said hey uh it's so funny these guys will say hey you need
this car and i said why don't know that guy they all know each other i was gonna say yeah yeah i know
i'm here here's his number and i'll introduce you so it's just one it's like dominoes yeah one falls
and you all suffer from fomo no one wants to miss out on an event if uh yeah if they know
their friends are all going is this a uh official chase for a record of i don't even know if there
is one but you're at least you're gonna set one we'll say there's one i'm sure the 60s they had
all the cars together at the factory you know but that doesn't count yeah that doesn't count
outside of the factory so let's let's just say you are going to be setting a 9 and 11 it is rare
for one to be at a show yeah it's a big deal to have five you said five and that's the original
not the uh nine and one on 911r but the original and you really and they built everyone differently
little little differences but um if you want to see uh the beginning of Porsche's uh lightweight
history with Ferdinand Pieck you gotta go look at these cars and see how they made these cars be able
to see them side by side as you said to see what the differences are and i think um i'm assuming
Tony's gonna come out is Tony gonna come out is he able to uh i don't know i need to call Tony
i don't know if he's coming out or not because man could you imagine having those cars together
and just letting Tony let loose between the cars that that would be a show in itself yeah yeah we're
gonna send Tony this podcast and be like now Tony yeah you're welcome we we determine yeah we
decide how much we love them yeah exactly yeah all right so what else what else yeah what else are
we have uh you know the 963 RSP the Penske car we'll have it there we have a Gulf livery 917
that'll be there um we have a real 917 oh yeah yeah is this uh Connor Connor Connor has two hard
rules uh nothing no no tributes like it's gotta be real and no repeats so you'll never see the same
car twice well that's some uh pretty high standards of set Connor has very high standards so so is
Connor the one that goes like this and this is he the one Connor does it all man oh that's that's a
lot of pressure he just set him up for a lot of gifts yeah yeah Connor Connor's great he uh
I give him 100 credit um he he he runs our marketing department and uh he really has a
he grew up around the Porsche brand and I mean I think the first car first car he learned to drive
on was an 88 club sport you know I mean like oh wow okay he just learns yeah yeah so it's in his blood
so it goes it's I like the hours too I think that's one of the things that we've been trying to do
for PCA is sort of varying the start times and end times because you you get a different demographic
right there's there are the groups that want to wake up at six in the morning and be on the field
at 8 a.m and there is a demographic that would much rather sleep in and then be at a show maybe
nine o'clock 10 o'clock and stay a little bit later who's gonna sleep in in a show like this
something to sleep in the day after the day before he is one demographic but having us
you having the later start date I'm just gonna say it you you you are uh able to lure more of
the younger folks because you get the people who already seen the cars neither they're gonna leave
early or not throughout the cars because they're gonna go look at other things in the Corral so
when you come a little later you'll probably have a open cars to look at not as busy as when
everyone shows up at once yeah yeah yeah it's it's so for the the Corral Pass holders they're able
to get in at 10 the early admission uh was at 11 and then general admissions at 12 it runs to five
wow see that's even later than ours it's early mission at 11 yeah but that way for those that
are partying Saturday night you know you don't have to stress about being there so early on Sunday
morning yeah like you got in partying I'm saying other people I'm not saying me but so why why
why Sunday over Saturday is because you want to set up on Saturday I got to sell cars on Saturday
no I knew I knew there was a reason I knew there was a reason yeah and that's where this that's
where it started and we said you know the Sunday event gives us for it for people coming in and
from out of town it gives me kind of a full weekend and then you know ending at five you can you can
still drive home you can catch a flight you can do whatever you need to do it still kind of have
full weekend so um similar to car week you know you get your quail on Friday you got a fun drive
Saturday and then pebble and then you get out of it so for this the spectators that are coming
they may or may not be in a Porsche where are they parking is there a satellite lot
or is a lot adjacent or something so so yes there's a satellite lot that's about a mile away
and we have I can't remember how many shuttle shuttle buses we have we have buses we have
40 person buses 15 person buses and they're just rotating non-stop we we we learned our lesson the
