Porsche celebrates 50-year milestone in style in the Viaduct.

Porsche New Zealand celebrated its 50th anniversary last weekend with over 200 Porsche owners joining the festivities for an epic display at the Viaduct Events Centre.

Back in 1974, Sir Colin Giltrap sought to acquire the licence to distribute Porsche in New Zealand while attending the Geneva Motor Show. The first car was delivered by Porsche New Zealand in 1976. But before Porsche became official in NZ, a group of 10 enthusiasts responded to a notice in 1975 with the intent of starting a Club. From that meeting, the Porsche Club of New Zealand was born. Over the past five decades, the Porsche Club has grown and now has close to 2000 members.

The day before the event, we were invited to pick up a Porsche so we could tag along as imposter Porsche owners; I chose a 1995 Porsche Carrera Cabrio in lovely Midnight Blue Metallic, with cup design wheels and most importantly, three pedals.

We set off on Sunday morning heading towards the Sir Colin Giltrap Raceway Karting track in Wiri. Porsche owners began lining up on the circuit in two rows, almost completely spanning the length of the track; there was a mix of everything from early 356s all the way through to the latest Cayenne Turbo electric; it was truly a sight to behold.

Once parked up, we waited for all 200+ cars to arrive while the owners fueled up on coffee. The rain started to ease, and we cautiously decided we should put the top down for the convoy drive.

After a bit of a Porsche traffic jam at the Michael Savage Memorial, where the convoy could regroup, we set off along Tamaki Drive heading towards the Viaduct Events Centre. By the time we parked up, it was swarming with people, some punters even waiting in line for an hour before the event started at 11am. The queue for Sacred Coffee was humming all day long as were the people looking for some good deals on Porsche merch.

Next up were a few very special Porsches in the foyer, including a 993 Turbo in Guards Red, a Viper Green Manthey GT3 RS, even a Porsche tractor was present. The two stars of the show were the 50th-anniversary 911 GT3 Touring, a Sonderwunsch creation (that’s German for we can do anything you bloody want).

Porsche NZ commissioned five to be built, one for each decade, with three present at the event. The Touring is finished in Yachting Blue Metallic, a nod to NZ’s sailing heritage and the first Porsche imported into NZ, which was also blue. Inside, it has lots of lovely details like PNZ 50 kick plates, custom puddle lights and Sir Colin Giltrap’s signature on the dash. The headrests are embossed with 50 years Porsche New Zealand and blue Pepita cloth inserts. Priced at $584,000, $135,100 over a regular GT3 Touring, the 50th-anniversary GT3 Touring will surely become a highly collectable Porsche in New Zealand.

The other star was a 1970 Porsche 917 KH, chassis #015/35 which was flown over from the Stuttgart Porsche Museum for the event. The 917 is arguably the most important vehicle in Porsche history. It’s the car that secured Porsche its first overall victory at Le Mans and led to Porsche becoming the most successful marque at Le Mans. This particular example won the 1970 Daytona 24 Hours, 1971 Spa 1000km; it also raced at the 1971 Buenos Aires 1000km, 1971 Brands Hatch 1000km, 1971 Watkins Glen 6-hour and the Can-Am 6-hour, also at the Glen. Later it was painted red and used as a Weissach Taxi for demo runs. Eventually it was restored to its 1971 Spa 1000km winning colours.

Kiwi racing drivers have played a significant role in Porsche’s illustrious motorsport history, with drivers like Brendon Hartley and Earl Bamber winning Le Mans with the Porsche LMP Team and there is a long roster of Kiwis driving GT3 Cup cars. On display were several GT3 Cup cars driven by the likes of Marco Giltrap, Earl Bamber and Johnny Reid.

In 1996, New Zealand even fielded its own entry in the 24-hours of Lemans with Bill Farmer, Greg Murphy and British driver Robert Nearn entering a 911 GT2.

And then there is the long-running local Porsche Race Series, which has been going strong since 1987. I remember going to watch the Lighting Direct Racing team at Pukekohe. The team ran a number of different  911s over the years that competed in the NZ Super GT, and various endurance series driven by Bill Fulford, Owen Evans and Dean Fulford.

So what else was there? Well, quite a lot! Trying to get photos was pretty tricky; with the huge crowds, shooting in the main hall was a bit of a lost cause, but here’s a selection of some of the cars from the event.

Fifty years is a significant milestone for Porsche in New Zealand, here’s to fifty more.