Views from Afar
MARCH 16, 2021
Recall that glorious feeling sometime in late fall when daylight savings time ends? Half the time you don’t even realize what’s about to happen...you just wake up one Sunday morning and BOOM!, you're feeling fantastically refreshed for whatever hour it is that you usually wake up. For me, oddly reminiscent of the days before I knew what a hangover was.
Now reverse that feeling, and that’s what most everyone experienced the morning of March 14th. In the old days, many an alarm clock might’ve been sacrificed against a far bedroom wall on such a morning, but yeeting an iPhone into half inch drywall is a costly mistake in 2021. The only cure for the daylight savings blues? Cars and cool people, hermanos y hermanas.
Sadly I had to watch all of the Instagram stories from afar for Heritage Gruppe’s March event, but even as a distant participant you could tell it was another epic one. New hours from 9-12 couldn’t even encourage a few participants from taking advantage being able to sleep in – when G showed up to open the doors there was already an entourage of Porsches from LA Dismantlers gathered nearby to hang a bit before heading off for a ripper of a drive on Tujunga Canyon.
Tunes courtesy of Nick (@spatzikgarage) set a chill vibe for the morning and with later and extended hours, there was an awesome rotation of unique cars rolling through from a variety of eras, including a handful of truly spectacular kei cars. It’s almost as if back in the 70’s and 80's the Japanese just knew that well into the 21st century, redblooded Americans would be fighting to the death over compact parking spaces with half-ton pickups and 200-inch SUVs and were like, "Dude some day these tiny cars are going to be super rad so we're going to make a lot of them and those dingdongs across the Pacific are going to be hella jealous". I mean, how could you not want one? Who needs anything else when @that_guy_joee’s Toyota Sera exists? Keep your McLaren 720s butterfly doors and give me these all day long please.
True JDM fans would applaud the 10th Gen R34 Skyline that rolled though, and for those with a taste that errs more Western European, vintage or otherwise, fear not - Heritage always has you covered.
The drop dead gorgeous red De Tomaso Pantera that rolled through late in the morning has to be one of my favorites of the entire show. You don't see many driving around, even in Southern California, as only a shade over 7,000 were ever produced. If you ever need validation that the marriage of Italian styling and American-produced V8 brawn is a match made in heaven, grab a cup of coffee, close your eyes, and listen to this for 3 minutes.
Illest (@illest) was back with dope gear, and they've just launched their Overlanding Division product line, which I secretly hope means some monstrous offroading rigs will be at future events. Heritage Gruppe's experiential designer Alynn (@alynnski) amped the brand's own presence up for this show, featuring the quickly-disappearing shirt collab with Chris's gorgeous white BMW 2002 (@rogue2002). Make your way over to the website ASAP if you're interested because these babies are going quick.
For those of you who either came or left hungry (literally or otherwise) for more, fear not! In addition to gear and apparel brands, next month’s event will host a food truck to ensure tummies are full as everyone makes the rounds at the next Drivers Meeting. Mark your calendars for April 11th - until next time crew! - Brendan (@b.g.mckay), with photos courtesy of Caleb Wood (@calebwoodphoto)