hard way um and in year one we had we wanted to kind of copy rent sport and have Porsche
shuttles and we thought this would be fun and my wife pulled off oh and she starts
shadowing people and she shadowed people like the whole event god bless you yeah I can't
you have no idea there's this line and and it's it's you know 100 people long I can't just leave
them to stand there I can only take four at a time yeah but they just ran back and forth so
year two we got really smart and we got a lot of shuttle mini buses your buses work great
mini as many as many buses as like our budget for buses is excessive but I'd rather get people in
you know nobody wants to wait sure so the general mission parking it shows up on the
it shows on the website where it is but there there's there's zero I mean I say zero there's
zero parking at the venue except for the corral pass holders so I gotta ask and I'll tell I can
by the look on your face um do your customers have any kind of priority for corral parking
now I told them this is um this is a separate thing I mean it's it's a totally different
you need to because then it just opens up you're looking at the potential customers by
allowing the non-customers a chance to park in the corral here's the thing I want to ask you is
in the Porsche world us here that are on the call and those that are listening you know we kind of
get this sort of mindset of getting together on a sunday and looking at you know cars that we've
jumped out have you because you you own other franchises and other manufacturers do you think
this would work with any other brand would you would you want to try this with any other brand
I have and it doesn't work Porsche is the only brand we could we could host an event in the Porsche
showroom and the first 50 people who show up get a free hot dog and we'll have a thousand people
so so Porsche like we love our winter dogs yeah so I mean and how many other
there's no other brand that that commands the love yeah and the passion that Porsche
well here's here's up do you own a lexus franchise no I wish okay or or I'd have more I'd have more
Porsches in the collection if you yeah maybe they're listening but there's there's there's other
wonderful cars right and brands out there but they don't have this sort of following in this
people owners that have this understanding of wanting to do more than just owning the car and
that's what I was trying to get at is you know you having other franchises I thought the answer
was going to be what you were going to say where it doesn't really apply to the other brands and
you just confirm I regularly tell a pcna at works reunion east to west I'm like uh do you
know how I mean how many other brands would kill to have this kind of loyalty that 850 can shop
with their cars to show on a friday and stay all day and have a blend I said this is Harley
Davidson maybe the closest to come yeah to what Porsche does but uh it's it's just speaks volumes
just about the brand the history the family so let's go let's go back to what you were talking
about the first platica platica was born out of a p Porsche cars north america incentive to do
something lifestyle and such because I deal around here did yoga and I'm wondering if you
got the same amount of money to do yoga or uh platica uh yeah the yoga and I I should I love
I should I should show it up I said this is our yoga yeah and she's like you're good
you you did it right you did what fits your market good for you and I think that um
that Porsche just pcna just wanted guys to do something engaging to the community that would
connect with women and that's why I always tell people the the platica event is a car show
that you want to your wife wants to come to the the the families really enjoy this there's
there's cocktails flowing there's great food there's taco trucks it's casual it's outside it's in a
beautiful setting but it's it's very very inclusive well I hope so I hope some of our listeners who
are in the business at Porsche dealer as well take what you're doing as an inspiration because
it's easy for enthusiasts in the business to understand this but sometimes there's dealers
where they're owned because a big whatever owns them and they're just kind of going through the
motions but can you and I'm I'm sure you have the answer is can you tie successful business
transactions to hosting this type of an event uh you know that's really hard to answer because
you know we probably should do a better job of of tracking this but it's it's more of a of a
feeling than a direct correlation you're still creating the brand right now you're not expecting
to sell 20 cars that's a platica you want to create the brand and so people associate your dealer
with hosting enthusiast events yeah I think that's that's that's kind of where we're going
for many is is people associating us as the enthusiast dealer so they may want to shop on
our website and notice a cpo 911 that we have and then trust us they say oh well I know these guys
they're they're behind um you know they have their cars on display at works they uh they do this
