Rocky Mountain 356 Club History

In 1986, Dave Scott and John Hawkins founded the Rocky Mountain 356 Porsche Club.  Their recruitment method was to spot a 356 on the road, flag it down and invite the driver to join.  It worked!  Perhaps 15% of our current 100+ members were here in the early days!  Dave and John were—and still are—genuine enthusiasts interested only in having fun with 356s and other like-minded people. 

They weren’t thinking about how successful the Club might be, how long it could last, how many life-long friends would come of it or how many wonderful 356 experiences were in their future. Within a year Membership was nearly fifty people. A newsletter, the Oversteer, was present from the beginning as were meetings, and even small events.

But the Club always had its sights set high; we needed more. Dave asked Ed Carroll, owner of Ed Carroll Porsche in Fort Collins, if he could help. Ed gave us the run of the dealership and the entire parking lot for our first Spring Fling Car Show! Ed has retired, but the dealership is in good hands with Ed’s son, John Carroll. John and Ed Carroll Porsche + Audi have been hosting events for us and with us, nearly every year since! Together we have raised a lot of money for Meals on Wheels!

The Club has gained valuable experience hosting “big splash” events, which raises the quality of the smaller Club Events we have nearly every month as well as one or two overnight events every year.  But the focus was always on the drive.        

Eventually we developed events that became traditions, such as Tom Conway’s (Carquip) Tech Session/Swap Meet in January, the Spring Safety Clinic by John Hawkins and Bob Fuller in April, the Arapahoe Community College Concours, with Bob Little in June, the West Fest show at Ed Carroll, in August the Events Planning Session in November and the Christmas Party in December. Last year we were invited to show our cars on the street in front of Patina Gallery, a high-end jewelry shop in Santa Fe, New Mexico, which was showing Michael Furman’s Porsche photography along with their jewelry.The year before, the Society for Historic Wyoming invited us to raise funds for them on a tour of Wyoming historic sites. We have driven all over Colorado and Wyoming, spent time in South Dakota, Arizona and of course New Mexico for Fiesta del Porsche.

If all that isn’t enough, our people add another dimension. Look up 356 Guru and there’s a picture of Norm Miller. Ron Appleton is a superb mechanic, but his knives are out of this world! Ron Appleton knives. And speaking of other worldly, Judd Johnson takes photos of the sun for a living! Fred Veitch is a many-time Pikes Peak Hill Climb class winner. Tom Scott has more than one Manhattan Trophy. Larry Myers is a two-time SCCA Division winner. Tom Conway’s Carquip is internationally famous, same for Dave DiMaria’s shop. Martin Willis is all the machinist you’ll ever need. Phil Carney wrote great articles for the Oversteer and the 356 Registry. Jim Kellogg (356 Restore) made significant contributions to the 356 community. Bill Jackson was a major 356 collector. Ron Nelson’s upholstery is gorgeous. John Jenkins is a legendary 356 expert. Jim McMillan is the only guy to touch your gearbox. We’ve got jet pilots, doctors, dentists, architects, racers, rocket scientists, fish biologists, firemen, book sellers, lawyers, FBI agents, teachers, engineers and even (us) regular people. Diversity has always been an asset.

Not incidentally, The Club has also put together five (5) West Coast Holidays for the 356 Registry; see list below.       

The Club is now approaching thirty-five years of successful operation, establishing our own traditions, customs and a huge number of events that have entertained us and literally thousands of others.  All the while, the Club has never looked away from the founding ideas of pure enthusiasm, inclusiveness, and fairness.  The Club’s motto of “praise, promote and preserve the 356” established an ethos that simply leaves no room for the notion that one car—or person—is better than another. 

And so, we go on, with warm thoughts of the past and open arms for any 356er of good spirit who would like to ride with us!

- Gary Moschetti, President 2020