Tuesday evening I drove out to Bentley's Saloon in Arundel to see what rolled in for the weekly cruise-in. The lot was already filling up by the time I got there — a row of pickups, a few muscle cars, the usual mix of gravel dust and the smell of hot dogs and exhaust fumes.
Parked near a vintage pickup, low and unmistakable, sat a red 1986 Porsche 911 Carrera that belongs to my buddy Mark Ettinger.
That red catches the eye from across the lot, and the big whale-tail spoiler seals it. This is the look people picture when they think Porsche from the eighties — the wide hips, the round headlights tucked into the fenders, the Fuchs-style wheels. Mark's is all original. No restomod nonsense, no swapped engine. Thirty-five years he's owned it, and it shows in the way he talks about it — easy, like it's family.
From the rear quarter you really see the proportions. Carrera scripted across the back, the spoiler standing proud, and that classic narrow-light taillight bar running the width of the car. The evening light was doing it favors, the woods behind throwing green into the paint.
Straight on from behind, the Maine antique plate tells part of the story — 945-CUA, with the little pine tree. Mark just got the antique plates for it this year. After three and a half decades, the car's officially earned the title.
I leaned in close on the drivers side and caught the reflection of the trees rolling across the glass, that green windshield tint and the little fuel cap door sitting in the fender. Details like that are what keep these original cars interesting — nothing's been smoothed over or modernized.
Up front it wears entry number 262 taped to the windshield for the show. People drifted by all evening, a few stopping to ask Mark questions, most just slowing down to look. The hood badge, the matched Maine plates front and back, the whole thing sitting there honest and well-kept.
If you've never been, the Bentley's cruise-ins are worth the drive — no entry fee to wander, and you never know what's going to show up week to week. This Saturday it was Mark's red Carrera that stuck with me. Thirty-five years in one pair of hands, and it still looks ready to run.
Parked near a vintage pickup, low and unmistakable, sat a red 1986 Porsche 911 Carrera that belongs to my buddy Mark Ettinger.
That red catches the eye from across the lot, and the big whale-tail spoiler seals it. This is the look people picture when they think Porsche from the eighties — the wide hips, the round headlights tucked into the fenders, the Fuchs-style wheels. Mark's is all original. No restomod nonsense, no swapped engine. Thirty-five years he's owned it, and it shows in the way he talks about it — easy, like it's family.
From the rear quarter you really see the proportions. Carrera scripted across the back, the spoiler standing proud, and that classic narrow-light taillight bar running the width of the car. The evening light was doing it favors, the woods behind throwing green into the paint.
Straight on from behind, the Maine antique plate tells part of the story — 945-CUA, with the little pine tree. Mark just got the antique plates for it this year. After three and a half decades, the car's officially earned the title.
I leaned in close on the drivers side and caught the reflection of the trees rolling across the glass, that green windshield tint and the little fuel cap door sitting in the fender. Details like that are what keep these original cars interesting — nothing's been smoothed over or modernized.
Up front it wears entry number 262 taped to the windshield for the show. People drifted by all evening, a few stopping to ask Mark questions, most just slowing down to look. The hood badge, the matched Maine plates front and back, the whole thing sitting there honest and well-kept.
If you've never been, the Bentley's cruise-ins are worth the drive — no entry fee to wander, and you never know what's going to show up week to week. This Saturday it was Mark's red Carrera that stuck with me. Thirty-five years in one pair of hands, and it still looks ready to run.