event they they build these restoration stuff they host track days I want to be involved like
with that I trust those guys and that's that's kind of I believe that 100%
even if you're buying a four door you're still like you said earlier it's an aspirational brand
and while not everyone's a historic expert on Porsche they certainly like to hear the story
they like to be associated like to know that the brand that made their four door Cayenne
also one Lamara 20 times or 19 times and and events like this leaves leaves an impression
whether you are an owner and it leaves impression that you did something cool with this dealer
or you're a friend of an owner is that went to this event and said man I drive Alexis and they
don't do stuff like this and here you drive a Porsche and I get to experience this cool event
and do more things it's it's hard to quantify but I can certainly understand how and why it
does make a difference for for dealers and and businesses to to to create this atmosphere
because it is unique to us and it's it's very cool it works I'll see a rare car I'll be walking
with a friend there's something and I'll stop and I'll start telling the history before I know
what there's like 15 people gathered around just listening because they had no idea how rare this
car is yeah I think this time was a 964 a lightweight c4 lightweight they thought it was
a stripped down 964 when I told them how rare it was why they built it so on and so forth
and I'm the same way I always tell Vue I would love to go to Pebble Beach with like a Donald
Osborne explain to me all these cars that I'm walking by how important they are why I shouldn't
walk by and here's why you should appreciate this car yeah and as you said earlier you're
going to this event not being sold to yeah that's what people I think that's why a lot of was it
convention center car shows are they're just people aren't they're not after that experience
right they can get all the data online they don't need to go to a place with a thousand people
trying to be sold to you on why they should buy this particular model they want to go and have a
cool experience cars happen to be it and then when they ask about it they get an answer but
they're not they're not being forced to consume this data I always I think I said in our one of our
emails that to me love to call it's not a competitor this is yet another event
that Porsche enthusiasts can go to and enjoy because there's so much enthusiasm out there
that you're gonna get an immediate audience just because people are thirsting for these kind of
important cars and the fact you guys do such an incredible job of curating such rare cars
goes a long way do you have the classic side as well at your dealership or
yeah okay yeah so um we've been involved in the Porsche restoration challenge every year
this year we're we have three cars oh wow okay when you're talking about iris green so we have a
micro gt that we're redoing iris green with a ascot brown interior with pepita inserts
beautiful it's gonna be that's gonna be your submission to the classic restoration challenge
that is yeah if we don't win with that I quit that is amazing they can have to show
and and still do classic restoration are you gonna show up what stages i'm guessing connor
does not do classic restoration you're giving a break on that who would break on what connor
that's connor hankler yeah he's he's not he's not doing the restoration on on the career gt
no no no we uh uh connor is all the marketing we we got a team of uh full team of classic
guys and um they do they do all of it so right now they're the the interior of the create gt's
getting done uh by classic nine up in Detroit and then um we have our uh 1978 painted sample 930
that we're doing a full ground up glass out bare metal rest on that but that car was um
paint sample uh at Porsche Buick medium green so this is a Buick medium i don't even know a Buick
media i have never heard about that say that again uh Buick Buick it's called medium green if you
google 1978 Buick uh regal medium green you'll see the color and it's hideous on a Buick uh it is
so nice wow i can't wait to see photos of that and then i'm wondering if that's it i'm wondering
if that's the same green that's on the uh the convertible oh no that's not wow wow you're right
it is hideous it's pretty it's but it's the car that it's on right now yeah wow okay look up on
on our Harper Porsche instagram page and see the car and it's it's it's in the latest post was was
us painting it uh but the text right now they're they're doing redoing all the wiring so you haven't
learned that car's just new though have you no we we bought this car uh it's funny i bought it when i
was in um stucart uh with a friend doing a his european delivery of his three rs i went over there
with him and uh bought this car over the phone from a friend while i was in stucart but he was
like oh man this car is rough i was like i don't care perfect nothing yeah because paint the sample
was like uber rare back then people i guarantee you back then usually paint the sample they had no
idea what you didn't say paint the sample you said special wishes or something yeah yeah yeah and and
the interior is white leather with green piping and black velour inserts no it is the most
nice how did fairy Porsche and let that goodbye uh the order came in and we took the order that's
what we did sir all right so does that mean does that mean the third car will also be green uh well
the third car is green the third car is a customer's car and is lagoon green g body that we're doing
the uh preservation so we have a okay yeah preservation restoration and individualization
so all three classes yeah plus the event plus plus platica and you gotta sell cars in between
two ones when's your first event that you have to show the classic restoration cars
this kind of coming up right we did yeah well we did an event with the career gt at our collision
center and then we're doing an event in july and we're going to do it at a local um airstrip
no no but when do you have to present the cars to uh to the challenge so for judging because
regionals first week in september at uh automobilia and uh indy okay okay uh it's gonna come quick
it's gonna come quick i know you guys feel it now or the national that drain or is it uh
they change it around so remember uh last year they had the finals at luft luft yeah yeah
yeah they're still they're gonna do the finals at uh in atlanta in october this year uh at pec
atlanta oh at the classic rest in the class oh yeah that's right i think that would make sense
that would make sense be ashamed not to this beautiful facility yeah oh okay cool well hopefully
we can get to go to that so we can see the car is all done hmm yeah all right so let me see uh
right now as you said there's as of this recording there's still room for people to come to spectate
but as far as being in the show display that's sold out yeah the you know the corral pass
sold out early mission sold out um all the um
you know all the cars that are on display are all hand-picked cars so we we spend a lot of time
in this it's kind of an invitation thing so we don't have no offense to gt3 gray gt3 touring
owners but oh seal gray they're gonna protest yeah i mean i've had buddies of mine who's like you
want my gt3 gray is not a pts color it's not you it's us it's not you it's us
it's connor oh my sympathy goes out the connor you know come to track day but don't wear that
but yeah so so limited tickets available don't miss out
it's gonna be a lot of fun i mean it's uh you just have to stay tuned for what car we're gonna
feature next year yeah hope for uh hope for dry weather yeah exactly the only variable that you
leave it up to someone else california we don't have to really worry about that
amily allen we start sweating at the way prior i'm gonna knock on wood for all of us for all
of our events so here we go i guess it's rain or shine right yeah rain or shine rain or shine
yeah last last year we did we did some photo media stuff at at a local racetrack and it
rained the whole day but there's still 10 career gts uh the guy with a 962 ship on yeah took his car
out on the track and the rain good for him so another thing about Porsche owners pca members
rain or shine they're still coming out yeah we proved that in unstock last year we thought no one
come out and all the spectators they we oversold the parking lot yeah and this is california i
didn't think anyone owned a raincoat much less than umbrella uh but they came fully equipped and they
took a stride yeah we'll wish you the best of luck we'll look forward to seeing
like i said unfortunately we won't be there but we'll be checking it out all on your instagram
page i want to remind everyone to be sure to head over to pca.org to sign up for pca's news
letters performance news e-brake news and mark fresh all free i want to thank shannon and the
harper group for being pca insiders april uh sponsor appreciate your support there in the news
shannon we're gonna keep you on because if there's anything that you want to add to the news that we
don't know this is coming out after the new car this this will come out after april 14th
which is when they pull the sheets off of the car that you're gonna but we're not going to put you
in the spot and tell you tell us what it is well i know it's got no wing on the back of it because
the silhouette i think you know Porsche is terrible they thought we should tease them this is probably
why they lost the war they can't keep a secret to save their life um the uh gt3 uh cabriolet cabriolet
i mean it's been all over the new berg ring yeah if it isn't that'll be the surprise now here's the
thing i think you were with me when we were over at visok years you just imagine them with you all
these trips well it seems like you're always you told me about it when you came back after like a
month i didn't tell you about it i may have mentioned that there was a special car but
he's got to keep his confidentiality so now it's it's too long ago when did you go to visok
oh gosh this would have been easily years at least no more than that at least at least five years ago
okay and i just saw you know the running joke is people have you know check my pockets and stuff
when i go to visok and yeah my cameras and stuff but i notice things i notice things all the time
and i'm like what is that they're like vu stick to the tour let's keep walking forward i'm like no
way is no way is there a gt3 that's a cab or target like no like he told me that i'm like it must be
speedster there's just trying to look doing like no man doing a mule or something i'm like i looked at
i'm like it is a gt3 i kept up telling him like nope it's a it's a mule they're hiding and it was no
top he's like no way no way well guess what so i asked perniger about this i said gt3 cab is this
not kind of sacrilegious this is goes against the ethos of gt car yeah he said no no gt cars are
for fun no cabs or fun he might cup car when you want to be serious yeah that's the next cab really
cup car i know i agree with them uh 40 old mani would not have agreed uh 59 year old mani fully
understands that they have a customer base and i guarantee everyone they want to make they're
selling out and here here i have i have to stick up for cabriolet owners because i own a cabriolet
i can imagine how fun it will be to hear a gt3 in full song without any filter behind your head
you're going to get it 100 percent i don't care how it does on the track i'm sure it's going to
do fine on the track but for 98 percent of the people that own that car on a back road
third gear second gear full out no filters shannon's biggest problem is uh allocations
not having enough allocation not having enough pts allocation because you know everybody's
brothers want to be special and they want pts they want a magnesium wheels they want ceramic
brakes everything uh that uh they're they're they're short on you does platica get you extra
allocations or is it like is it part of the formula no darn it darn it you know it's right
them to turn into the event to another brand usl i'm taking i'm taking it to buick i tell you if
you don't give me an extra allocation they will kill for this um now we we uh we're we're very
fort we we unlike some others uh we don't do the adms on our gt car so we have a very good for you
healthy long list of people wanting those cars and um i can never get enough i'm always
begging and pleading for more uh but the people that will complain about it will be the people
that can't get an allocation of course and they'll don't complain but i don't think it's
going away from Porsche's roots at all um not that they're in hard times but if you uh were with
Porsche in the late 80s early 90s you knew they were throwing everything at the wall to see what
stuck as far as special editions went and as a business person you cannot fault them for that
they've got to generate revenue they've got to keep the lights on and uh this isn't uh it isn't
making a gt3 cup convertible you know it's it's a car that there's a market for why why let an
aftermarket uh manufacturer do that when they can do it themselves yeah and i think the excitement
of the um the spider right the spider hearing a gt4 gt4 motor at full tilt man you're just gonna
elevate that experience to the gt3 level why wouldn't you do that if you if you have the
ability only negative is you're not gonna hear the conservator it's going off oh yeah
explain that to the officer exactly uh second item on the newsletter or news uh news list
yeah and we talked a little bit about earlier is the Porsche classic restoration challenge
for 2026 yeah that's starting uh since you don't have a link on your piece of paper
maybe daemon can open it up there we go um the sixth annual they've been doing this now
going on six years and uh we have a couple dealers here in maryland that participate
a Porsche owned mills which we've had the service manager they're doing two
964s um one for restoration one for um uh individualization and uh i i you know i
loot them a hundred percent every dealer that participates because there was a time
before Porsche classic when it seemed Porsche did not care at all about their old cars
and this screams volumes that uh you know you go we go into the dealer to see the cars at a
PC event and to see them so excitedly talking about the 964 engine and everything they're
doing to it um like i said i remember when dealers didn't do that you they didn't
acknowledge what a air cool car was yeah i'm also looking here on the news item this is a daemon
here popping in for the first time and it looked like i didn't realize this harper Porsche won the
people's choice awards in 2025 and there's a picture of it there it is which is awesome what
car was it actually if you don't mind me asking uh shannon like a 964 rs that was yeah that's a
964 s about um down at Emilio individualization yep there it is i have pictures of it wow beautiful
you got me on that one because that took some how i couldn't believe you took an rs and painted
in that color combination that the one that was uh i can remember brought arrow and Monterey had one
that had um you're talking about the one that had the accident damage no that's the same one
right no different one that's uh so man he can't see the green you see it as so that's like over
no it's green it's like a green pearl paint yeah i would be saying harper harper has an
incredible silver collection of cars it's uh it's an oak green our our painter we were trying to
decide what colors and we're looking at all these different colors and our painter at our our body
shop came to me he goes hey man you know what you need to do i know mark what oh nothing good
ever comes out of what the conversation that starts out the way you make it sound like
he just smoked a joint or something yeah i mean it was like we're in the back like paint mixture
room he's like look at this shit man uh but it's it's like an oak green based chroma flair yeah
chroma flair and it's uh it's nicknames it's nicknames june bogg because uh the way the colors
change and that was the same car we had at the fat ice race in february nice nice well congratulations
on that and kudos to mr alexander fabig and uli the folks at pa g in Porsche Classic
jonathan shout out to jonathan siever again what other manufacturers putting such a spotlight
on the classic cars as well and being owners of older Porsches it's great to know that the
manufacturer is still you know still of a thought and of mine to continue to produce parts continue
to drive demand on the older cars because let's face it there's only so many new cars you can buy
and if you can keep the older cars alive then it's an opportunity for new people to get into the
Porsche world without having to worry about allocations or maybe even the larger budgets
that the newer cars are taking they can get an older Porsche and start their journey earlier in life
yeah it's uh six volumes under the company's uh struggling right now with uh the china thing in
the evs but um this tells me that uh their mindset is there and they uh they know where
their future is and they know uh how to read history exactly that said i still love my tycon
turbo not only one but i drove the tycon turbo gty sock and i would take one in a heartbeat yeah
and he's definitely a believer it's so fast all right let's talk about some events coming up i think
you all know the uh wildly anticipated and full full registration at over 2600 people heading to
lake placid new york registration opens uh opened in june um i'm sorry the event is june 14 through
20th registration has already opened if you're not already registered odds are it's very tough
for you to get in because of housing not because we're sold out per se shannon this is an event
you didn't heard of lake placid everyone has because of the hockey team and you would think it's a
really big facility because they had the ellipsoid there uh turns out it's not it's 2000 i think 2000
people population so uh we're bringing in more Porsche people than there is we're going to give
them culture shock when they see all these i remember a lot of praise we get there obviously
early to set up and we'll stop at the gas station or the walmart i think in french look we stopped at
the walmart and we're buying some hot wheels uh Porsche toys and luckily hot wheels just come out
and they had a gigantic box of probably like 300 of them so i talked to the manager i said i don't
want to discount i just want the entire box including the box itself and she's like sure i'm
like uh she's going uh is it for a birthday party i'm like uh i'm not really i think you're gonna
have over 2000 Porsche owners coming in and i think you're the only walmart within an hour so uh
get ready for some higher end requests and people come in
yeah that's funny all right i want to remind folks that registration for works reunion
monoray is may 13th uh the event itself is august 14th so looking forward to seeing people there
for those of you that want to come cruising with us we have trefon at sea in the west coast starting
out in vancouver down to san francisco to santa barbara ending up in los angeles this is pc a
and princess cruises it's a wine cruise that's uh september 19th we do have a few rooms still
available so we'd love to um have you on there i think i announced it that uh we have a special
guest on but you're gonna wait till the next one next podcast i'll wait till the next podcast
just like shannon left you on a cliffhanger i'm gonna leave you on a cliffhanger and you'll
find out who that new special guest is uh on the next i'm glad i didn't say it because i think i
know who the guest is so i'm really glad i don't say it don't say it don't say it don't say it don't
say it i tell you shannon uh when rufus told me they were doing this uh cruise what four years ago
yeah of course i thought i thought texting was a stupid idea when they came to but uh yeah excited
he's not an early adopter let's just say like larry david you know six miles before to click in
but i didn't think it i said who's going to ship with no portions on it
i'm going on my third cruise on my own nickel and uh we don't take over the boat but it sure
looks like we do it's a lot of fun so hopefully those of you that are listening uh join us and
those of you that have been on uh traficnet see with us encourage some folks to come about and
maybe uh post a comment about it uh videos we dropped recently what we uh saw at a milley island
as well as tech tactics east presentation by roff kitlets do you want to talk a little bit
about that damon uh yeah um basically um i wish i could almost say just save yourself watching
the video never get centerlock wheels oh i was going to be a little bit more uh more uh
it's more subtle yeah i was because who wants to deal with that unless you're on a racetrack
i'm going to call out my good friend steve wood who loves them yeah i mean they're awesome except
that just they look whatever after replaces wheel on the side of the road he's retired and i think
he enjoyed you doing it okay i don't know what time i guess car center locks but uh wow i mean roff
kitlets of course is a very favorite instructor and presenter at uh at tech tactics and he did
just a matter of fact how you maintain these uh center locks but wow yeah uh it's a lot it's
interesting it's a really interesting presentation take it take it to the dealer yeah and get your
free hotdog from shannon and let them take care of it uh yeah and just know of the emergency
tightening procedure is who boy man you need like a notebook just uh remember that so um yeah very
cool video um really cool tech something that you wouldn't think is as interesting as it actually is
i think most people take it to the dealer yeah so they like knowing about it and what's involved
but i don't think many people want to mess with the maintenance when they can just leave it at the
dealer and pick it up the next day yep well i know some guys that that track their gt cars and they
have one of the special tools and i mean the tool itself is three thousand dollars oh yeah oh yeah
i mean it explains you can't get a gun uh it's got to be manual and it's not the motorsport so if
you have a cup car it's a whole different setup than uh it is a very interesting video because it
unlocks a lot of things that you think you know center locks you don't know center locks you got
to watch this video and then you go oh my gosh and like like david said it's some of our viewers are
like thank you for sharing that with me because now i know i want five looks i know i'll never be in
the income bracket to worry about having a car with uh center lock and look if you have center
locks don't stress about it as man he said your dealer can take care of it and if you're you know
if you're handy you want to have an intimate relationship with your uh car then knowing how
to handle center locks is a good way to start yeah uh like i said my friend good friend steve he
enjoys doing it god bless him i'm not retired and i don't have that car but if i did um wow
all right uh pc a sim racing if you want to race other pc a members check us out at pc
sim racing dot com if you're looking for some insider swag we have shirts uh mugs bottles
and such pca webstore dot org if you're looking for uh and would like to show your support of the
pca insider podcast we'll send you some decals just send us your physical address information
to podcast at pca dot org and we'll send you a set shannon thank you for joining us i hope you
enjoyed your time with us at uh pca insider and we wish you the best of luck on the event
can't wait to see all the photos and uh we hope that uh you also will do very well at the classic
restoration challenge and we look forward to seeing the three cars thank you the folks thank you
thank you for listening be sure to like comment and subscribe and consider sharing our show with
fellow Porsche enthusiasts until next time stay safe and catch you down the road
About this episode
Harper Autosquare president/dealer principal Shannon Harper joins Porsche Club Insider to explain how Tennessee’s “Platica” became a curated, non-dealership-style Porsche lifestyle event. The group also covers Shannon’s Porsche dealership background, the event’s evolution from early chaos to a ticketed, brand-building experience at the Quarry venue, and what’s coming for this year (May 3, 12–5, with sold-out corral and early passes). Between event logistics, rare-car highlights (including multiple 911 R variants), and PCA updates, the hosts also share Manny Alvin’s stage 2 bladder cancer treatment setback and recovery progress.
Rare Porsches, rugged landscapes, and a passion for the brand. This week, we sit down with Shannon Harper to explore the origins of Porsche Platica. Discover how a Tennessee quarry became the ultimate backdrop for record-breaking gatherings of Carrera GTs and, this year, a double-feature of the 911R. Whether you’re a enthusiast wanting to see rare Porsches or a spectator who just loves great design, Shannon shares why this event is a must-attend.
